Adelaide United vs Melbourne City: A-League Finals live scores, blog

I was speaking metaphorically, not quoting match completion stats etc... Both teams lacked a killer final ball in the game last night. City could barely penetrate into the box, and the Reds made chances (and more from those chances) but lacked the clinical finishing that get them over the line in the last 2 weeks. They also too heavily relied on indiscriminate crosses into the mixer that City cleared easily....which is broadly unlike Adelaide. Some good / some bad.

That's it from me! The extra time ate into the final round of the Championship (Derby are 1-0 up at the half BTW) but as a spectacle, it was worth it. See you next week!

I found it a very dramatic game and I was typing on the edge of my seat for a lot of it!

For every good pass there were 5 poor ones. There were good moments but they were rare

It's the end of (another) poor season for Melbourne City. The finals set-up in the A-League can flatter teams and coaches who finish 5th and 6th. Warren Joyce will argue that he was *nearly* into a semi-final... but in truth his team didn't play well tonight and they finished the season well off the top 4 on performances. There will likely be another clearout in the winter as well, with Schenkeveld eager to move on, and McGree unlikely to continue with the team next season (hopefully he'll head over to his parent club Brugges and try and force his way into the first team). Brattan is another who will be tempted to try his luck in Asia. You take those 3 players out of City and you're not left with a lot of talent.

So City go home empty handed, while Adelaide move on to play Perth next Friday night. Adelaide weren't fantastic creating chances tonight, but they have enough bottle and talent to trouble Perth.

MATHC REPORT. Adelaide win this home elimination final 1-0 with a cool finish from Ben Halloran in the 119th minute getting them through against the run of play. The result was fair on the night, but City will be devastated to give up the win after creating the better chances in extra time, and nearly pinching the win for themselves. Over the full 120 minutes it was a game of two defences. There were times when both teams piled on the forward pressure – Adelaide especially peppered balls into the City box at the start of both regular time halves – but both sets of defenders kept those chances out until one of the final kicks of the night. The deciding goal itself came from an uncharacteristically poor piece of defending. DeLaet, who got the better of Goodwin as the game went on, lazily stuck a leg out and flicked the ball into Goodwin’s path, who ran down the left channel, cut back inside the box for Diawara who had plenty of time to hold it up and thread a ball into the path of Ben Halloran, who ran onto it like a charging bull and smashed it home past Galekovic’s left. On the evidence of the game it was fitting for Halloran to make the difference on the scoresheet. He produced the best chance of regular time, tapping Goodwin’s through ball over Galekovic but also onto the crossbar. He got even closer with Adelaide’s other great chance, poking a close range effort at the keeper in extra time that nearly wriggled under Galekovic and in. And Halloran’s mid-game move from central striker onto the right also added steel into to Adelaide’s shape as he replaced a misfiring Mileusnic who was overawed by the occasion. And, assuredly, it was Goodwin who created the winning chance, as he had so many of Adelaide’s chances before then. In regular time Adelaide were marginally the better team – albeit a wasteful one. They pressured City from the first minute, both in the press and through balls into the box. But City’s back 4 –Schenkeveld, Good and Delbridge in particular – were impenetrable throughout, making countless clearing headers and tackles. The stats underline that in regular play the two teams were fairly even. City had more shots (14 to 10 and 5 on target to 2), but a lot of those shots game in extra time when Adelaide tired badly. Adelaide had more of the ball (53%) which is uncommon for a City game, which represents how tough it was for City to play through the Adelaide press and out of their own half. Indeed, City found the most joy in this game when they were direct, and space opened-up for them at the top of the box. And they nearly opened the scoring twice from long-range curlers. First from McGree, and then Harrison late in extra time – both forcing superlative saves from Izzo to keep them out. Those saves alone were worth the win for Adelaide. MAN OF THE MATCH though was Harrison Delbridge. He was fantastic all night (until he was subbed in extra time) at left back and basically shut down the right side of Adelaide’s attack. He got his head on countless Adelaide crosses and set pieces, and was effective with the ball offering many decent balls for Adelaide to contend with.