The Adelaide United Youth Team has continued its early dominance in the NPL State League upstaging The Cove FC 3-0 on Wednesday night.
Pristine conditions greeted the two sides as the Young Reds started the more promising, controlling possession and moving the ball freely.
Throughout the early stages of the match Adelaide’s attacking third found it difficult to get past The Cove’s stern defensive structure. With The Cove sitting quite deep with numbers behind the ball, United were happy to control the football and wait for that inside pass to break through.
Wingers Alec Maiolo and Antoni Trimboli were denied space on the flanks forcing The Young Reds to take shots through Mark Ochieng and Nathan Konstandopoulos.
In the 39th minute the Young Reds persistence paid off as Alec Maiolo was able to get through his defender sending in a well weighted delivery forcing a defensive error from The Cove which enabled Doni Pollock to turn his defender and bury the ball into the back of the net.
A sense of relief amongst the Adelaide United contingent filled the Adelaide Shores as The Young Reds went into the half time break a goal to nil.
As the second half started the Young Reds began pressuring through complete dominance in the midfield as well as in attack.
In the 54th minute defender Mark Ochieng unleashed an effort from just outside the box but was expertly punched out by The Cove goalkeeper.
The Young Reds began to create fluent passes around the pitch, allowing the front third of United to get in and around The Cove defence.
In the 74th minute Nathan Konstandopoulos regained possession in the midfield and made a forward run taking on two players which forced a challenge to be made outside the box allowing the dangerous Doni Pollock to recover possession and score a beautifully placed goal into the bottom right corner giving the Young Reds a 2 goal lead.
Two minutes after Adelaide United found a third, as Mark Ochieng found Doni Pollock who played a wall pass enabling Ochieng to go on through to goal and side foot the ball into an unguarded net wrapping the game up and most importantly sealing victory for the Young Reds.
“They were a very well organised team (The Cove FC) tonight and it was our job to break them down and if we don’t score an early goal it becomes harder as the game goes on.” said Coach Michael Valkanis after the match.
“Tonight we had to be patient and move the team as much as we could to find the right moment to penetrate and I think the boys did a really good job of that tonight.”
“So I am very happy with the boys because they played the style and they also got a result which was very important for us now early on in the league.”
Striker Doni Pollock who scored twice was very happy with the win also but said playing against teams in the NPL State League is always a difficult task.
“Playing against tall centre backs isn’t the easiest of tasks but tonight the boys played well which helped me get into those positions to score”.
“I am pleased again with scoring two, so hopefully I can get a few more throughout the season and hope we can keep winning matches which is our main focus.”
Match Details
Wednesday, 26 February 2015
NPL 2015 State League – Round 1
Adelaide United 3 (D.Pollock 2, Ochieng)
The Cove FC 0
Venue: Adelaide Shores Football Centre
