Adelaide vs CCM review
Adelaide United responds to their critics with a 4-0 thumping over a disappointing Central Coast Mariners
Adelaide United has gotten their season back on track with an impressive 4-0 win over a bitterly disappointing Central Coast Mariners. The win was Adelaide’s first since their opening round victory over the Perth Glory. The win has helped ease pressure on manager Josep Gombau who had an off-field indiscretion with a journalist during the week. Adelaide was ruthless in-front of goal with uncharacteristically poor defence from the Mariners aiding their cause.
It all started well for the Mariners though, as Mitchell Duke got behind Adelaide’s high line of defence early on, before losing control of the ball. Then a corner fell to the feet of Trent Sainsbury who miss-kicked to Daniel McBreen who then missed the target from all of 5 yards out. The Mariners were made to rue their excellent chances in the 25th minute when Sergio Cirio set up Bruce Djite to tap in past Liam Reddy after some soft defending from Trent Sainsbury. Cirio was again the provider for Fabio Ferreira in the 40th minute when he squeezed the ball through Liam Reddy’s legs to double Adelaide’s advantage. The Mariners had a golden opportunity to peg back the lead when McBreen was expertly put through the Adelaide defence, only to have his tame shot roll straight to the feet of Galekovic.
The 2nd half went from bad to worse for the Mariners as a Eugene Galekovic goalkick ended up at Liam Reddy’s end who tried to shepherd the ball out over the line only for Cirio to keep the ball in play and tap in to an empty net much to everyone’s surprise and a red faced Reddy. Replays were inconclusive on whether the ball had actually crossed the line, but the goal stood and Adelaide were 3-0 up and were never going to lose the game from there. Adelaide were brilliant in their high press as the new Mariners centre back Marcel Seip wasn’t allowed any time on the ball, and he gave away possession cheaply on a number of occasions.
The Mariners pushed further up field to try and find some consolation with always energetic midfielder Michael McGlinchey the creator as the Mariners tried to fashion a chance. Matt Simon came on to add experience and energy to the Mariners side, but with full time approaching, Adelaide broke on the counter and Jeronimo Neumann expertly found the bottom corner to put icing on the cake for Adelaide as they beat the Mariners for the first time since the 2009/10 season. This was a stunning result, as Adelaide finally found their rhythm while the Mariners never found theirs. Adelaide thoroughly deserved their win and they have seemingly turned around their fortunes, while the attention on under fire manager Josep Gombau will subside for at least a week.
Adelaide now move on to face the other side they’ve beaten this season, but the trip over to Perth is always a tough one, while the Mariners have a make-up game to play at the historic North Sydney Oval to face the winless Wellington Phoenix.
