Original Rivalry Puts United Top
The Original Rivalry often produces classics, and Saturday Night’s heated clash was no different.
Under the hot Adelaide sun, the opportunity to right a major wrong of the season was too good to pass up for Adelaide. The Reds put bitter rivals, Melbourne Victory, to the sword after the midway point of the first half and headed back to top spot in the A-League, recording a 3-2 win.
With the home form in the back half of 2024 behind United, at least for now, Adelaide seemed to put the last piece of its premiership challenge in place. The ability to win at home.
While the night was full of good moments, the first 24 minutes will be something Veart and his men would like to quickly forget.
Adelaide was a shell of how they finished, chance after chance, Victory worked the United defence. It was a matter of time before United broke, and Victory drew first blood.
Bruno Fornaroli’s brilliant ball saw Ryan Teague open the scoring for the night. The defensive midfielder’s shot went over the head of Reds’ keeper, Ethan Cox, who couldn’t do anything to stop Victory taking the lead.
Daniel Arazani nearly found a second moments later, as the blue wave continued to crash over Hindmarsh.
Adelaide’s reprieve came at that 24th minute, in the form of a drinks break. The game flipped on its head. Victory went back into their shell, and United rallied on the home front.
“We were dominating at that point,” Victory coach, Arthur Diles, said.
“Maybe we could have been up by a couple more, but we weren’t. That’s been our Achilles’ heel at the moment, not putting teams away.”
“As I said, that first 15, 20 minutes, it was really hectic. No one was really getting their foot on the ball,” Veart said, as he made mention of his teams poor start.
As it often goes in football, all it takes to get a goal is one good ball. 19-year-old Centre-Back, Panagiotis Kikianis, produced a pass for Stefan Mauk that bypassed the entire Victory defence.
Mauk was then left in a one-on-one, and from there he finished, beating Jack Duncan in the Victory goal.
Toward the end of the first half, when Victory captain, Roderick Miranda, went sliding in to stop a fairly dangerous Dylan Pierias cross, the unthinkable happened.
Miranda and his centre-back partner, Brendan Hamill, couldn’t clear the ball. From there, any captain’s worse nightmare became Miranda’s reality, as he put the ball into his own net.
At the half, United had a 2-1 lead, and had done all they could in the first 45 to prove that the clubs’ new year resolution was for an upturn in results at home.
For Melbourne, Victory was slipping and with it, a spot in top six, and their title as contenders.
The Reds started the second half the same way they finished the first. Mauk was given a chance on goal from former Victory player, Ben Folami, but the ball flew into the Adelaide sky.
Mauk was outdone moments later by Clerismario Santos Rodrigues, as no one could seem to keep the ball under the bar.
When dangers like Victory’s Daniel Arzani lurch on the wings, moments of brilliance are always around the corner. Arzani’s 66th minute run down the wing saw him produce a cross of quality, and the flying Santos did the rest to level the game.
However, just two minutes later, it was the Reds’ youngsters who found Adelaide’s third. Yaya Dukuly pulled the ball back to find Ethan Alagich, as one of United’s own sent the city of churches into raptures.
For the visitors, Patrick Kisnorbo’s brief stint as Victory boss came to a rather abrupt end during last month. Since that point, Victory’s form has been abysmal.
Diles, Victory’s interim coach, with just three points taken from the last six games, must consider the idea of being inside the top six some fever dream.
However, against Sydney on Friday Night, the possibility of re-establishing its place in the chosen half a dozen remains.
“You want a result at the of the hard work,” Diles began post game.
“I think we were worth a result today. We were excellent for most parts of that game.
It could, however, go the other way for Diles, and if results continue to go against Melbourne’s navy blue, the wolves will circle at AAMI park.
He believes however, that tonight his team managed to produced a consistent effort.
“In the end, we lose to an own goal, really,” Diles reflected.
“We were able to back up first and second half and not switch off.”
For Adelaide, it was a much needed win.
“It was a derby,” Veart said.
“I suppose we’re just very happy that we got the last shot in and got three points.”
The club will host Auckland, at its now happy home of Hindmarsh. A win will put United four points clear at the top of the table heading into Round 16. However, a loss will leave the fans seeing red.