Adelaide United went down 2-0 to Melbourne City in a pre-season friendly at CFA Melbourne on Wednesday afternoon.
Two goals in quick succession for the hosts was ultimately the Reds’ undoing, as they could not recover despite making it difficult for their opponents in the second-half.
Craig Goodwin had Adelaide’s first shot at goal when his effort on the edge of the box landed kindly for Eugene Galekovic.
But after 12 minutes, City would open the scoring as Bruno Fornaroli played a defence-splitting pass for Lachie Wales to run onto and finish beyond Paul Izzo.
Four minutes later, the hosts doubled their advantage courtesy of Dario Vidosic. Michael O’Halloran’s cut-back from the right flank found the forward and he buried his shot.
Adelaide almost found a reply when centre-back Michael Jakobsen ventured forward before squaring to Ben Halloran. However, the attacker’s attempt flew just over the crossbar.
Following the re-start, Head Coach, Marco Kurz altered his tactics with his side more compact and frustrated the home team.
Goodwin pounced on an errant ball from Bart Schenkeveld and struck the near post in the 56th minute.
The winger persistently caused problems for City, without any luck, after seeing another effort strike the woodwork. This time he controlled an aerial ball with his chest and fired his volley which struck the outside of the post.
It was another let-off for the hosts, who managed the remaining minutes of the friendly to record the win.
It was not the ideal result, though the Reds will quickly move on and continue their preparations ahead of a massive FFA Cup 2018 Quarter Final clash with APIA Leichhardt in a fortnight.
Match details:
Wednesday, 12 September 2018
Pre-season Friendly
Melbourne City 2 (Wales 12’ Vidosic 16’)
Adelaide United 0
Venue: CFA Melbourne
