Round 8 of Hyundai A League action, brought ex Red’s coach Josep Gombau and his Western Sydney Wanderers to Coopers Stadium, for that last match of the round. A tad over 8000 fans witnessed the Reds secure a controversial, but deserved 2nil victory given the circumstances.
Ryan Kitto was the star of the night for the Reds by scoring goals in both halves to give Adelaide their first home win at Coopers in this 17/18 campaign. The match was evenly contested until in the 22nd minute when Wanderer centre back Cornthwaite, was sent off after an unintentional hand ball in the penalty box. The decision coming several minutes after the incident and a VAR decision resulting in a penalty and also referee Chris Beath issuing a 2nd yellow for the Wanderer and sending him off the field. This incident surely infuriated Wanderers players, who managed to pick up 5 yellows by half time and were left on the back foot for the remainder of the second half. Notable missus from the Reds, by not converting the penalty (Diawara) and other easy missed opportunities by Melusnic keeping Western Sydney in the match at half time.
The 2nd half saw a spirited fight back from the Wanderers who reverted to a 4-4-1 formation and they managed to outplay Adelaide and had a higher percentage of possession with 10 men. As is the case when down to 10, the Wanderers were caught out on a quick counter with Melusnic aiding Kitto to slot home a 2nd goal. The VAR was used again in the 77th when Ben Garuccio was sent packing after a nasty 2 footed tackle with studs up. The VAR is a controversial system and needs tweaking, surely it needs to be deployed immediately after an incident, not 2-4minutes after an incident, it is too big a gap and play has moved on. Last year Cornthwaite wouldn’t have been sent off and we would have been satisfied with the referees initial call and been treated to a good game of 11 vs 11 for 90minutes.
Player of the match; Ryan Kitto, 2 goals and plenty of possession, he just pipped Wanderer keeper Janjetović who had a great game in goals.
Article Written By Cosi Dichiera
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