Remembrance Day to forget for the Reds!
Round 6 A League action at Coopers Stadium coincided with Remembrance Day unfortunately for the reds it would be another day they’d want to forget. With 8000 fans filling the stadium for the late Saturday afternoon 5pm match, would Adelaide United finally get a deserved win or would it be a treble of losses for Marko’s men. Newcastle on the other hand is soaring, the poorer cousin to the big Sydney clubs is leading the A League, they are scoring goals and winning matches and playing as a unit.
Nicola Melusnic would break the deadline in the 25th minute after missing an absolute sitter in the 15th, redemption on his behalf…the Reds went 1 nil up and Nicola could breathe easier, not scoring and starting in the first 11 all season has put heat on his shoulders. Adelaide dominated the first 35minutes of play…the jets looked woeful in defence; their one touch passing was sloppy and they were being sliced apart by the reds attacking wingers. In the 35th minute, something must have happened the football gods switched on the after burners and the Jets started pressing hard, first Petratos was denied in the 42nd with a torpedo free kick denied by a great Izzo save, before Kantarovski connected off a Jets corner in the 45th, from a great Petratos lob into the square. It was all square at half time.
The 2nd half kicked off and Jets pressure persisted, a silly blunder 2 minutes in by reds defender Warland….(a poor pass back to keeper was intercepted) and Nabbout easily fired past Izzo to give the Jets the lead and the match. Both O’Donovan and Nabbout would go on to miss absolute sitters which could have seen the match blow out to 4-1, but it would end 2-1.
A treble of losses for Marko’s men, they aren’t playing bad, but they aren’t persistent either. After 90 minutes of football 4 shots on target from the Reds isn’t good enough. They’ve got the players and the skills to tear most sides apart, but putting the round ball in the back of the net seems an issue at the moment and a serious problem. Diawara and Mark Ocheing were given late runs on the field, so it seems Kurz is slowly opening up to rotating some players and giving them a shot.
Blunder of the match is a tie between the Reds silly back pass from Warland or Jet striker O’Donovan’s missed shot on an open goal in the 52nd,that even Stevie Wonder could’ve scored…
Man of the match goes to Jets player D. Petratos, after the 35th minute he worked himself into the game, tackling hard and sliding good passes to his teammates.
The Jets continue to soar that’s 3 away wins for them. The reds fly out to Gosford next weekend, no easy task Central Coast just knocked of the champs Sydney on Friday and will be hard to beat in Gosford.
Match Report by Cosi Dichiera
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