It’s been a season to forget so far for Adelaide United, but the Reds made a big step towards getting their campaign back on track with a 1-0 win over Central Coast Mariners at Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday night. The Reds dominated the early stages, and had three golden opportunities to score in the first 10 minutes. Travis Dodd was in the thick of the action, but for all his efforts the Reds were unable to get on the board. Corner after corner was to follow, and finally shortly after the half hour mark the opening goal came. Adelaide received a free kick not far from the box, and Cassio’s shot cleared the Jwall and beat the desperately outstretched arms of Mariners’ keeper Danny Vukovic, deflecting off the crossbar into the net. The Mariners had a chance for an instant equaliser, but Ahmed Elrich’s curling shot was saved by a diving Eugene Galekovic; ensuring the Reds would maintain a 1-0 lead into the break. The second half was the Mariners make an early substitution, Dean Heffernan coming into the contest. But opportunities for an equaliser were few and far between, as the Mariners’ penetration and goal- scoring power was blunted by a resolute Adelaide defence. Adelaide United 1 (Cassio 33) Central Coast Mariners 0 Reds – E Galekovic, Alemao, I Fyfe, Cassio (M Marone 90), L Pantelis, A Hughes, L Owusu, P Reid, T Dodd (I Shin 83), S Jamieson, M Rudan. Subs not used – M Birighitti, Cristiano. Mariners – D Vukovic, P Bojic, B Porter, J Hutchinson (D Macallister 77), N Mrdja, A Clark, N Boogaard, A Wilkinson, M Simon, A Elrich (D Heffernan 46), N Travis (A Kwasnik 71). Sub not used – A Redmayne. Yellow Cards : Reds – P Reid 29. Mariners – J Hutchinson 66, M Simon 74. Red Cards - Nil. Referee – S Delovski. Crowd – 10,262 at Hindmarsh Stadium. Brisbane Roar took a positive step forward for the 2009-10 season when they travelled to Newcastle and returned home with the 3 points after a comprehensive 3-0 victory. It wasn’t looking comfortable for the Roar early, and the Jets could easily have been on the board in just the 5th minute as Jin-Hyung Song struck the ball into the back of the Roar net; but the assistant’s flag went up for offside and the goal was disallowed. Shortly afterwards, an injury to veteran Danny Tiatto saw an early substitution for the Roar. But the game changed complexion with goals to Brazilian imports Henrique and Reinaldo. A cross from Reinaldo found Henrique on-side and unmarked, with the simplest of tap-ins to put the Roar ahead. And just 2 minutes later the lead doubled when a penetrating through- ball from Sergio Van Dijk found Reinaldo in goal-scoring range. |
ROUND 7 Friday 18th September Adelaide v Melbourne (8:00pm) Saturday 19th September Central Coast v Gold Coast (7:30pm) Sunday 20th September Wellington v North Queensland (1:00pm) Sydney v Newcastle (3:00pm) Brisbane v Perth (5:00pm) ROUND 8 Friday 25th September Newcastle v Perth (8:00pm) Saturday 26th September Gold Coast v Melbourne (6:30pm) Sunday 27th September Wellington v Central Coast (1:00pm) Brisbane v Sydney (3:00pm) Nth Queensland v Adelaide (5:00pm) All times shown are Sydney time. |
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