Adelaide United FC’s first trip to Parramatta Stadium has been one the Reds will want to quickly forget after they were on the wrong end of a 6-1 hiding at the hands of the Western Sydney Wanderers.
Adelaide United FC-s first trip to Parramatta Stadium has been one the Reds will want to quickly forget after they were on the wrong end of a 6-1 hiding at the hands of the Western Sydney Wanderers.
If the Reds- upcoming two home matches against Brisbane Roar on Boxing Day and Sydney FC on New Years Eve were not already important enough, they have become even more critical now after the Wanderers notched up their biggest win.
Dario Vidosic scored a second half consolation to take his tally to six for the season, but it meant little as a Mark Bridge hat-trick plus goals from Dino Kresinger, Shinji Ono and Joey Gibbs gave Wanderers fans an early Christmas present.
The signs were ominous early on as Kresinger found the side netting before the breakthrough came for the home side in the 18th minute when the impressive Youssouf Hersi-s deft flick the top behind Iain Fyfe was met by Bridge who snuck up and tucked the ball past Eugene Galekovic.
Galekovic did well to deny Bridge as he lurked dangerously again before the Wanderers striker flashed a shot just wide of United keeper-s left post soon after.
At the other end of the field, the Reds- danger men of the past fortnight were finding the going difficult against the disciplined Wanderers defensive unit, unable to seriously test Ante Covic.
Despite the Wanderers having much of the running the first half, he Reds were still well and truly in the game leading up towards half time until the flood gates opened as Bridge and then Kresinger scored in the shadows of the break.
United-s central defensive pair Nigel Boogaard and Iain Fyfe were finding themselves under siege and suddenly it was 3-0 with the Reds having it all to do.
Staring at a three goal deficit, Coach John Kosmina brought Jeronimo Neumann on for Evan Kostopoulos to start the second half but it was one of the Wanderers- foreigners that would make the next impact as Hersi was the provider again, making the most of a miscued Galekovic goal kick to pick out Ono, the Japanese start with a first class finish.
Bridge then scored his third in the 58th minute as he had time to hit his first time effort past a helpless Galekovic to well and truly put the game out of the Reds- reach.
When Neumann dissected the WSW defence with a fine through ball for Vidosic to run onto and beat Covic the Reds had a goal which triggered a mini period of sustained resistance, but it was short lived as the substitute Gibbs knocked home goal number six in the 90th minute.
After the final whistle, Boogaard publicly apologised to the club-s supporters for the result.
“We didn-t turn up…we need to go back home and have a good hard look at ourselves and I want to apologise to our fans because that was rubbish.”
Match Details
Western Sydney Wanderers 6 (Bridge 18-/45-/58-, Kresinger 45+2-, Ono 52-, Gibbs 90-)
Adelaide United FC 1 (Vidosic 68-)
Referee: Jarred Gillett
Crowd: 9,056 @ Parramatta Stadium
Western Sydney Wanderers starting line-up: 1.Ante Covic (gk), 3.Adam D-Apuzzo (18.Iacopo La Rocca 35-), 4.Nikolai Topor-Stanley, 5.Michael Beauchamp (c), 6.Jerome Polenz, 8.Mateo Poljak, 9.Dino Kresinger (13.Joey Gibbs 66-), 10.Aaron Mooy, 17.Youssouf Hersi, 19.Mark Bridge, 21.Shinji Ono (12.Tahj Minniecon 61-)
Substitutes not used: 20.Jerrad Tyson (gk)
Yellow Cards: D-apuzzo 4-, Hersi 36-, La Rocca 72-
Red Cards: Nil
Adelaide United starting line-up: 1.Eugene Galekovic (gk) (c), 2.Osama Malik, 3.Nigel Boogaard, 5.Iain Fyfe, 6.Cassio, 8.Marcelo Carrusca (18.Fabian Barbiero 72-), 10.Dario Vidosic, 11.Bruce Djite (17.Iain Ramsay 63-), 14.Cameron Watson, 22.Fabio Ferreira, 23.Evan Kostopoulos (21.Jeronimo Neumann 46-)
Substitutes not used: 30.John Hall (gk)
Yellow Cards: Galekovic 28-, Carrusca 61-, Neumann 78-, Barbiero 90+2-
Red Cards: Nil
