Sydney FC v Adelaide United – Saturday, 4 September 2010
This season we will be looking ahead to the Reds’ Hyundai A-League matches by rolling back the clock and revisiting some of the club’s most memorable clashes against our upcoming opponents.
With our opponents this round being Sydney FC, we will be focussing on a clash between the two sides which saw United win 3-1 at the Allianz Stadium in Round 5 of the 2010/11 Hyundai A-League season.
The Sky Blues were the reigning A-League champions, but at the time were yet to register a win having only earned two points out of a possible 12 from their opening four matches. The Reds, on the other hand, were in strong form and had eight points to show for their opening four games and were looking to make it three wins in a row.
And it was United who started the match most promisingly after Matthew Leckie was fouled by Scott Jamieson outside the box, allowing Sergio van Dijk to try his luck from distance after just nine minutes. Unsurprisingly the Dutchman was up for the challenge and curled his dead-ball-effort over the wall and, despite taking a slight deflection, sailed into the left side of Liam Reddy’s goal.
This was the catalyst for the Reds to continue their search for goals, as they created multiple chances throughout the opening stanza – eventually doubling their lead in the 37th minute through a wonderfully taken goal by Leckie.
An Adelaide counterattack that left the Sydney defence stunned saw Paul Reid find Leckie with an exquisite diagonal through-ball, Leckie finishing neatly confidently across Reddy and into the bottom corner.
Eight minutes after the restart, van Dijk had his brace and United’s third after wonderful interplay from Marcos Flores and Leckie saw the ball find it’s way to the Dutch striker, who found enough room in the six-yard-box to calmly cap off a dominant performance for the Reds.
Sydney were able to pull one goal back in the 58th minute when a Stephan Keller header beat Eugene Galekovic, but it was too little, too late.
United went on to have a relatively successful campaign and finished third in the A-League standings, but were eventually knocked out in the second round of the finals after losing 3-2 at home to Gold Coast United. For the Sky Blues, it took them until Round 11 to win their first A-League fixture for the season, however a rather disappointing season overall saw them finish the domestic season in ninth.
Match Details
Saturday, 4 September 2010
Hyundai A-League 2010/11 Season – Round 5
Sydney FC 1 (Keller 58’)
Adelaide United 3 (van Dijk 9’ 53’, Leckie 37’)
Venue: Allianz Stadium
Crowd: 7,558
Adelaide United face Sydney FC in Round 12 of the Hyundai A-League 2014/15 Season on Friday, 26 December. Kick off is at 7.15pm ACDT (7.45 AEDT).
