Adelaide United’s Young Reds edged past Sturt Lions 3–2 in Blackwood on Saturday afternoon, with a Joey Garuccio brace and a moment of brilliance from Harry Crawford sealing a hard-earned second consecutive win.
Head Coach Paul Vanis made four changes to the starting XI from the win over West Adelaide, with Panashe Madanha, Sotirios Phillis and Luka Blazevic coming into the side, while Vinko Stanisic shifted to the bench. Kaspar Kuzman also moved to the substitutes after starting last week. On the bench, Campbell Mattner was added as the reserve goalkeeper and Kalan Alagich came into the matchday squad, with Israel Mbula-Monga and Luke Hurst retained.
It was a tough afternoon up in the Hills in challenging conditions against a strong Sturt side, captained by Reds Championship winner Michael Marrone.
The Young Reds started brightly and struck first on seven minutes, with Amlani Tatu breaking in from the left and squaring for Joey Garuccio, who slotted past Zalan Melegh.
It got even better just two minutes later with a goal that had Adelaide United written all over it. Ethan Cox started the move, rolling the ball out to Feyzo Kasumovic before the Reds combined through midfield via Alex Battistella, Garuccio and Tatu. The ball was worked to Harry Crawford on the right with space to run, and his low delivery found Garuccio to tap home and make it 2–0.
Sturt hit back quickly, however, with Thanasis Lesi heading home from a corner around the quarter-hour mark to halve the deficit.
The match settled after the frantic start. Tatu fired a low effort straight at Melegh on 21 minutes, while Madanha went close on the half-hour, getting in one-on-one but seeing his finish smartly denied by the Sturt keeper.
At half-time, Vanis made a double change, introducing Israel Mbula-Monga and Vinko Stanisic in place of Panashe Madanha and Luka Blazevic.
Sturt began the second half with intent. Gonzalo Rodriguez nearly caught Ethan Cox with a lob that was cleared off the line by Kasumovic, before Cox was again called into action to comfortably hold a long-range strike from Alex Sortini.
The Lions found their equaliser with 15 minutes to play when Mohammed Hassan’s sharp run and low cross picked out Rodriguez, who finished neatly into the bottom corner to make it 2–2.
But Sturt’s momentum turned to despair four minutes later after a superb piece of improvisation from Crawford. Lining up a free kick midway inside the Sturt half, the defender caught everyone off guard, spotting Melegh slightly out of position and curling a brilliant strike into the corner. It was outstanding awareness and a delicious finish that proved to be the match-winner.
Head Coach Paul Vanis said:
“I’m really pleased with the way the boys handled a tough game in difficult conditions. We started well and our football in the opening stages was excellent – the build-up for the second goal in particular is the brand of football we want to play. To Sturt’s credit they kept coming and made it a real contest, but I loved our response when they got back to 2–2. To show that composure and then find a moment of quality to win it says a lot about the group. It’s another positive step forward for us and we’ll take that momentum into next week.”
The Young Reds held on to secure their second straight win, lifting them into the top six. Next up is a trip to the Barossa next weekend to face MetroStars.
Starting XI
#36 Panashe Madanha (off 46’)
#40 Ethan Cox (C) (GK)
#45 Alex Battistella
#52 Sotirios Phillis (off 70’)
#57 Liam Stam (off 75’)
#58 Harry Crawford
#62 Fabian Talladira
#65 Joey Garuccio
#67 Luka Blazevic (off 46’)
#74 Amlani Tatu
#79 Feyzo Kasumovic
Substitutes
#13 Campbell Mattner (GK)
#15 Israel Mbula-Monga (on 46’)
#71 Vinko Stanisic (on 46’)
#84 Kaspar Kuzman (on 70’)
#86 Luke Hurst
#88 Kalan Alagich (on 75’)
