Adelaide United have lost to reigning Isuzu Ute A-League Champions, Western United, 2-3 in a pre-season friendly at ServiceFM Stadium.
A first-half brace from Ben Halloran was cancelled out by Western in the second half, but Head Coach, Carl Veart, said the performance was promising: “We’re very happy with how we played in the first half in particular.
“We played some really good football and kept the pitch quite small, which made it difficult for the opposition to play their transition and fast-break attack that they like.
“In the second half the match got a little bit stretched, bringing them into the game and it stopped us from playing the football that we found successful in the opening 45 (minutes).
“The goals we conceded were soft goals that can come in pre-season, but it shows us where we have to refine our game and we’ll keep working.
“Having said that, we did create some good chances in the second half that we didn’t take and we’ll have to be more clinical when the season starts.
“There were plenty of good signs for us to work on over the next three weeks to get ready for Round 1.”
Goals:
4′ Halloran — Hiroshi Ibusuki flies through the Western United midfield and feeds Asad Kasumovic on the left flank. Kasumovic takes the ball down the line and floats a looping cross to the back post, which is met by a clean Ben Halloran header back across Jamie Young’s goal.
37′ Halloran — Louis D’Arrigo’s enthusiastic pressing sees him pounce on sloppy possession by Western at the back. D’Arrigo slices a simple square ball across the six-yard box for Halloran, who taps in to a vacant net.
56′ Wenzel-Halls — Dylan Wenzel-Halls converts a penalty.
63′ Pierias – Dylan Pierias scores from close range.
70′ Wenzel-Halls – Wenzel-Halls scores his second.
Match details:
Pre-Season Friendly — Saturday, 17 September 2022
Adelaide United 2 (Halloran 4′ 37)
Western United 3 (Wenzel-Halls 56’ (P) 70’, Pierias 63’)
ServiceFM Stadium
