Brisbane Roar has defeated a courageous Reds outfit 3-1 at Thebarton Oval in the latest round of the Foxtel National Youth League.
Brisbane Roar has defeated a courageous Reds outfit 3-1 at Thebarton Oval in the latest round of the Foxtel National Youth League.
With the help of a man of the match performance from goalkeeper Fraser Chalmers, the Roar prevailed over the Young Reds who were forced to play most of the match with ten men after captain Shaun Harvey was sent off in just the 9th minute.
With no clear possession winner early in the match frantic end to end football transpired with both teams creating a few early goal scoring chances with Nikola Milesunic having the best shot on goal for the Reds. After the home side-s promising start to the match things took a turn for the worst when a sloppy clearance from keeper Paul Izzo gifted Brisbane an easy shot on goal, striker Samed Altundag punishing the Reds to open the scoring.
The young Reds were now forced to fight their way back into the match and responded with several threatening attacks into the Brisbane penalty area. But the Roar managed to get in behind United-s defence as Brandon Borrello was put through, and with only Izzo to beat a desperate challenge by Harvey brought the Roar player down in the box resulting in a penalty awarded and Harvey shown a straight red after being adjudged as the last defender. Dimi Petrtatos converted the spot kick to make it 2-0 after 10 minutes.
Two goals and a man down, the Reds- resolve and character would be tested and for the remainder of the half they worked tirelessly, Jacob Melling forcing a good save from Chalmers before Jake Barker-Daish was denied by the crossbar.
The second half started much the same as the first half ended with the Reds controlling the contest. Within a few minutes of play restarting the home side created several shots on goal, the most significant being a bullet from Awer Mabil that forced another fine save from Chalmers.
This sparked the Reds to life with a dangerous cross from Mabil finding Mileusnic just outside the six- yard box, his shot hitting the post and rebounding to Ryan Kitto but again Chalmers was in the way to keep it out.
With the Reds believing they could get a result out of the match a great run down the right by Melling resulted in the midfielder hitting a powerful shot from just inside the 18 yard box to finally beat Chalmers and it was game on with just under 25 minutes to go.
Milesunic fired two shots on goal that again brought the best out the Roar keeper, and the visitors made the most of their luck as Brandon Borrello struck to restore the two goal deficit and take all three points.
Overall, coach Michael Valkanis was pleased with the way his team performed.
“I was extremely proud of my players- performance today,” Valkanis said.
“Regardless of going a man down I was very impressed with how well the boys played and how we dominated the game.
“Unfortunately from the numerous scoring opportunities we created we were not able to get the right result out of the game which I think we deserved because of the players- committed effort and the high standard of football we played.”
Match Details
Adelaide United 1 (Melling 66-)
Brisbane Roar 3 (Altundag 7-, Petratos 10- (pen), Borello 73-)
Referee: Christian Verdicchio
Adelaide United starting line-up: 20.Paul Izzo (gk), 2.Dion Kirk, 3.Shaun Harvey (c), 6.Jack Bladen, 10.Ryan Kitto (7.Bruce Kamau 60-), 11.Nikola Mileusnic, 14.Awer Mabil (17.Jordan O-Doherty 60-), 15.Matthew Bouzalas, 16.Jacob Melling, 19.Jake Barker-Daish (8.Nathan Konstandopoulos 60-), 21.Antony Golec
Injury substitution: 15.Matthew Bouzalas (10.Ryan Kitto 78-)
Substitutions not used: 1.John Hall (gk)
Yellow cards: Kitto 40-, Mabil 43-, Melling 44-, Bouzalas 54-
Red cards: Harvey 9-
Brisbane Roar starting line-up: 1.Fraser Chalmers (gk), 2.Jaiden Walker, 3.Diogo Ferreira (12.Shannon Brady 61-), 4.Lachlan Jackson, 5.Sam Cronin, 6.Benjamin Litfin (c), 7.Dimi Petratos (14.Julius Davies 61-), 9.Samed Altundag (15.Mitchell Hore 61-), 10.Devante Clut, 11.Brandon Borrello, 16.Patrick Theodore
Injury substitution: 16.Patrick Theodore (9.Samed Altundag 87-)
Substitutions not used: 20.Denver Crickmore (gk)
Yellow cards: Ferreira 18-, Litfin 38-
Red cards: Nil
