Adelaide United and Newcastle Jets have played out a 0-0 draw on a cold night at Hindmarsh Stadium. Adelaide United: 0 Newcastle Jets: 0
Venue: Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide Crowd: 8,479 Referee: Gerard Parsons Yellow cards:AU - Mathew Leckie 43', Paul Reid 44' NJ - Kasey Wehrman 73'
Newcastle started strongly with a couple of corners in the opening two minutes but the contest soon calmed down and almost swung the way of Adelaide in the 8th minute when striker Sergio van Dijk had his shirt tugged in the area and could have won a penalty but referee Gerard Parsons waved away the slight protests.
The match had an even flow with both sides looking to attack and the Jets were making the most play in the mid-stages of the opening half and they came close to a goal just prior to the 20-minute mark when captain Michael Bridges played a nice ball into the path of Adam D'Apuzzo whose left foot shot was well saved by Eugene Galekovic.
Adelaide worked themselves back into proceedings but couldn't get that final ball where they wanted it and the first 45 minutes ended scoreless after a bit of a melee just before the whistle involving Marko Jesic and Paul Reid.
Again the second half started positively with forward advances coming for both sides and it was the visitors who had the earliest chance when Ali Abbas picked out his skipper Michael Bridges in the 50th minute but the Englishman's volley was safely held by Galekovic.
Minutes later, the Reds were inches away when young gun Mathew Leckie threw his left boot at the ball from just inside the area but his swerving shot flew past the upright keeping the game goalless.
Iain Ramsay was providing problems for the Jets down the left as the Reds pushed forward in the second part of the second half and they almost took the lead when Cassio sent a ball into the area for van Dijk whose header was knocked away by Jets keeper Ben Kennedy before being scrambled over the line by Daniel Mullen. However, the linesman pulled up van Dijk for being off-side and the match remained without a score.
New Zealand international Jeremy Brockie entered the fray for the Jets with twenty minutes to go and Labinot Haliti came on ten minutes later as Branko Culina chased a victory away from home but they were unable to get that elusive goal and he had to settle with a share of the points in Rini Coolena's first match as Adelaide coach.
Starting Line-Ups
AUEugene Galekovic (gk), Nigel Boogaard, Iain Fyfe, Daniel Mullen, Cassio, Lucas Pantelis (Shin 85'), Adam Hughes, Sergio van Dijk, Paul Reid (Watson 85'), Iain Ramsay, Mathew Leckie
Subs - Mark Birighitti (gk), Francesco Monterosso, Inseob Shin (85'), Cameron Watson (85')
NJ Ben Kennedy (gk), Adam D'Apuzzo, Nikolai Topor-Stanley (Wheelhouse 42'), Ljubo Milicevic, Ben Kantarovski, Kasey Wehrman, Michael Bridges, Ruben Zadkovich, Sean Rooney (Haliti 81'), Marko Jesic, Ali Abbas (Brockie 71')
Subs - Paul Henderson (gk), Jobe Wheelhouse (42'), Labinot Haliti (81'), Jeremy Brockie (71')
