The Adelaide United Youth Team defeated NPL State League leaders Adelaide Victory, 2-0 in an exciting contest at Rushworth Reserve on Saturday afternoon.
With a massive three points up for grab, the balance of play was quite even early with United and Victory sharing equal amounts of possession.
The Young Reds within the opening 10 minutes enjoyed using the ball down the flanks, with both Alec Maiolo and Samed Altundag easily finding space around their defenders to run on to.
However, the first real opportunity of the game fell to Adelaide Victory’s Andrew Kaine, after a quick counter attack by the Victory enabled them to get a through ball into Kaine who’s one on one finish went wide of the post.
The Adelaide United Youth Team gained momentum by the Victory not putting away their chances, as full back Mark Ochieng found the pace of Maiolo who cut the ball back to Smith who miss hit the ball allowing the Victory keeper to pick up the ball.
In the 21st minute, a fantastic bit of play by Thomas Love saw him break the line of defence and find striker Doni Pollock who took a shot just outside the box which just missed the left post.
The momentum of the game was clearly controlled by United who were dominating the ball and were easily getting in between the full backs of the Victory.
Although Adelaide controlled most of the first half, both teams went into the break with a 0-0 score line.
As the second half began, both teams made changes to their shape in hope to be the first to score the opening goal of the match.
And in the 49th minute Adelaide Victory striker Andrew Kaine found himself one on one with Reds keeper Alex Woodlands which he took on the youngster and couldn’t quite get the power needed to slot the ball home, spraying the shot wide.
Adelaide Victory were then made to rue their chances missed as in the 55th minute some fantastic interplay in the middle of the park saw Niko Apostolopoulos find Tom Love who took on a defender and crossed a ball in which deflected into the net.
The Young Reds grew in confidence which saw the Victory frustrated with the United’s playing style. Young Reds had a lot of run in them as they pushed for second goal.
In the 71st minute it was United’s goal scorer Tom Love who was put through by Riley Mcgree who doubled his goal tally with a sublime curled finish into the net.
The 2-0 advantage was enough to hang on to a priceless Victory over the top side in the competition.
After the match, the man who netted twice Tom Love stated how big a win it was and believes they have what it takes to keep this winning mentality up for the rest of the season.
“Going into the match we knew it was going to be our toughest game yet, so we needed to come with the right mentality and had to fight to win this game” said Love
“And today we made no exception, all the boys were willing to work hard and fight for each other and it proved with a terrific win”.
Tom Love who scored twice stated he was happy with the goals but more importantly the result which the boys got today.
“I’m not overly fussed with scoring today; I am just happy the team got the three points and move on to next week with the same mentality and hopefully get the same reward”.
Match Details
Saturday, 23 May 2015
NPL 2015 State League – Round 15
Adelaide Victory
Adelaide United 2 (T.Love 2)
Venue: Rushworth Reserve
