The NRMA Insurance Western Sydney Wanderers have tonight suffered a 1-nil defeat against Adelaide United in front of 8,950 fans at Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide.
The NRMA Insurance Western Sydney Wanderers have tonight suffered a 1-nil defeat against Adelaide United in front of 8,950 fans at Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide.
United broke the deadlock in the 69th minute off the boot of Jeronimo Neumann.
Coach Tony Popovic said there were some positives there but of course he leaves Adelaide disappointed.
“There were positives, we had some good passages but unfortunately we didn-t have the end product tonight,” Popovic said. “We leave here with our heads held high but we are disappointed to a degree.”
“Our defence has been solid, but we conceded a soft goal tonight and at the other end our final ball let us down.
“Adelaide are a good side, they are match hardened and you can tell in the way that they are playing currently.”
The Wanderers made just one change to the starting line-up with marquee signing Shinji Ono being brought into the starting 11 with Labinot Haliti moving back to the substitute bench.
It didn-t take long for the Japanese star to get his first opportunity after a hiccup in the Adelaide defence handed the ball to Ono and after carrying to ball 10 metres he struck the ball firmly but pushed it over the bar.
The Wanderers next opportunity came in the 12th minute after Captain Michael Beauchamp was brought down 30m out from goal. From the free kick Ono sent the ball through to Youssouf Hersi who controlled the ball nicely before sending the ball across the face of goal but no Wanderers were able to get a foot to the ball.
In the 17th minute Adelaide had the best chance with a shot hitting the side netting off the boot of Neumann.
The best opportunity for the Wanderers came in the 32nd minute after some great lead up work. It was Mateo Poljak and Aaron Mooy controlling the centre of the park and after stringing together a number of passes it was Poljak who after setting himself struck the ball beautifully 25 yards which caused a massive problem for Adelaide Goal Keeper Eugene Galekovic who managed to regather after struggling to handle the ball at the first attempt.
The closing minutes of the first half saw a number of fouls awarded and the first yellow cards of the match were given with both Youssouf Hersi and Mateo Poljak receiving the bookings.
The opening to the second half saw both sides take their time to get back into the match and the first indiscretion came in the 57th minute with Ono receiving his first yellow card in the Hyundai A-League after going into a tackle with raised boots.
In the 59th minute the Wanderers made their first change with Labinot Haliti coming on for Hersi.
It was in the 65th minute where the match took a turn. It was a Nikolai Topor-Stanley foul that caused a mini conference to be held amongst the officials and after discussion United were awarded a penalty from the spot. Jeronimo Neumann stepped up to the mark and it was a poor strike from the spot and a brilliant save from Ante Covic moved to his left and saved the Wanderers.
Just four minutes later the Wanderers were on the attack and some solid United defence turned it over and put them on the counter attack and with Topor-Stanley pushing forward the Wanderers were short at the back. Iain Ramsay received the ball and held it up nicely before laying it off to Neumann and after a deft touch he then pushed it by Covic to put United in front 1-nil.
The 79th minute saw Tarek Elrich replace Poljak which saw a shuffle from Popovic with his structure.
The remainder of the match was played in an attacking fashion and with just minutes remaining Elrich put in a hanging cross toward the back post and Haliti had an open header but he put it straight into the arms of Galekovic.
Just moments later Referee Brenton Hayward blew the full-time whistle with Adelaide claiming a 1-nil victory.
