Second-placed Adelaide United have bounced back to the winners list with a 2-0 result over a hapless Sydney FC tonight. Adelaide grabbed their third win in a row over Sydney in front of crowd of 16,429, consigning the reigning champions to a fifth-straight defeat and snapping their own losing streak of three thanks to a Sergio van Dijk goal in the first half and then an own goal from Hayden Foxe in the second term.
The Reds remained second on the table, moving to 40 points, whilst the Sky Blues stayed rooted to the bottom of the table.
A-League Week 20Adelaide United: 2 (Sergio van Dijk 35', Hayden Foxe (og) 59') Sydney FC: 0
Venue: Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Crowd: 16,429 Referee: Gerard Parsons Yellow cards:AU - Iain Ramsay 48' SYD - nil
Adelaide were without key players Travis Dodd and Eugene Galekovic and were trying to end a three-game losing streak whilst Sydney were stuck on the bottom of the table after four straight losses.
It was a warm night at Adelaide Oval and the match was being played in perfect conditions as both sides enjoyed good beginnings to the game with Sydney's Scott Jamieson forcing an early save from young Reds keeper Mark Birighitti and Adam Hughes just missing the target with a header down the other end.
Iain Ramsay gave Sky Blues keeper Liam Reddy his first bit of work to do in the 15th minute when Marcos Flores played him through with a clever ball but the final shot from a tight angle was straight into the arms of the Sydney gloveman.
The home side were warming to their task as the opening half progressed and it came off when Sergio van Dijk netted his eighth goal in seven matches against Sydney. GOAL Flores was released down the right by Paul Reid and his cross caused problems as Stephan Keller could only knock it back into the path of a waiting van Dijk and the Dutchman controlled with chest before slamming home on his trusty left foot for his 11th of the season to take an outright lead on the league's goalscoring list.
Keller almost made amends just over three minutes before the half-time break when he screwed a shot around the corner but unfortunately for his side he could only manage to hit the crossbar in the last piece of noteworthy play in the first 45 minutes.
Sydney were trying to find a way in but their efforts went against them 14 minutes into the second term when Adelaide went two up. GOAL Brazilian left-back Cassio played a one-two with Reid in midfield with the second pass providing plenty of space down the left side of the penalty area. Cassio advanced with the ball before attempting to cut back but his cross took a wicked deflection off Sydney veteran Hayden Foxe and bobbled up over Reddy from a tight angle to give the home side a seemingly unassailable lead.
Sydney simply couldn't take a trick and almost went three down when Reid took a quick free-kick into the path of Joe Keenan in the 70th minute but fortunately for the unsuspecting Sky Blues defenders, the Englishman's shot flew over the crossbar.
Sung-Hwan Byun almost caused young Adelaide goalkeeper Mark Birighitti to spill a fairly regulation shot in the 78th minute as the visitors tried to get back into it but they were unable to really trouble the Adelaide defence as Rini Coolen's men hit back in fine fashion to grab a 2-0 victory despite a late near-miss from substitute Robert Cornthwaite.
Starting Line-Ups
AUMark Birighitti (gk), Nigel Boogaard, Iain Fyfe, Cassio, Adam Hughes (Barbiero 90+2'), Sergio van Dijk (Cornthwaite 88'), Marcos Flores, Paul Reid, Iain Ramsay (Pantelis 77'), Cameron Watson, Joe Keenan
Subs - Eugene Galekovic (gk), Lucas Pantelis (77'), Robert Cornthwaite (88'), Fabian Barbiero (90+2')
SYD Liam Reddy (gk), Stephan Keller, Hayden Foxe (Ryall 83'), Hiro Moriyasu, Nick Carle (Cazarine 60'), Shannon Cole, Terry McFlynn, Mark Bridge, Scott Jamieson (Musialik 69'), Sung-Hwan Byun, Dimitri Petratos
Subs - Ivan Necevski (gk), Bruno Cazarine (60'), Stuart Musialik (69'), Seb Ryall (83')
