Vidmar shattered by Adelaide loss

Adelaide United coach Aurelio Vidmar was understandably shattered after last night’s 3-2 loss to Perth Glory at Hindmarsh Stadium.

The Reds were seemingly in control of the contest when captain Travis Dodd made it 2-0 in the 53rd minute but a questionable red card given to defender Iain Fyfe completely changed the dynamic of the match as the Glory fought back to score three goals in the final half-hour to record a dramatic win.

The loss has put a further dent in Adelaide’s finals hopes and after the game, Vidmar was left to think what could have been.

“I haven’t seen anything like that in the second half for a long time,” Vidmar said.

“Even at 2-nil we knew they were still going to come at us, but I certainly feel that red card changed the state of the game in that second half.

“We got ourselves into a good position, played a really good 25 minutes in that first half and they came back at us. We knew we had to get a second goal to make it a little bit more difficult for them, understanding that they still had a lot of juice in the tank because they are a very good side.

“Although we got that second goal I thought we could finish off the game, but the red card changed the face of that last 25 minutes.”

Adelaide now face arch rivals Melbourne Victory at Etihad Stadium this Saturday but it seems their chances of qualifying for the 2009/10 A-League play-offs have now passed them.