Adelaide United v Melbourne Victory – Friday, 7 December 2012
This season we will be looking ahead to the Reds’ Hyundai A-League matches by rolling back the clock and revisiting some of the club’s most memorable clashes against our upcoming opponents.
This week, we turn our attention to Round 10 of the 2012/13 Hyundai A-League season when the Reds faced Melbourne Victory at Hindmarsh Stadium – a match that eventually ended as a goal-fest.
The visitors arrived in Adelaide confident of earning a result against United, as they were unbeaten in their last five previous matches. The Reds, on the other hand, entered the match coming off a 2-1 loss to Central Coast Mariners six days earlier.
With the stage set and 14,115 fans waiting in anticipation, the match kicked off at a blistering pace with two goals in the opening five minutes.
It was United who opened the scoring in the third minute after some tenacious work down the right flank by Fabio Ferreira saw him square the ball across the six-yard box for Evan Kostopoulos to poke home from close range.
Two minutes later, Victory equalised through young forward Andrew Nabbout who beat United stand-in goalkeeper, Paul Izzo, after a neat counterattack.
The match settled for a bit, but the Reds turned up the intensity just after the 20 minute mark and stunned the travelling Victorians. With 21 minutes on the clock, Fabio Ferreira made it 2-1 with an ingenious outside of the right boot strike, which curled into the far post of the Victory goal – leaving Nathan Coe helpless.
But United weren’t finished and they added to their advantage through Argentine, Marcelo Carrusca in the 25th minute with another glorious curling effort. Composed work by Bruce Djite on the top of the 18-yard box saw him hold the ball and feed it to Carrusca, who audaciously – but successfully – looped a curling strike to the far post of Coe’s goal, again leaving the ‘keeper with no chance of saving.
In the 32nd minute, Kostopoulos popped up again to make it 4-1 before halftime when he nodded in a Carrusca free-kick and sending Coopers into raptures.
After the break, the fixture would have one more goal to give, Victory winger, Marco Rojas, finishing neatly in the 47th minute to beat Izzo.
Yet Victory’s efforts weren’t enough, as the three points remained in South Australia after the Reds held on to win 4-2. United would end up finishing the league in fourth, only three points behind Melbourne Victory in third, and be unfortunately eliminated by Brisbane Roar in the opening round of the finals, losing 2-1 at Coopers.
Match Details
Friday, 7 December 2012
Hyundai A-League 2012/13 Season – Round 10
Adelaide United FC 4 (Kostopoulos 3’ 32’, Ferreira 22’, Carrusca 25’)
Melbourne Victory 2 (Nabbout 6’, Rojas 47’)
Venue: Hindmarsh Stadium
Crowd: 14,115
Adelaide Untied will face Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park in Round 8 of the 2014/15 Hyundai A-League season on Friday 28 November. Kick off will be at 7:10 ACDT.
