Adelaide United endured a 0-2 loss to Melbourne Victory in Round 14 of the Hyundai A-League 2016/17 season at Coopers Stadium on Saturday night.
A brilliant James Troisi strike and a header from Besart Berisha ultimately handed the away outfit the three points, in what was otherwise a fairly tight contest.
Reds Head Coach, Guillermo Amor, opted to name an unchanged starting line-up in the hope of building on from last weekend’s resolute performance.
After a relatively even start to proceedings, it was Adelaide who slowly began to control the tempo of the game. The Reds enjoyed large spells of possession in promising areas and also looked to target the full-backs of the Victory.
Though, despite the auspicious start, Fahid Ben Khalfallah nearly broke the deadlock on seven minutes when he was played through on goal. However, Tarek Elrich and Eugene Galekovic reacted swiftly, thwarting the veteran winger from dispatching his shot.
And moments later, Adelaide had a chance of their own as Guardiola wriggled free of the Victory defence, before directing his effort wide of the post.
It was a frenetic tempo to the match, that ebbed and flowed, but it would be the visitors who took the advantage through a sumptuous curling effort from Troisi outside the box on 22 minutes.
The Reds, in reply, probed and asked questions of the Victory’s defence without ever mustering any clear cut chances. Although, the likes of Nikola Mileusnic and Ben Garuccio were dynamic and appeared threatening when marauding forward.
The second-half saw the fluidity of the clash somewhat interrupted, attributed to the stop, start nature of the game.
However, Amor’s men were unfortunate not to have restored parity, after Isaias’ mesmerising free-kick agonisingly smacked the crossbar.
United would subsequently rue that missed opportunity, as Berisha nodded home from Troisi’s pin-point set piece three minutes later.
Consequently, Amor turned to his bench to try and salvage something from the game, which included defender Michael Marrone completing his long-awaited comeback from an Achilles injury – sustained in last year’s Grand Final triumph – with a five minute cameo.
After the match, Boss Amor, thanked Reds fans for their unending support at Coopers Stadium, despite the disappointing and frustrating start to the season.
“Our fans have been fantastic and the support has been fantastic even though we’re at the bottom (of the table),” Amor said.
“The supporters came today and this is fantastic and we need this for us.
“It’s true that after we don’t win, it’s hard for us and the public and the supporters of Adelaide United, but the players today gave everything.
“And we’ll try to improve the situation and to improve the result and to win next Thursday against Melbourne City.”
Match details:
Saturday, 7 January 2017
Hyundai A-League Round 14
Adelaide United 0
Melbourne Victory 2 (Troisi 22’ Berisha 68’)
Venue: Coopers Stadium
Attendance: 10,036
