An injury-time strike from Matthew Leckie earned Adelaide United a 1-1 draw with 10-man Gold Coast United in Friday’s A-League clash at Hindmarsh Stadium.
Leckie’s low drive from 20 metres in the 93rd minute saved Adelaide’s blushes after dominating for most of the match but trailing to a 64th-minute goal from Gold Coast midfielder Steve Fitzsimmons before a crowd of 9,578.
Fitzsimmons’ powerful header looked to have sent Gold Coast back to the top of the table after defender Kristian Rees was controversially sent off after he was adjudged to have brought down a goalbound Leckie in the the 33rd minute.
Adelaide coach Aurelio Vidmar bit the selection bullet and dropped out-of-form left-back Scott Jamieson, as well as strikers Cristiano and English import Lloyd Owusu and the revamped team responded with a dominant display but failed to turn possession into goals.
Vidmar again put his faith in Brazilian Cassio, vice captain Lucas Pantelis and 19-year-old Leckie, who threatened to unravel the Gold Coast on his own before half-time.
The young Socceroo’s electric pace led to the dismissal of former Adelaide defender Rees for hauling him down just outside the penalty area, despite video replays showing he got the ball.
Gold Coast midfielder Zac Anderson should have followed Rees to the rooms just before half-time after he hauled down Leckie, but he was saved from a red card on his debut with referee opting for a booking.
But Miron Bleiberg’s team proved resilient in the second half and looked threatening on the break and Fitzsimmons repeated his feat of scoring against Adelaide when they won 2-0 earlier in the season at the same venue with a powerful downward header past Eugene Galekovic after a fine cross from Zenon Caravella.
The draw meant Adelaide edged up to seventh while the Gold Coast remained third on the A League ladder.
Gold Coast United coach Miron Bleiberg said “justice had prevailed” with Adelaide’s late equaliser despite Leckie’s strike denying his side top spot.
“Obviously when you concede a goal in injury time, you feel bad for the players,” he said.
“But once the send-off happened, I would have signed my life on it (one point).”
His captain and Socceroo midfielder Jason Culina said he felt quite disappointed that the team hadn’t got the three points.
“We started slow. We re-grouped at half time, defended well and broke well,” said Culina.
Bleiberg said he’d told Culina if he did it in Oman, he could do it here.
Vidmar said his team deserved the three points on the night but it was important the players didn’t drop their heads now with the task of getting into the top six growing harder.
“I feel very sorry for the boys tonight,” he said.
“There was a lot of positives tonight. Something’s got to give,” said Vidmar.
“We’ve just got to keep driving and pushing ourselves.”
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