Adelaide United FC has been forced to share a point with Perth Glory as the Remembrance Day clash ended 1-1.
Adelaide United FC has been forced to share a point with Perth Glory as the Remembrance Day clash ended 1-1.
Dario Vidosic-s 49th minute strike, his fourth goal of the season, cancelled out Billy Mehmet-s opener which had given the Glory the lead just before half time.
Both sides had chances to take all three points as the home side finished the stronger on a very warm Adelaide afternoon, but it was not to be as the Reds recorded their first draw of the season to leave them second on goal difference behind the Central Coast Mariners after six rounds.
A moving Remembrance Ceremony prior to kick-off gave the match a finals type feel, with the game-s first serious chance coming after 14 minutes when former Reds star Travis Dodd found himself clear down the right, but the stand in Glory captain could not control his pass intended for Mehmet.
The Reds almost countered immediately when Fabio Ferreira went on his own mazy run but the opportunity was lost as he failed to see a free Jeronimo Neumann charging down the channel towards the penalty area.
Adelaide United-s next chance again came shortly after a Glory opportunity at the other end, this time Neumann-s dangerous cross from the left diffused by a timely Scott Jamieson interception as Ferreira lurked.
When Vidosic found himself with just Danny Vukovic to beat in the 33rd minute, most would have banked on the in from goal scorer to break the deadlock but his hurried strike was comfortably dealt with by the Perth keeper.
Michael Thwaite went into the referee-s book for a crude challenge on Marcelo Carrusca as the Argentine came in for some physical treatment, the pressure from the home side building as Osama Malik was the next to come close but he could not direct his header from a Vidosic corner on target.
Then in the 43rd minute Perth broke through United-s defences, Liam Miller and Dean Heffernan combining to present Mehmet with a simple finish from close range to leave the home side with a half time deficit.
However, it only took three minutes after the interval for parity to be restored as Marcelo Carrusca slid a sublime ball through for Vidosic and this time the Reds- number 10 made no mistake.
The intriguing duel between former team mates Dodd and Cassio continued on Perth-s right hand side, another former Red Scott Jamieson then trying to get in on the act as he forced a save from Eugene Galekovic on the hour mark.
Luck was then on the Reds- side as Nick Ward rattled the bar from a Jamieson corner in the 65th minute that Galekovic knew little about, fortunately the ball managing to find its way into the keeper-s gloves with no harm done.
Bruce Djite tried to make an immediate impact when he came off the bench, pulling the trigger from 12 metres but the Perth defence blocked the effort.
Glory substitute Shane Smeltz tested Galekovic before Nuemann bought the best out of Vukovic as the Reds went in search of a winner.
Dodd spooned a shot over the bar to let United off the hook, the Reds then turning up the heat in the final ten minutes but they could not snatch all three points.
In his assessment, Reds Coach John Kosmina admitted it was a game either side could have come out victors.
“Given the conditions, which I think probably affected us more than we maybe figured they would, it wasn-t too bad,” Kosmina said.
“We did well in the first half, made a couple of really good chances and didn-t really let Perth in, then we dropped off for 10 minutes before the end of the half and Perth are the sort of team where unless you keep ticking over and you-re constant, when you give them a sniff they-ll get on top of you and they did that.”
“But credit to our blokes, they came back in the second half and did really well.”
Kosmina also explained his decision to start with Carrusca, Vidosic and Neumann in attack, leaving Sergio van Dijk the unlucky one to miss out.
“With Serge, we looked at how we can play Jeronimo, Marcelo and Dario together. We wanted to play with two tens and you-ve got to agree when we did it properly it worked quite well,” Kosmina said.
“If you play with two tens you-ve got to leave Jeronimo out if you want to play with a hustle bustle type striker, but he-s always good for a chance so that-s what we looked at.”
“We might start Serge next week, we might start Bruce next week, you-ve got to look at the opposition and what might best suit who we-re playing against.”
Vidosic was awarded the Tomas Dale Medal as the player who displayed outstanding sportsmanship in the match.
Match Details
Adelaide United FC 1 (Vidosic 49-)
Perth Glory 1 (Mehmet 43-)
Referee: Peter O’Leary
Crowd: 9,212 @ Hindmarsh Stadium
Adelaide United starting line-up: 1.Eugene Galekovic (gk) (c), 2.Osama Malik (14.Cameron Watson 78-), 3.Nigel Boogaard, 5.Iain Fyfe, 6.Cassio, 8.Marcelo Carrusca, 10.Dario Vidosic, 16.Daniel Bowles, 21.Jeronimo Neumann, 22.Fabio Ferreira (11.Bruce Djite 64-), 23.Evan Kostopoulos (17.Iain Ramsay 81-)
Substitutes not used: 30.John HALL (gk)
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Perth Glory starting line-up: 1.Danny Vukovic (gk), 3.Bas van den Brink, 4.Billy Mehmet, 6.Nick Ward, 8.Dean Heffernan (9.Shane Smeltz 69-), 10.Liam Miller, 13.Travis Dodd (c) (17.Chris Harold 85-), 14.Steven McGarry (5.Steve Pantelidis 89-), 19.Josh Risdon, 21.Scott Jamieson, 23.Michael Thwaite
Substitutes not used: 30.Lewis Italiano (gk)
Yellow Cards: Thwaite 35-, van den Brink 74-, Ward 87-, Jamieson 90+1-
Red Cards: Nil
