Adelaide United made a statement with a crushing 4-0 win over two-time reigning champions Central Coast Mariners as they continued their unbeaten start to the Isuzu UTE A-League season.
The rampant Reds showed no mercy at Industree Group Stadium, where Adelaide outclassed the Mariners in Gosford for the first time since 2019 thanks to goals from Archie Goodwin, Panagiotis Kikianis, Stefan Mauk and Yaya Dukuly on Friday night.
On the night Adelaide legend Isaias Sanchez became the most-capped player in the club’s Isuzu UTE A-League history after surpassing Eugene Galekovic with his 239th appearance, Carl Veart’s side made it seven matches without defeat to begin 2024-25 – matching their start in 2014-15.
Adelaide will now be looking to match their achievement of eight games without defeat to start their 2010-11 campaign as they closed within a point of league-leading Auckland FC, while Central Coast are seventh and nine points off the pace.
The Reds were a threat from the outset as Goodwin nearly put Adelaide ahead in the third minute – Clough’s brilliant throughball released Goodwin and he appeared through on goal until a sliding Brian Kaltak thwarted the talented youngster.
Goodwin did get his goal nine minutes later and it had been coming. He wrestled possession to start the move on the halfway line and finished the attack after sprinting into the penalty area and pipping Central Coast goalkeeper Dylan Peraic-Cullen to the ball.
It was his second goal for Adelaide since arriving from Newcastle Jets in the off-season.
Sasha Kuzevski stung the palms of James Delianov three minutes later as the Mariners searched for an equaliser.
While Adelaide dominated, Central Coast continued to fire a couple of warning shots.
But four minutes into the second half, the Reds made it 2-0 when an untracked Clough got into a dangerous position towards the byline before finding Kikianis, who volleyed into the back of the net.
It did not get any better for Central Coast as visiting Adelaide ran rampant, carving open the Mariners with regularity.
On the hour, Mauk made it 3-0 in a stunning team move that simply left the Mariners with no answer – the former captain’s third goal in four games; his best run of goalscoring form since 2021.
Then, Dukuly came off the bench in the 67th minute and netted a goal of his own six minutes later – his powerful strike going into the net off the post.
It was Dukuly’s first appearance of the season and he had a goal celebration to mark the occasion as he scored his first top-flight goal since 2021 when he was playing for Adelaide in his first spell with the club.
