Adelaide United FC has produced a spirited and character filled performance, opening its Hyundai A-League 2012/13 Season with a 2-0 victory over the Newcastle Jets at Hunter Stadium this afternoon.
Adelaide United FC has produced a spirited and character filled performance, opening its Hyundai A-League 2012/13 Season with a 2-0 victory over the Newcastle Jets at Hunter Stadium this afternoon.
A Dario Vidosic goal after just 58 seconds gave the Reds a flying start before Iain Ramsay continued his recent purple patch in front of goal with the second in the 75th minute to get Adelaide-s domestic campaign off with a precious three points away from home.
Making the result even more impressive is that the Reds only touched down back in Australia yesterday morning from their ACL Quarter Final against Bunyodkor in Tashkent last Wednesday night, a fact that certainly did not go unnoticed by Coach John Kosmina after the game.
“It has been a long week and I think it probably showed in some moments during the game we were a bit fatigued but for the guys to get through after what they did on Wednesday night – get through 120 minutes and then with all of the travel we-ve had, it has been a fantastic effort,” Kosmina said.
“We-ve got a very good squad, they-re in good nick physically, and the fact that we-ve already played two competitive matches under fairly difficult circumstances has helped us a hell of a lot.”
Five players made their first Hyundai A-League appearance in a Reds shirt, Daniel Bowles and Jeronimo Neumann starting, while Marcelo Carrusca, Jake Barker-Daish and Fabio Ferreira all made contributions off the bench and in the second half.
In blustery conditions, the game was less than two minutes old when the Reds went ahead. Neumann whipped in a sublime left footed cross from the right, picking out a threatening Vidosic run before the Reds- number 10 found himself fooling the Jets defence and beating former United keeper Mark Birighitti in the Jets goal with a neat finish.
From there the Reds were forced to spend much of the next 20 minutes pinned back in their own half as the home side attempted to rally a response, but the untried central defensive combination of Antony Golec and Nigel Boogaard was doing well to quell the influence of Jets marquee man Emile Heskey.
Cassio clearing a ball off the goal line proved to be the most serious threat the Reds had to contend with in the opening 45 minutes, with the biggest cheer of the half coming in the 40th minute when Heskey upended Eugene Galekovic to leave the United captain flat on his back but there was no harm done.
Then in the 57th minute the Reds found themselves up against a ten man Newcastle for the rest of the contest after Birighitti was penalised for a handball outside his area as he attempted to smother Vidosic-s chip towards an empty net. In his Hyundai A-League debut, referee Shaun Evans had no hesitation pulling out the red card as much as Jets players and fans alike begged to differ.
Ferreira was introduced for Neumann in the 71st minute and went close to scoring as he created an opening, while Jets substitute James Virgili forced a save from Galekovic just minutes after he came on.
The second goal came in the 74th minute when Bowles slid the ball through for Vidosic, the Jets defence failing to follow his run before he had all of the time in the world to perfectly measure a ball across to an unmarked Ramsay at the back post who nonchalantly knocked it in from less than a metre.
The Reds continued to use their extra man advantage by controlling the midfield, Ferreira and Carrusca both showing promising signs for the season ahead.
Asked where that performance rated on the satisfaction level in his time as a coach, Kosmina was just delighted with the result and getting a glimpse of the quality of personnel and options at his disposal this season.
“It-s always good to get a win in your first game, it-s even better away from home, but a win is a win, it doesn-t matter if it-s the first or the last game you coach, you-ve got to be happy with a win,” Kosmina said.
“Newcastle played well today and they caused us quite a few problems. The thing I was happy with is we threw two new central defenders together and I don-t think Boogaard and Golec have actually played as a pair in anything we-ve practised this season and they both played really well.”
“We defended when we needed to, we showed a lot of desperation when we needed to and at times we played some really nice stuff, especially at the end. If you look at how Ferreira went, how Jeronimo, Carrusca and Barker-Daish went, it-s going to be tough to pick a team in a few weeks when we get them all fit.”
The Reds will host new club Western Sydney Wanderers at Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday night in Week 2.
Match Details
Newcastle Jets 0
Adelaide United FC 2 (Vidosic 2-, Ramsay 74-)
Referee: Shaun Evans
Crowd: 14,868 @ Hunter stadium
Newcastle Jets starting line-up: 20.Mark Birighitti (gk), 2.Scott Neville, 4.Josh Mitchell, 5.Dominik Ritter, 6.Ben Kantarovski, 8.Ruben Zadkovich, 9.Emile Heskey (17.James Virgili 70-), 15.Craig Goodwin, 16.Jobe Wheelhouse (19.Michael Bridges 78-), 22.Adam Taggart (1.Ben Kennedy (gk) 59-), 23.Ryan Griffiths
Substitutes not used: 11.Connor Chapman
Yellow Cards: Ritter 79-
Red Cards: Birighitti 57-
Adelaide United starting line-up: 1.Eugene Galekovic (gk) (c), 2.Osama Malik (19.Jake Barker-Daish 75-), 3.Nigel Boogaard, 6.Cassio, 10.Dario Vidosic, 11.Bruce Djite (8.Marcelo Carrusca 78-), 12.Antony Golec, 14.Cameron Watson, 16.Daniel Bowles, 17.Iain Ramsay, 21.Jeronimo Neumann (22.Fabio Ferreira 70-)
Substitutes not used: 30.John HALL (gk)
Yellow Cards: Boogaard 52-, Bowles 68-
Red Cards: Nil
