Adelaide United striker Dario Vidosic refused to celebrate his match-winning free kick after it condemned his father Rado’s defending champions Brisbane to a second-straight A-League defeat on Sunday.
The 1-0 win at Suncorp Stadium moved Adelaide two points clear on top of the ladder and Brisbane just one point ahead of last-placed Melbourne Victory, who host Wellington to close out round five on Monday night.
Vidosic’s third minute free kick conversion took a slight deflection off Brisbane’s defensive wall and beat a diving Michael Theo, the former Roar hero elated yet mindful of celebrating his contribution too hard.
“When I played here (Brisbane) I was voted the fans’ favourite, so I have respect for them also with my dad being the coach,” said the Adelaide striker.
“I’ve played with a lot of those guys (Brisbane players), they’re my friends and I’ve got my friends and family here so that respect is there.
“The mailman doesn’t celebrate every time he delivers, it’s his job.”
While Vidosic’s boot provided the win, the hero was United’s cat-like `keeper Eugene Galekovic who, with national coach Holger Osieck in the crowd, may have clinched himself a Socceroos call-up for an upcoming friendly against South Korea with some spectacular saves.
Galekovic made six saves and finished with a yellow card.
Fox Sports commentator and former Australian international goalie Mark Bosnich went into raptures over Galekovic’s miraculous stop of Erik Partaalu’s 53rd minute header which he rated “world class”.
The ball appeared to have beaten Galekovic who was going the opposite way before he somehow stuck out his arm and grabbed the ball.
“It was just instinctive, it was a reflex save,” said Galekovic.
Adelaide were forced to defend desperately for 87 minutes with Brisbane stars Thomas Broich, Besart Berisha and Henrique unable to find the equaliser despite enjoying 64 per cent of possession for the match.
Brisbane had 11 shots to 2 and 13 corners to one.
How midfielder Mitch Nichols missed from point blank range in the 14th minute was a mystery to the 12,580 fans who couldn’t believe their eyes.
Brisbane coach Vidosic refused to be critical of his players after conceding an early goal.
“I cannot question the effort, the effort was fantastic,” he said.
“Apparently this is our worst start to an A-League season in history, what can you say?”
Adelaide defended resolutely but their coach John Kosmina denied that was the game plan.
“We didn’t come here to defend,” he said.
“Eugene was fantastic, Daniel Bowles (right fullback) looked outstanding and he is only a young kid.”
Kosmina was mystified why striker Sergio Van Dijk was disallowed a goal in the 53rd minute after some shoving in the box, which resulted in Brisbane being awarded a free kick.
“You can ask the referee but I’ve got no idea what it was for,” he said.
“You wouldn’t get a free kick for that in a netball game, it wouldn’t even be called contact.”
Dave of Norman Park
Guest
I think Mr Postecogliu has a lot to answer for, yes he won 2 championships but I feel he concentrated too much on building from the back and pass pass pass that the team has lost the cut and thrust to get up the park and put the ball in the back of the net has been lost, thus allowing teams to regroup and find a way around and secure wins, having said that the linesman yesterday was the worst i have ever seen what a clown, and the referee was even worse for allowing his decisions to stand and ruin the game, lets hope these clowns can watch the English premier league and get an idea about the rules of the game and before anyone has a go at me, I am Scottish, Go The Roar! 3 in a row!!
tk
Guest
Agree it was much improved performance than the Wsw match and that save was unbelievable I was already half out of my seat believing we had a goal.
Ian
Guest
"Intensity.The roar are often guilty of possession over intent. While I accept they can’t play up tempo the whole game’ it is frstrating to see the team wait untl extra time to pul out their full attacking intensity. How about starting the game like that?" very true. they pull out all stops at the end and it should be used a bit more often. no need for panic stations. i thought the roar played very well, much better than last week against the wanderers. the difference was a penalty kick well taken by dario but it did take a deflection. great save by eugene being a reflex. doesn't make getting no points better in that respect but lack of finishing will be worked on - and mitch's point blank miss...well lets not talk about it.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
Did think it was a nice, classy move by the younger Vidosic.
tk
Guest
Towser I agree the victory game seems to have been a false dawn. When it happened I along with many others I go to games with were all hopeful of a more speedy attack this year.I live in hope.
Towser
Guest
Good summation for me tk. The slow in attack business apart from allowing organised teams like Adelaide to regroup , its frustrating for a fan. Rado said he'd mix it up bit. Didn't see it yesterday,unlike against Victory the other week.
tk
Guest
Brisbane as usual dominated possession and didnt deserve to lose but that's football. I do think they need to look at what they do in a couple of areas including: Being too slow in attack .A long standing problem in my opinion where many attacking opportunities are lost by midfield holding the ball too long allowing time for the opposition defence to walk back and organise themselves.There were several promising breaks ruled offside as well because midfield were too slow to release the ball. Too much reliance on attacking goal from crosses from the wings. On Sunday there were hardly any direct attacking chances on goal most came from crosses and resulting goal mouth scrambles in a crowded box. Midfield too slow to support attacking breaks. When a quick break down the wings occus often Berisha is the sole roar player in the box. Often nobody on the far post in attack. This follows my previous observation that the midfield are too slow to attack. Several glaring opportunities occurred on Sunday where a golden chance to score was lost as the ball travelled unmet at the back post. There still seems to be reluctance to shoot early from 18 yards, instead prefferring possession. This becomes really predictable. Intensity.The roar are often guilty of possession over intent. While I accept they can't play up tempo the whole game' it is frstrating to see the team wait untl extra time to pul out their full attacking intensity. How about starting the game like that? Again the stats from sunday tell a story but within that story there are a few subplots that need attention. The reason there were so many corners is a reflection of the way the attacks occurred and defended i.e down the wings into a well defended box. Adelaide were lucky but the roar also could have done better with the possession they had.