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Adelaide United has lost its first home match of the A-League 2020/21 season after surrendering a first-half lead to fall 2-1 to Perth Glory at Coopers Stadium on Friday night.
Stefan Mauk opened the scoring but the Reds conceded twice in the second stanza thanks to a goal from Bruno Fornaroli and a lucky Daniel Stynes’ deflection.
Adelaide were slow out of the blocks with Perth pressing and not allowing the Reds any easy passes.
But the momentum soon changed and it was the hosts that were dictating terms.
In the 20th minute, Mauk struck after some incisive play with Ben Halloran on the right flank.
The captain released the winger before returning the favour with a clever cut-back to pick out Mauk’s surging run into the box and his finish was hit with power and accuracy.
Carl Veart was still unhappy with what he saw though and made two substitutions before the break; one tactical and the other forced.
Al Hassan Toure replaced Yaya Dukuly before Michael Jakobsen succumbed to injury with George Timotheou introduced a few minutes later.
Halloran had an opportunity to double the advantage after dispossessing Darryl Lachman and was bearing down on goal though could not apply the finishing touch.
Veart called on Mohamed Toure at the break for the Louis D’Arrigo, and the forward provided real dynamism.
A. Toure combined well with his younger brother as the pair looked to cause Perth problems on the break.
More changes followed as Nathan Konstandopoulos and Kusini Yengi entered the fray at the expense of Mauk and Halloran on 69 minutes.
Konstandopoulos pulled the trigger from distance which was not too far away.
However, the Glory levelled four minutes later through Fornaroli following some good build-up play from Diego Castro and Neil Kilkenny.
Parity lasted just 10 minutes when the Western Australian outfit made it 1-2 via a fortuitous deflection off Timotheou from Stynes’ shot.
Adelaide searched for an equaliser and Juric was very close to levelling with a stunning long-range effort but it was in vain.
Team news
Carl Veart reverted to a 4-3-3 line-up and made three changes from last week’s match. Captain Mauk started in midfield while Tomi Juric and Yaya Dukuly returned with Mohamed Toure and Kusini Yengi dropping to the bench.
Key moments
20’ | GOAL! Halloran drives down the wing and his cutback is converted by Mauk with a tidy finish.
https://players.brightcove.net/5498268479001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6229384141001
45+1’ | CHANCE! Halloran catches Lachman napping on the ball but drags his attempt across the face of goal.
https://players.brightcove.net/5498268479001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6229389285001
73’ | GOAL: Castro feeds Kilkenny and his square pass is tapped in by Fornaroli.
83’ | GOAL: Styne’s low drive takes a huge deflection leaving Delianov helpless.
90+3′ | CHANCE! Juric unleashes long-range strike which almost creeps into the top corner.
https://players.brightcove.net/5498268479001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6229405844001
Match details:
Game date: Friday, 5 February
A-League 2020/21 – Matchweek 07
Adelaide United 1 (Mauk 20’)
Perth Glory 2 (Fornaroli 73’, Stynes 83’)
Venue: Coopers Stadium
Crowd: 5,728
