The second placed Adelaide United condemned Sydney FC to their fifth straight Hyundai A-League loss after downing the Sky Blues 2-0 at a balmy Adelaide Oval on Wednesday night.
The second placed Adelaide United condemned Sydney FC to their fifth straight Hyundai A-League loss after downing the Sky Blues 2-0 at a balmy Adelaide Oval on Wednesday night.
A 35th minute goal Sergio Van Dijk – his fourth in three games against the Sky Blues this season – and a lucky goal to defender Cassio in the 58th minute saw the Reds gain the three points and snap their own three match losing streak.
The Sky Blues task was made all the more difficult with key striker Alex Brosque (groin), Rhyan Grant (knee) and Terry Antonis (knee) all missing with injury and despite never giving in the Reds claimed the win – their third from three games against Sydney FC in season 2010/11.
Sydney FC-s next match is against the Newcastle Jets at EnergyAustralia Stadium on Monday 3 January (5pm kick-off).
“I thought we started the game well but again we copped a goal just on half time which hurt us and we couldn-t get back into it despite throwing everything at it.
We-ll keep our heads up and keep going,” captain Terry McFlynn said.
“There are a number of factors (for the season). We didn-t get off to a good start and confidence has been down but we go back to the drawing board now and get up for Newcastle on Monday.”
After a slow paced and even first 15 minutes, the Reds Marcos Flores put Iain Ramsay through into a one-on-one with Sydney FC keeper Liam Reddy but his angled shot went straight to the shot stopper.
A Reds free-kick just minutes later, curled in by stand in captain Paul Reid, almost found the unmarked head of defender Nigel Boogard but he was unable to make contact.
Despite Nicky Carle beginning to show his class it was the Reds who opened the scoring in front of a big home crowd in the 35th minute.
Reid spread the ball wide to Flores who put in a curling cross that took a touch off the outstretched Stephan Keller and fell to Sergio Van Dijk who took a controlled touch off his chest before slamming it home with his trusty left – his fourth in three games against Sydney FC this season.
In the dying moments of the first half the Sky Blues almost levelled the score line. Following a goal mouth scramble, Keller let off a left foot shot as he was falling which unfortunately hit the cross bar, seeing the Reds take a 1-0 lead into halftime.
Ten minutes into the second half the Reds extended their lead thanks to some good fortune. Adelaide defender Cassio made a strong run to the side of the box and after a few more steps in possession he put in a cross a metre before the line.
The ball took a deflection off the outstretched foot of Sydney FC defender Hayden Foxe and all Reddy could do was watch the ball slowly sail over his head and into the net.
Sydney FC coached Vitezslav Lavicka then made two changes, injecting striker Bruno Cazarine and midfielder Stuart Musialik for Nicky Carle and Scott Jamieson respectively but the Reds managed to withstand everything the Sky Blues threw at them.
Stand in Reds keeper Mark Birighitti almost handed the Sky Blues a goal in the 81st minute, fumbling a long range shot from Sung-Hwan Byun but he quickly regathered possession as the ball rolled towards the line.
Sydney FC will have only a few days to recover ahead of Monday night-s away clash with the Jets.
Match Detail:
Adelaide United: 1 (VAN DIJK 35-, CASSIO 58-)
Sydney FC: 0
Sydney FC line-up: 1. Liam REDDY (gk), 3. Stephan KELLER, 5.Hayden FOXE (2. Sebastian RYALL 83-), 6.Hirofumi MORIYASU, 10. Nicky CARLE (9. Bruno CAZARINE 60), 12.Shannon COLE, 15.Terry MCFLYNN (c), 19.Mark BRIDGE, 21. Scott JAMIESON (8. Stuart MUSIALIK 69-), 22.Sung-Hwan BYUN, 24. Dimitri PETRATOS.
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Ivan NECEVSKI (gk).
Yellow Cards: Nil.
Red Cards: Nil.
Goals: Nil.
Adelaide United line-up: 20. Mark BIRIGHITTI, 3. Nigel BOOGARD, 4. Iain FYFE, 6. CASSIO, 8. Adam HUGHES (18. Fabian BARBIERO 90+2), 9. Sergio VAN DIJK (2. Robert CORNTHWAITE 88-), 10. Marcos FLORES, 12. Paul REDI (c), 17. Iain RAMSAY (7. Lucas PANTELIS 77-), 24. Cameron WATSON, 26. Joseph KEENAN
Substitutes Not Used: 1. Eugene GALEKOVIC (gk).
Yellow Cards: 17. Iain RAMSAY 48-
Red Cards: Nil.
Goals: 9. Sergio VAN DIJK 35-, CASSIO 58-
Referee: Gerard Parsons
Crowd: 16,429 at Adelaide Oval, Adelaide.
