Adelaide United produced a second-half blitz to clinch a 4-3 win over Melbourne City at Darwin Football Stadium on Saturday night.
City raced to a 3-1 half-time lead, but second-half strikes from Mate Dugandzic, Jimmy Jeggo and Craig Goodwin sealed the come-from-behind victory in front of approximately 1600 fans.
Both clubs are in Westfield FFA Cup action on Wednesday, with the Reds hosting Sydney FC at Coopers Stadium.
Hernan Espindola opened the scoring for City on 16 minutes, converting the rebound from Marc Marino’s shot.
Reds then leveled within two minutes courtesy of a back-post header from Pablo Sanchez.
Jonatan Germano restored City’s buffer on the half hour mark, heading home from a set-piece.
Stefan Mauk then added a third for City to ensure a healthy advantage at the break.
Adelaide United made five changes at the interval and it seemed to work, with Iacopo La Rocca picking out ex-City winger Dugandzic for their reply on 52 minutes.
The Reds equalized through Jeggo with 10 minutes to play, before Goodwin wrapped up the NT Tour with the winner 4 minutes before time.
Craig Goodwin who snatched the win for the Reds felt this was a good hit-out leading into Wednesday night’s Westfield FFA Cup clash.
“The first half wasn’t the best, but in the second, we worked on fixing where we went wrong, in terms of pressing, giving the ball away cheaply and fixing up the middle of the park,” said Goodwin.
“Seeing it was a friendly, it was more about how we play as a team and the movements, the structure and just trying to put in a good performance. Overall, knowing how we improved in the second half, I felt we did well.
“But, now our attention is to Wednesday night. It’s a massive game for us and we want to defend our title.”
Adelaide United take on Sydney FC in the Westfield FFA Cup Round of 16 at Coopers Stadium on Wednesday 26 August. Kick-off 7:00pm. Click here, to purchase your tickets now.
Match Details
Saturday 23 August 2015
NT Tour – Game 2
Adelaide United 4 (Pablo Sanchez 18’, Dugandzic 52’, Jeggo 80’, Goodwin 86’)
Melbourne City 3 (Espindola 16’, Germano 29’, Mauk 37’)
Venue: Darwin Football Stadium
Crowd: 1600
