Adelaide United ended Perth Glory’s perfect start to the season with a dominant 2-0 performance at Coopers Stadium.
The in-form Sergio Cirio’s side foot finish gave the Reds the lead before 20 minutes and Mabil rounded out the performance with a cool finish of his own.
The Reds enjoyed the majority of the possession throughout the match and central midfielders Marcelo Carrusca and Jimmy Jeggo dominated with their quick, precise passing game.
The Glory tested Galekovic on a few occasions but they struggled against a well-structured Adelaide midfield.
One of the league’s prominent attacking threats Andrew Keogh was the closest candidate for them – finding himself goal side of the Reds’ defence but ultimately failing to control the ball.
Ferreira and Cirio were allowed to run and create multiple scoring opportunities down the flanks and fullback Craig Goodwin also added to Adelaide’s attacking threat with his pace and precise crossing.
The second half immediately began in the way the first one ended – with Pablo Sanchez’ sprint winning the Reds a corner early.
This epitomised the determination of the Reds to break quickly and constantly keep the pressure on the Glory defence.
Substitute Mabil provided the fresh legs that the Reds needed to ensure they went on to win the match.
His energy and pace terrorised the Glory defence and his efforts culminated in a calm finish which fooled goalkeeper Daniel Vukovic.
And he could have had another, missing an opportunity that fell to him from point-blank range in front of the Glory’s goal.
Reds coach Josep Gombau stressed the importance of building on tonight’s result.
“I am happy with the way that we played.
“Today we played better because we had four at the back and our players are starting to come back from injury so we have more choices when it comes to the lineup.
“Every single game we have to make sure we play well but what I want is to take it week by week and be careful that we don’t get ahead of ourselves.”
The Reds will take a lot of confidence out of such an impressive display and will look at extending their unbeaten run against Melbourne City next Friday night.
Match Details
Sunday, 26 October 2014
Hyundai A-League 2014/15 Season – Round 3
Adelaide United 2 (Cirio 18’, Mabil 68’)
Perth Glory 0
Venue: Coopers Stadium, Hindmarsh
Attendance: 11,473
Adelaide United: Galekovic (c), Boogaard, Malik (McGowan 88′), Pablo Sanchez (Mabil 61′), Isaias, Cirio, Carrusca, Goodwin, Jeggo, Elrich, Ferreira (Marrone 69′)
Perth Glory: Vukovic, Griffiths, Djulbic, Keogh, Marinkovic (Hersi 45′), Garcia (O’Neill 73′), Maclaren, Nichols, Risdon, Jamieson, Thwaite (c)
Scorers: Cirio (18′), Mabil (68′)
Red cards: Nil
Yellow cards: Jamieson (57′), Garcia (72′), Thwaite (77′), Griffiths (79′), Maclaren (86′)