Adelaide United
2
Match Complete
Western Sydney Wanderers FC
3
| 100' |  | D. Georgievski | ||
| G. Blackwood |  | 94' | ||
| A. H. Toure | | 94' | ||
| 77' | | M. Adam | ||
| G. Blackwood | | 68' | ||
| 59' | | N. MA 1/4 ller | ||
| 37' | | P. Schwegler | ||
| B. Halloran | | 34' | ||
| A. H. Toure | | 19' | ||
| 18' | | M. Adam | ||
| 11' | | N. MA 1/4 ller |
| 16 | Shots | 12 | ||
| 7 | On Target | 6 | ||
| 17 | Fouls | 9 | ||
| 2 | Corners | 2 | ||
| 3 | Offsides | 2 | ||
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 | ||
| 3 | Yellow Cards | 3 |
FFA Cup Champions Adelaide United return home to host Western Sydney Wanderers FC at Coopers Stadium on Friday evening, 7:30pm (AEDT). Join The Roar for live scores and coverage of the match.
Adelaide will have been kicking themselves the entire flight home from Gosford after Round 11’s loss to the Central Coast Mariners.
Not only did they lose to the bottom side (who now aren’t bottom thanks to the win), they lost ground on the top tier, as a win would have seen Adelaide rocket up to third.
Instead, the loss sees them languishing at the bottom of the contenders in fifth.
The Reds had eight more shots than the Mariners, and an extra one on target, but still couldn’t find an equaliser after Ben Halloran got them back to 2-1.
Ultimately it was a Milan Duric worldie that took the three points away from Adelaide – but they will be heavily lamenting not taking their chances.
Meanwhile, the Wanderers suffered a heartbreak of their own on Friday night, giving up a desperately needed lead late on against Western United.
Aaron Calver’s back post tap-in to steal a point was a hammer blow to a Wanderers side desperate for three points.
They have now not won in six games and dropped a further spot back into eighth on the table.
The boys from the West (of Sydney) had their west (of Melbourne) opponents on toast for large portions of the game.
19 shots to four and twice as many on target (4 to 2) attest to their ascendency.
They had control of the midfield, largely blunted the experienced United forward three and created multiple chances inside the box (11 to 3).
But it was one moment of defensive lapse that saw Calver sneak in behind the line to unwind the Wanderer’s good work.
There are no moral victories in Football, and manager Markus Babbel would have left this Round 11 match-up on thinner ice as ever.
The Reds welcome back some big names in keeper Paul Izzo and forward George Blackwood, but are still unable to recall key player Riley
McGree from his knee injury.
The Wanderers name a largely unchanged line-up and one would expect an unchanged eleven at kick-off.
Prediction
Adelaide is a good side, have a great mix of experience and youth and have proven they have the ability to turn it on at home.
Western Sydney – on their day – are a good side but you never quite know which incarnation of the Wanderers will show up. This should be a fairly even game, but Adelaide should have just enough class to rebound.
Adelaide United 2 – Western Sydney Wanderers FC 1
Game 1nformation
Kick-off: 7:30pm (AEDT)
Venue: Coopers Stadium
TV: Fox Sports
Online: Kayo Sports, Foxtel Go, MyFootballLive app
Odds: Adelaide United $2.10, Western Sydney Wanderers $3.60, Draw $3.60
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Beath tells Simon Hill in an interview after the game that Georgievski had his arm in an unnatural position when the ball struck him. Sorry Chris, but when jumping your arms tend to move outward to provide balance. It wasn't an unnatural position. George Blackwood pen miss. The poor fellow will need to go and see a shrink.
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
Thanks for your time tonight guys! It's a weird weekend of football, with the games happening thick and fast in England. Wolves v Man City tomorrow morning shapes as a tasty one - I'll be up for that game. Have great weekends all!
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
Have to agree with you there. It's an extremely harsh call.
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
MATCH REPORT. A night of drama and hot takes (pun intended) at Coopers where the players – and referees – all went a little troppo and played out a thrilling 3-2 victory to the Western Sydney Wanderers. It’s a bitter blow for the Reds who controlled a lot of this game, created a multitude of chances but just couldn’t land the hammer blow. And, to make matters worse, they gave up 3 goals from basically the Wanderers 3 chances to see the game slip away. A stroke of luck for the Wanderers first goal saw a cross deflect onto Muller’s head who flicked it on and past Izzo. The second was an absolute belter from Muller, who used every sinew in his neck to thunder a header from deep into the top corner, before a wonderful run and finish from Adam took the game out of the Reds’ reach. Or, at least that’s how it seemed before the referees conspired to offer up a late chance for Adelaide to equalise from a penalty awarded for a dodgy handball in the box. Thankfully for the Wanderers that final chance was not capitalised on as George Blackwood blasted his penalty into Victoria. Indeed this game could be best characterised by the chances the Reds missed. Alhassan Toure wasted many good chances to go ahead, despite scoring Adelaide’s first – a tap in from a wonderful piece of play from Mileusnic – and creating the first penalty that Blackwood converted in injury time. The Reds had more of the ball (57%), had more shots (16 to 13 including 7 on target to 6) but just could not access the luck that the Wanderers were finding at the other end. Arguably the “luckiest” moment for the Wanderers was the red card NOT shown to Mitch Duke in the first half for a kick out on Halloran. It was completely unnecessary, violent in intent (albeit it not too heavy in practice), and VAR looked long at it and ruled in Duke’s favour. It could easily have gone against Duke and it’s hard to imagine the Wanderers taking 3 points from tonight playing 60 minutes with 10 men in 35 plus degree heat. MAN OF THE MATCH was Nikola Mileusnic. He was fantastic all night, setting up Toure’s opener and generally being at the heart of all of Adelaide’s good moves. Mo Adam was excellent in a rare start – scoring and assisting – but Mileusnic was the standout player for the team who deserved a more from this game than no points.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
What did Georgievski do wrong for the second pen??? If you get pinged for that, with arms basically close to the body, then FFS !
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
Well it's fair to say that the referrees had a big say on this game! The two penalties, a red card to Duke which wasn't shown.... Seems to me that they just didn't have a handle on this game from the first minute. The first penalty was there but I'm really not sure what Georgievski did wrong for the second. It hits his elbow but he's got his arms over his chest like a vampire, and in the act of jumping his left arm swings out by a fraction of a milimetre to collect the ball. That was a shocking call to pay the penalty, for mine. But it was moot anyway as Blackwood's second penalty was simply appalling. That shot is probably still in orbit somewhere.
TK
Guest
At least Blackwood did the right thing - that last penalty decision was poor. Clear and obvious error ?
100'
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
The players are FUMING. Georgievski is on the war path out there.... Bits of tape are being thrown everywhere! Someone should get over and point out that they've actually won this game.
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
FULL TIME. Wanderers win this game 3-2.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
:shocked:
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
Adelaide don't take advantage of an awful awful referring call. That really should not be a penalty... but Blackwood saw to the "moral" outcome by skying the penalty. WOW
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Wot a sook!!!
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
90'+10" - BLACKWOOD MISSES!!! HE BLASTS THE PENALTY OVER THE BAR!!!
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
Georgievski has walked off!!! He's refusing to play on!! And now Babbel has intervened to tell him to get on!
Stevo
Roar Rookie
PEN!!!!!!!
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
It touches Georgievski's elbow on the cross, but he has his hands pinned to his body.... AND IT'S PAID!! ANOTHER PENALTY TO ADELAIDE!!
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Come on Beath, give this one!!
94'
Lucas Gillard
Roar Guru
The ref's going to take a look at it....