Adelaide United recruit Iain Ramsay scored twice as the Reds continued Melbourne Heart’s early A-League woes with a 3-2 victory on Friday night.
Ramsay, lured to Adelaide from Sydney FC, was the game-breaker with an 88th minute goal which gave the Reds their first triumph of the season.
The left winger’s pair of goals before his adopted home crowd at Hindmarsh Stadium left the Heart without a win from their initial three games.
Ramsay’s late strike followed his first half goal, which was matched by teammate Matthew Leckie.
Heart winger Rutger Worm scored his side’s first and created their second.
Leckie scored in the second minute when Heart defenders Michael Marrone and Michael Beauchamp botched a back pass.
Marrone’s sloppy pass to his teammate was compounded when Beauchamp slipped, allowing Leckie to pounce.
The 19-year-old’s finish was clinical, slotting a left footer into the side net to give the Reds a dream start.
Leckie’s influence loomed large in the opening half and he followed his goal with three more shots in the next 20 minutes, capitalising on some smooth set-ups by Marcos Flores.
The Hearts weathered that storm before equalising in the 42nd minute when Dutch winger Rutgen Worm lodged his first A-League goal.
Worm’s crisp and accurate header in the box was created by left back Dean Heffernan, whose classy cross highlighted his personally productive first half.
Adelaide struck again early in the second when former Sydney FC winger Iain Ramsay netted his first goal for his new club.
Ramsay’s sliding left footer from close range in the 52nd minute came after Reds captain Lucas Pantelis had a shot blocked, the deflection falling into the Adelaide newcomer’s path a metre from goal.
Worm then turned the game by gifting colleague Eli Babalj the Heart’s second goal.
Worm’s incisive left flank run went through Adelaide’s defence before his cross found Babalj unmarked in the box, the Australian under 20 rep converting with a fired right footer.
That feat set course for a draw before Ramsay’s opportunistic left footer with five minutes remaining sealed Adelaide’s win.
Adelaide United coach Rini Coolen was rapt to record his first win in charge of the Reds.
“We are working so hard as a group and to get the three points, especially at the beginning of the season … you need confidence and you only get confidence by winning games,” he said.
Melbourne Heart coach John van ‘t Schip lamented his side “giving goals away”.
“There were parts of the game that we were playing quite well but the story is we gave away two easy goals … and it’s difficult to recuperate,” he said.
“In a game like this if you want to win, want to get a result, then you can’t give away those easy goals.”
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