Late spark can't decide draw between Reds and Jets

This was a pleasant night at Coopers Stadium, a stadium enjoying these perfect spring football conditions before the great roast of summer begins.

Adelaide and Newcastle met here, two teams that have started the season a little sluggishly, and although the stalemate that eventuated implies the sluggishness continued, by the end the teams had roused themselves considerably.

Newcastle began pressing high immediately, very much the intense, driven and active team that stormed through the opening rounds of last season. Adelaide were negotiating the pressure admirably, occasionally succumbing to blind passes and kicking for territory, but otherwise finding ways around the panting Jets.

Paul Izzo’s ability to hit swift and accurate passes out to the flanks came to the fore, turning what would have been clearances from any other keeper into considered distribution. Incredibly, such was the insistence of the Newcastle press, Izzo ended the first half as Adelaide’s joint-highest passer, along with Isaias. 

Adelaide, having started out as the active team, were eventually finding a comfortable niche working on the counter; the pace of Ben Halloran and Craig Goodwin makes this a comfortable choice, but their early breaks were more frayed rushing than considered movement. A couple of workable situations were also let down by poor crossing.

Dimi Petratos and Ronald Vargas were glinting for the Jets; Petratos because of his hustling two-way play, pressing and harrying in defence with just as much enthusiasm as when he had the ball at his feet, and Vargas because his ankles seemed to be a magnet for fouls. 

(AAP Image/Darren Pateman)

It was odd; this was a match contested by two teams both of which were playing virtually without a striker. Jason Hoffman and Ben Halloran were the nominal strikers sent out, but both were drifting out of position, leaving the No.9 area vacant. This was more of a problem for Adelaide because, in the course of surviving the press, often they looked to play long, turned their gaze to the front of the pitch, and saw no one there to pass to.

After half an hour, Ernie Merrick was urging Hoffman or Petratos to take up a more interior position, clearly seeing – as we all were – a vacant patch in the middle. He repeated it in an interview after the game.

Ken Ilso forced a save out of Glen Moss with a screwing skidder of a shot. Petratos skied an attempt after catalysing a counter-attack with a slick backheel in his own defensive third. The match was a series of slightly stretched sequences, and although things were tight, you felt as though Newcastle wielded the dominant hand in sculpting the demeanour of this contest. 

Newcastle were wisely cutting off supply to Isaias. In turn, that meant the Adelaide attackers were starved of smooth passes into them, and Goodwin in particular was peripheral for most of the first half, aside from a flurry at the end when he crashed a free kick against the crossbar and forced a save from Moss from a tight angle on the left.

These chances were out of keeping with the rest of the game and, suffice it to say, my Roar tip for the game was looking good; a blunt draw.

After a presumed hairdryer halftime talk from their managers, both teams came out gunning. Adelaide were getting the better of things, until two poor, limp defensive actions allowed Newcastle to hare down the left flank, with Hoffman – very much showing his fondness for the wing – leading the charge.

Petratos and others were pacing into the box, and Hoffman’s cross was perfectly struck – really a rarity in these opening rounds – and it found Vargas, who had a simple tap-in from two yards out. A lightning break, a well-worn method for the Jets, and Adelaide – and my tip – was sent reeling away, wounded. George Blackwood came on for Ryan Strain a minute after the concession.

Blackwood had a chance immediately, and just as quickly Adelaide appeared to coagulate around the striker, forming a much more promising structure. They took up the challenge of equalising.

It came swiftly. Michael Marrone, perhaps startled a little by Jair falling over in front of him for no apparent reason, struck an early cross in from the right flank. There were a pack of players careering as a group into the box, but as the ball travelled towards them, they fanned out. Craig Goodwin met the cross with a textbook header, back across the keeper. 1-1, and second great cross sighted. Adelaide were flushed with energy, and took control of the game after the equaliser.

(AAP Image/Julian Smith)

Jason Hoffman missed an absolute sitter, with Jair now latest to scythe through the defence with a pinpoint cross. Lofted in this time after cutting in from the left, Hoffman met it one-on-one with Izzo, but could only nod the ball right into the meat of the keeper’s willing palms. Halloran crafted a shooting opportunity for himself, skipping daintily around a Newcastle defender before skying his attempt. The game had torn open now, and chances were plentiful.

With the game poised at parity, it seemed as though the team that could remain similarly poised, and not be lured into unwise over-extension, would have the best chance. Daniel Georgievski, perhaps the league’s least positionally-mindful attacking fullback, threatened to undo his own team by charging up the wing with reckless abandon.

Jair was forced to charge back to break up the Adelaide counter, and was subbed soon after, probably exhausted by that piece of covering alone. 

A series of set pieces temporarily put Newcastle under pressure, Isaias finding his range after a number of poor deliveries. The teams were exchanging half chances.

And then a blue erupted, with a few minutes left, after Moss and Blackwood collided contesting an aerial ball. Blackwood’s collarbone took the brunt of the trauma. There was a sniff of a penalty, and the VAR picked up the scent too, but upon review it was clear it was simply the meeting of bone and flesh, a pedestrian affair in a semi-contact sport.

Michael Jakobsen and Georgievski decided to escalate things, touching heads in that rather adorable way footballers do, and were booked. All the incident served to do was take up what precious little time remained.

The final stanza was thrilling. Newcastle will take pride from the point. Adelaide should carry the feeling they ended this game with into the FFA Cup final on Tuesday.