Adelaide United has capped off Round 2 with an emphatic 2-0 win over Melbourne City at home. Second half goals from Tomi Juric and Stefan Mauk sealed Adelaide’s first win, albeit bittersweet with the club potentially losing Ryan Strain for several weeks.
Adelaide elected for an unchanged XI from its draw with Western United while new signing George Timotheou was named on the bench.
The visitors were forced into making two changes with Frenchman Florin Berenguer and Marco Tilio replacing the injured Andrew Nabbout and suspended Adrian Luna.
It was a fairly uneventful first half with neither side creating many meaningful chances. The Reds did lose Ryan Strain in the 36th minute, with the Olyroo fullback seen holding back tears as he limped off with a suspected calf injury.
City came to life soon after the break and were nearly rewarded with a Jamie Maclaren opener, only to be denied by the offside flag.
The bad news continued for City when captain Scott Jamieson was sent off after a second yellow.
A booking for a clumsy challenge to go with an earlier one for dissent not only gave Jamieson his marching orders but Adelaide the opening it desired.
The corresponding set-piece saw Louis D’ Arrigo find an unmarked Tomi Juric, who danced around an imaginary defence and placed it home into the bottom right corner marking Juric’s first A-League goal since 2014/15.
The Reds doubled their lead soon after when Stefan Mauk combined with substitute Mohamed Toure to seal the side’s first win of the new season.
Mauk’s dagger to the City hearts proved to be the final meaningful action of the game with the home side taking home all the points.
Full time Adelaide United 2 – Melb City 0
City center-back Rostryn Griffiths spoke to Fox Sports after the game when he expressed his frustation in the result, also an uncalled for attack into the center referee.
” I was a little bit disappointed in the referee in the whole game to be honest.”, Griffiths said.
“Left, right and centre.”
Asked on Jamieson’s send off Griffiths said the following
” I said something to him {referee} in the first-half and he ran across to me like he wanted to fight me.
“He did the same to Scotty. Was quick to get his yellow card out and it kills the game.
“I don’t think anyone want’s to see that but probably Adelaide fans do that don’t like Scotty.
“It kills the spectacle”
Adelaide’s victory makes it seven games unbeaten under Carl Veart with three wins and four draws. James Delianov also made it three straight clean-sheets.
United will have a fortnight’s break before an away trip to at NIB Stadium with Perth Glory. With an injured striker and a suspended captain, City will also have a two week pause before a “Melbourne derby” of sorts when they host cross-town rivals Western United on another Sunday evening time-slot.
Adelaide United : 1.James DELIANOV (gk), 2.Michael MARRONE, 3.George TIMOTHEOU, 4.Ryan STRAIN, 6.Louis D’ARRIGO, 7.Ryan KITTO, 8.Stefan MAUK (c), 9.Tomi JURIC, 15.Noah SMITH, 16.Nathan KONSTANDOPOULOS, 17.Mohamed TOURE, 18.Joe CALETTI, 19.Yaya DUKULY, 22.Michael JAKOBSEN, 23.Jordan ELSEY, 24.Pacifique NIYONGABIRE, 26.Ben HALLORAN, 29.Kusini YENGI, 33.Dakota OCHSENHAM (gk), 34.Yared ABETEW
Melbourne City FC : 1.Tom GLOVER (gk), 2.Scott GALLOWAY, 3.Scott JAMIESON (c), 7.Rostyn GRIFFITHS, 8.Aiden O’NEILL, 9.Jamie MACLAREN, 10.Florin BERENGUER-BOHRER, 11.Craig NOONE, 14.Naoki TSUBAKI, 16.Taras GOMULKA, 17.Stefan COLAKOVSKI, 18.Connor METCALFE, 19.Ben GARUCCIO, 22.Curtis GOOD, 23.Marco TILIO, 33.Matthew SUTTON (gk), 35. Raphael BORGES RODRIGUES, 36.Kerrin STOKES, 38. Jordan BOS, 42. Ahmad TALEB (gk).
