Adelaide United has beaten Melbourne Victory in dramatic circumstances to win 3-2 in the opening round of the Foxtel Y-League at the VALO Football Centre on Saturday.
The hosts fell behind inside 20 minutes after capitalising on an error before two goals from Louis D’Arrigo and Carlo Armiento pulled United in front with a quarter of an hour remaining.
However, Victory drew level in the 85th minute only for the Reds to have the final say at the death thanks to Blake Carpenter.
Head Coach, Paul Pezos, named a strong line-up which included the likes of Daniel Marguš, Kristin Konstandopoulos, Pacifique Niyongabire, Lachlan Brook and the aforementioned D’Arrigo and Armiento.
They started the brighter of the two sides as well and nearly opened the scoring through Ninko Beric, but he could not direct his shot on target.
Armiento then hit the upright after chasing down a back pass and a minute later Victory scored.
The visitors broke the deadlock when Yazid Said intercepted an errant square ball and ran one-on-one to Marguš and dinked the ball over him.
Marguš was forced to make a stunning save from Birkan Kirdar’s free-kick soon after, tipping over his effort headed for the top-right corner.
Armiento continued to be Adelaide’s primary source of creativity and almost restored parried before half-time.
The 19-year-old drove forward and unleashed a swerving shot which crashed into the side netting from the edge of the area.
https://twitter.com/aufc_YouthTeam/status/1061165392498896898
The Young Reds continued to apply the pressure after the re-start and were duly rewarded.
D’Arrigo atoned for his earlier mistake in simply classy fashion. The young midfielder collected the ball and dribbled forward before expertly placing his effort along the floor past the ‘keeper.
Eleven minutes later Adelaide would grab the lead courtesy of Armiento, whose persistence finally paid off.
He picked up the loose ball on the 18-yard and evaded two challenges to rifle his effort home in the 75th minute.
But Melbourne equalised when Adelaide failed to clear their lines and Nicholas Sette scored with a bouncing strike.
Pezos’ men were not disheartened and pushed on in search of a winner. They would consequently be rewarded, as Armiento’s dangerous corner to the back post was bundled over the line by Carpenter.
Match details:
Saturday, 10 November 2018
Foxtel Y-League 2018/19 – Round 1
Adelaide United 3 (D’Arrigo 64’ Armiento 75’ Carpenter 90’)
Melbourne Victory 2 (Said 19’ Sette 85’)
Venue: VALO Football Centre
Attendance: 417
