Adelaide United coach Carl Veart acknowledged the significance the Reds’ fans played in their hard-fought 2-0 win over Melbourne City on Sunday.
While matches in football’s top leagues around the world being are being played in front of empty stadiums due to the COVID pandemic, Veart paid tribute to the 10,000-plus fans who rolled up to Coopers Stadium.
With the game in the balance, City skipper Scott Jamieson was expelled for a second bookable offence before the Reds broke the deadlock through Tomi Juric from the resultant free kick.
Veart said the home fans’ involvement from that point helped get his side over the line.
“I just think Hindmarsh is like a fortress for Adelaide United and it has always been from day one,” he said.
“And today again – how great was it in the second half when the fans got right behind us and that sort of lifted and spurred us on and it was fantastic.
“The atmosphere in that second half was great.”
Veart admitted United were made battle for the victory and conceded City were probably the better side in the opening 45 minutes.
Some tactical tinkering at the break helped Adelaide wrestle their way back into the contest before Juric’s opener and a second soon after from Stefan Mauk.
“The rotation and movement in their midfield was very good and we struggled to cope with that a little bit in the first half,” Veart said.
“We fixed that up, tightened our midfield up in the second half which allowed us to intercept a lot more balls and provide a few more balls in behind them and we started to stretch them a little bit and that’s when we started to get a bit more success.”
Pre-match, the United coach had labelled Juric as the best striker in the country and pressure was already mounting on the No.9 to open his Reds’ account in his second stint with the club.
Juric was the focus of the Reds attack and had a couple of chances in the first half but lacked polish, ailing to get a shot away or laying off when shooting would havebeen the better option.
But the striker made no mistake when he opened the scoring, confidently picked out the bottom corner after a well-rehearsed set piece assisted by Louis D’Arrigo.
“Tomi puts that pressure on himself,” Veart said.
“He knows where he wants to be and again he showed glimpses that he is the best striker that Australia has. I truly believe that.”
© AAP
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