Adelaide United’s Young Reds blitzed their way to a second win of the season at Coopers Stadium on Sunday afternoon, defeating West Adelaide 4–0. Goals from Joey Garuccio, Amlani Tatu, Kaspar Kuzman and Israel Mbula-Monga sealed a convincing three points for Paul Vanis’ side.
Head Coach Paul Vanis made two changes to the starting XI from the previous week, with Liam Stam and Fabian Talladira coming into the side, while Malual Nichola was unavailable through suspension. On the bench, Chris Irakoze, Jerome Scarfo and Mitch Knight were added to the matchday squad, alongside Israel Monga, Luke Hurst and Fabian Grelli.
West Adelaide threatened early, with Ethan Cox forced into action to palm away a low strike from Luca Fabrizio, before the Young Reds began to settle. Bailey O’Neil dragged a shot just wide on nine minutes, while at the other end Muradi went close with a long-range effort that grazed the post on 16 minutes.
Photo Credit: Ken Carter
The breakthrough arrived on 33 minutes. After a corner was only partially cleared, Joey Garuccio carried the ball smartly into the area, shifted past two Hellas defenders and crashed his finish beyond O’Donnell at the Red Army end to give the Young Reds a deserved lead. Amlani Tatu nearly doubled the advantage soon after, but his effort drifted wide.
United’s second-half intent was immediate. Luke Hurst was introduced at half-time, replacing Vinko Stanisic, and the Reds doubled their lead soon after when Feyzo Kasumovic headed a Fabian Talladira corner back across goal, allowing Kaspar Kuzman to turn it home for his first senior NPL goal.
On 61 minutes, Tatu picked up the ball inside West Adelaide’s half, drove at the defence and smashed home to make it 3–0, before United controlled the remainder of the contest with long spells of possession.
Photo Credit: Ken Carter
Substitute Israel Mbula-Monga was thrown into an advanced role for the final 15 minutes and capped the performance late, latching onto a Tatu through ball and thrashing home from the edge of the box to complete the scoring at 4–0.
Head Coach Paul Vanis said:
“I’m really proud of the performance from the group. It’s a great experience for these boys to play at Coopers Stadium and I thought they handled it really well – we played with good intensity, were disciplined without the ball, and took our chances when they came. I was pleased with the way the group stepped up and did their job for each other.
The most encouraging thing for me is that we’re continuing to see improvement each week. We’re building our game, creating more opportunities, and starting to show the brand of football we want to play for longer periods. Now it’s about backing it up and taking that momentum into next week.”
Squad
Starting XI
#40 Ethan Cox (C) (GK)
#45 Alex Battistella
#54 Bailey O’Neil
#57 Liam Stam (off 72’)
#58 Harry Crawford
#62 Fabian Talladira
#65 Joey Garuccio
#71 Vinko Stanisic (off 46’)
#74 Amlani Tatu
#79 Feyzo Kasumovic (off 72’)
#84 Kaspar Kuzman (off 72’)
Substitutes
#15 Israel Mbula-Monga (on 72’)
#56 Jerome Scarfo
#75 Fabian Grelli (on 72’)
#82 Chris Irakoze
#83 Mitch Knight
#86 Luke Hurst (on 46’)
