Adelaide United coach Guillermo Amor always trusted his team would find the resolve to overcome the disappointment of conceding an equalising goal and put Sydney FC to bed in Friday night’s thrilling, last-gasp 2-1 victory at Coopers Stadium.
After the Sky Blues were reduced to 10 men following defender Alex Gerbsach’s first-half red-carding, James Jeggo’s scorching long-range second-chance strike in the 62nd minute gave the hard-charging Reds the edge.
United continued to hammer away in attack without further reward before Sydney marquee striker Filip Holosko, against the flow and with remarkable control, goaled smartly to make it 1-1 eight minutes later which, in Amor’s words, ‘annoyed all of our plans’.
Reds strike late to down 10-man Sky Blues
The undermanned Blues continued to defend stoutly and looked like escaping with a point before Marcelo Carrusca’s smacked a match-clinching penalty goal in the 95th minute, after Jacques Faty was whistled for infringing on Dylan McGowan in the area.
“I was confident there would be one, two, three occasions where we would have our chance,” Amor said.
“I wasn’t sure but you have to trust for the best.
“The main thing was we were persistent, even in spite of conceding the goal.
“That annoyed all of our plans to an extent, but we kept fighting.
“I’m quite happy. For us it was good.”
Earlier, Adelaide had numerous close shaves when endeavouring to build their lead, with disallowed off-side goals to Sergio Cirio (fairly clearcut) and Pablo Sanchez (a magnificent header into the back of the net but called for the tightest of tight off-side calls) frustrating the home fans.
“Did one call counterbalance the other? Yes,” Amor explained, suggesting the Reds had a mix of good fortune and misfortune in the topsy-turvy affair.
“But that’s the nature of the game.
“I always respect the umpire’s decision.”
With the Sky Blues already spending much of the match reduced to 10 men, Amor felt his team was powered by a plus-two advantage, willed by the noise and support of a relatively moderate but full-voiced crowd of 9076.
“It (felt like it) was 12 of us because the supporters were there and you could hear them,” he said after notching back-to-back wins for the first time as a senior manager.
