Adelaide United has beaten Newcastle Jets 1-0 in an end-to-end match at Hunter Stadium in Round 23 of the Hyundai A-League 2014/15 season.
A Marcelo Carrusca goal was enough to secure the three points for the Reds in nervy circumstances after they were reduced to 10-men when Nigel Boogaard landed on his head awkwardly and was forced off the field without any substitutes left to replace him.
The first half was a very close affair with both sides creating multiple chances and the Reds even having a goal disallowed when Osama Malik was deemed offside prior to putting the ball past Ben Kennedy.
Yet it was the Jets that nearly opened the scoring when they created a great opportunity that saw Mitch Cooper come agonisingly close, only to be denied by an outstanding last-ditch sliding clearance by Dylan McGowan.
This near miss sprung United into life and just over five minutes later they hit the front through Marcelo Carrusca. A wonderfully weighted ball over the top of the Newcastle defence from Isaías found Sergio Cirio, who calmly controlled and struck an effort towards goal. Kennedy saved the initial Cirio strike, but the ball found its way to Carrusca whose follow up had just enough behind it to bundle over the line.
This would be one of the final notable contributions for Carrusca, as he was substituted five minutes before the break with a suspected quad injury.
Into the second half and the football was much similar to the first with both sides making some good chances and the Jets unlucky not to convert one of theirs early on.
In the 76th minute, the Reds went down to 10-men when Nigel Boogaard landed awkwardly on his head and was stretchered off the field with United having already made all three of their substitutes.
But despite their one-man advantage, the Jets weren’t able to breakdown the United defence enough to beat Eugene Galekovic and the Reds saw out the win.
After the match, Adelaide’s head coach, Josep Gombau, said even though his side won the match and earned the three points, their performance was poor and on another day the result could have been very different.
“I think that today, for us, it was not a good game,” Gombau said.
“We didn’t find our place in the field at any moment and I think that if we are honest it is a game that normally you lose, or don’t get a result.
“But this is football and we did something good and our attitude was good. The players ran, the players fought, the players tried and were compact.”
With Carrusca being forced out of the match in the first half due to injury, the midfielder looks set to miss a couple of games with a quad injury, but Gombau insisted that the team would cope with his absence, however long it is for.
“It will be difficult (in the last few games) but in the end this is a team and football teams aren’t just one player. For sure we will miss Chelo because he’s a high quality player and one of the best players in the team, but we have other players that will do well.
“Next week we need to go to Sydney and need to try and get the result there.
“But it’s good to arrive at the last four games and have a chance to be in the top. It’s the same feeling that the other four teams have. In the end we are a team that try to do the right things and we will go game-by-game and our objective is to try to win every single game.
“After, in the finals, we’ll be competitive and try to win something – that’s what we are aiming for.”
Match Details
Sunday, 29 March 2015
Hyundai A-League Season 2014/15 – Round 23
Newcastle Jets 0
Adelaide United 1 (Carrusca 28’)
Venue: Hunter Stadium
Attendance: 6,888
Newcastle Jets: Kennedy, Cowburn, Mullen, Regan (Pavicevic 85’), Ki-Je, B. Kantarovski (Gallagher 69’), Caravella, Pepper, Alivodic, Cooper (Burgess 63’), Montano
Adelaide United: Galekovic, Marrone, McGowan, Malik (Watson 75’), Goodwin, Isaias, Jeggo, Carrusca (Boogaard 42’) Sanchez (Palanca (46’), Djite, Cirio
Scorers: Carrusca 28’
Red cards: none
Yellow cards: Jeggo 17’, Kantarovski 65’, Pavicevic 90+2’
