Craig Goodwin’s lovely volley has earned Adelaide United a 1-1 draw with Melbourne Victory, whose striker Nick D’Agostino scored a goal of the season contender.
D’Agostino’s thunderous strike put Victory in front in the 84th minute, before Javi Lopez was controversially denied an equaliser two minutes later and Craig Goodwin finally levelled with a brilliant volley in the 91st.
“I’m extremely proud of the players for the effort that they put in tonight. They never gave up,” Adelaide assistant coach Ross Aloisi said.
“We kept Melbourne Victory to one shot on target and that was the goal. Our goalkeeper didn’t make a save.
“We scored two goals, we could have had another two on set pieces but one hit the crossbar and Jacob Tratt should’ve scored in the first half.”
The game burst to life late when Lleyton Brooks perfectly controlled a long ball then squared it to D’Agostino, who took a couple of touches before firing a superb left-footed strike into the top corner.
Two minutes later, Lopez lashed home a brilliant strike but in the lead-up, Stefan Mauk had dived for a header then got caught between Kelava’s legs, forcing the Victory goalkeeper to jump over him.
Kelava protested that the offside Mauk had impeded him, and the goal was chalked off.
“Stefan Mauk’s headed the ball, he’s gone to ground. That’s part of the game,” Aloisi said.
“He’s not standing in front of the keeper, he’s not blocking him.
“It just happened that he was there and Javi Lopez scored a cracking goal.
“I’m told it didn’t go to VAR, I don’t know if it did or didn’t. But we’ve got to accept it and move on.”
Adelaide equalised nonetheless when Lopez broke down the right and lifted a cross towards Goodwin, who smashed a precise volley home.
In the aftermath, Reds veteran Isaias received a second yellow card.
Aloisi said his understanding was that referee Shaun Evans believed Isaias had yelled ‘f*** off’ in his face, but the veteran had told him he’d actually celebrated by shouting ‘vamos’.
The Reds will look into whether they can appeal the card.
Victory coach Tony Popovic lamented his side’s poor decision making and execution in the final third.
“In some areas there, we probably lacked a bit of experience in how to deal with certain moments but that will come,” he said.
“Overall, I thought we should have won the game.”
An understrength Victory confirmed Jason Davidson, Matthew Spiranovic and Chris Ikonomidis were injured, while “a number of players” were sidelined due to COVID-19 protocols.
Adelaide were also missing Michael Jakobsen, Mo Toure and Yaya Dukuly, along with head coach Carl Veart, over COVID issues.
Adelaide’s Josh Cavallo suffered concussion and blurry vision in one eye after an accidental elbow to the head from Brooks in the 94th minute.
Louis D’Arrigo was assessed for concussion and a knee injury after a late head clash with Jason Geria.
© AAP
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