Round 23 A-League Action brought the Roar to Adelaide on a hot and humid Sunday afternoon clash with the Reds at Coopers Stadium. The last time these teams clashed was at Suncorp Stadium back in December and the Reds received a 4 nil hiding. With both teams having played midweek with ACL commitments and considering the Sunday humidity in Adelaide, the crowd would’ve been expecting a slow paced game and that’s what the first half brought.
Apart from a nice header in the 16th minute from new Red striker Diawara, using his speed and physique to beat his defender and slot a nice header from a Carrusca free kick to give Adelaide a 1 nil lead. The majority of play in the first half was slow and lacklustre from both teams, with either keeper really being overworked. One thing to note though, was that the referee, rightly or wrongly was in no mood for dissent or fouls and was calling them as he saw fit, something players should have had in their minds.
The second half had a more up tempo feel and Brisbane clearly played the more attacking style, wanting to peg back the Reds. In the 60th they found the reply after a Kristensen shot was blocked back into play from Galekovic , which let Jamie Mclaren lay in an easy goal to an open net, as Eugene was still recovering from his shot stop.
Second half substituents included O’Doherty, Mileusnic and Garuccio for the Reds, 3 young guns and considering their solid performances mid-week in the ACL, these 3 players should have been in the starting 11 and perhaps players who probably won’t be in red colours next year should have started on the bench.
When Carrusca was sent off in the 82nd for childishly kicking the ball away after already picking up a yellow in the first half for talking back to the Ref, Adelaide was now under pressure to defend and hold a draw with the remaining 10 or so minutes. In the 6th minute of stoppage time, Michael Theo suffered brain fade, he was clearly fouled by Dylan McGowan in his box, probably McGowan trying to waste time and stop a last minute counter by the roar, however as he attempted to shrug off McGowan who was grasping him, Theo lashed out with an elbow and although contact appeared minimal, the intent to perhaps strike was there and being clearly in front of the Ref…he was penalised and sent off. Lone behold a penalty was awarded and up stepped Cirio, to net his 2nd goal in 4 days. The match ending 2-1. From all reports, there may have been some tunnel antics between assistant coaches as the teams left the field, obviously the red card incident had tempers flaring on both sides.
Round 24 follows next week, Brisbane now in a race to hold 4th sport with the Glory and Adelaide potentially in a position to step off the bottom is they can secure more points.
Cosi Dichiera
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