Adelaide United has finally ended their hoodoo against Melbourne Victory, snapping a 10-game losing streak against their rivals with a resounding 4-1 thrashing at AAMI Park.
Danny Allsopp made his first start for the Victory in his second stint at the club after returning from playing overseas, most recently with DC United in the MLS. The previous A-League Golden Boot winner was looking to repay the club's faith in him by scoring goals and to cover the absences of Robbie Kruse (Asian Cup duty with Australia) and Archie Thompson (hamstring injury).
Adelaide United's Paul Reid had fallen ill during the week and so the Reds gave a starting debut to one of their new imports Francisco Usucar who slotted in next to Reid's regular defensive midfield partner Adam Hughes. The Reds' guest player Andy Slory did not make the matchday squad due to a thigh problem.
The Reds dominated the match from kick-off as they moved the ball around positively. Their up-tempo football soon had the Victory on the back foot and Adelaide were rewarded with an early goal in the 12th minute. Winger Iain Ramsay, in one of his best games yet for the club, fired in a deep cross from the left which captain Travis Dodd managed to reach, rising high to nod the ball back across the top of the 6-yard box. An alert Marcos Flores was first to the ball and side-footed it first time through the legs of the Victory's keeper Michael Petkovic.
Adelaide did not rest on their laurels and kept up the high intensity. Hughes, Usucar and Cameron Watson all fired shots in at the Victory goal and kept the pressure on Petkovic and his defence.
Ramsay's searing pace was causing the Victory all sorts of headaches and as a long ball came over Grant Brebner's head, he misjudged his header, allowing Ramsay to catch up to him as they both ran towards the Victory goal. Brebner went to ground on the edge of the penalty box and scooped the ball away with his right hand. As Ramsay would have been through and with Brebner being the last man, he was lucky not to be sent off for a blatant handball. Given the positioning of the referee though, there was no way he could have seen the handball. However, that should offence should have been spotted by the referee's assistant on the far-side.
Young Reds keeper Mark Birighitti was not showing any signs of nerves and he pulled a fine reflex save late in the half to deny a stinging Carlos Hernandez effort in the Victory’s best chance of the half.
Six corners to one in favour of the Reds in the first half told the story but they only had one goal to show for it going into half-time.
Adelaide came out in the second half with the same intent and purpose in their play. 11 minutes into the second half and the Reds were rewarded. Cassio read play well, cutting out a cross-field pass in the centre of the park and knocking the ball upfield to Hughes. He then continued his run, receiving the ball back from Hughes and cutting left past Muscat who gave the him a little push. The referee gave the Reds the free-kick in a dangerous position, 30 yards out directly in front of goal. Up stepped Sergio van Dijk who slammed a thunderous piledriver that swerved away from Petkovic's reach into the top left corner. We'll be seeing that replay for sometime! Melbourne coach Ernie Merrick will be disappointed at the way his wall opened up to let van Dijk's shot through.
The Reds' chances of holding on for a famous win was made easier in the 64th minute as the Victory's mercurial skipper Kevin Muscat received a second yellow for a stray elbow into the head of Hughes.
Allsopp missed a golden chance to pull one back for the home side and he was made to pay as Fabian Barbiero scored Adelaide’s third with his first touch of the game after replacing Dodd. Iain Fyfe's goal-bound header from a corner was initially kept out by Marvin Angulo but Barbiero was on hand to slam the ball into the roof of the net from inside the 6-yard box as the ball fell kindly for him.
Tempers then boiled over as Evan Berger went in recklessly on a prone Usucar who copped a knee to the head on the sideline next to the substitutes' bench. Both teams got involved in a bit of argy bargy but once separated, the referee dished out yellows to Berger and Barbiero, who was first on scene to confront Berger.
From the resulting free-kick to United inside their own half, a long ball was hoofed into the Victory area and van Dijk got his foot to the ball as Petkovic jumped straight over it and into van Dijk. The ball rolled into the back of the net which further silenced a stunned AAMI Park crowd.
Reid then came on for Usucar and with 10 minutes left, van Dijk was withdrawn for Lucas Pantelis. It was surprising that he was not given the chance to get a hat-trick as it felt like there was another goal left in the game. Not only that, but United's next game is not for another 12 days.
As the clock wound down in stoppage time, Victory subsititute Mate Dugandzic scored a consolation goal with the last kick of the match much to the disappointment of United's coach Rini Coolen who said, "I wasn’t happy with the goal they scored, I think it was better to keep a clean sheet and it was possible to keep the ball at the end of the game, but four goals in an away game against a team like that with so much pressure in that game, it’s a great result.”
The match was a joy to watch and it's great to see Adelaide playing such organised, positive football where they create so many chances. 16 shots with 13 on target is a fantastic effort.
With a break next weekend to look forward to, four of their remaining five games at home and a host of players set to be back from injury, including Eugene Galekovic, Nigel Boogaard, Mathew Leckie and Andy Slory, it is looking positive for the Reds leading into the A-League finals.
