Red Roses
Take a breath REDs fans and smell the beautiful RED roses, all 11 of them that took the field against the old enemy Melbourne Victory. What a performance by the lads, guts, determination, passion in the shirt and a game plan expertly executed for the full 90 minutes.
The boys did not give Melbourne an inch in the midfield and worked tirelessly to close the home sides space on the park and link up play to Victories forwards. Our defense lead by Marrone, Elrich, McGowan and Elsey had the victory forwards in their pockets all night and snuffed out any threats Berisha and his merry men tried to create.
Isaias again in that defensive midfield played his part as he stopped the home team and began Adelaide United’s own attacks especially in that 2nd 45 minutes as the Reds began to take control of the game after conceding most of the possession in the first 45 minutes.
Carrusca, Cirio and Goodwin all linked up well and at times Carrusca showed the trickery and moves that left Victory players dazed and confused. He is a real magician on the park and worth the entry fee alone.
Adelaide through a great high tempo press in their own front third of the pitch really did change the dynamics of the game in the 2nd half and showed just how well drilled this reds outfit is. The fitness and collective effort by all the lads in a RED shirt was first class in this game and showed all their fans just how far this team has come since round 8.
Adelaide of course were deserved winners when Substitute Bruce Kamau broke the home team’s hearts scoring the winner in the 90th minute to give the REDS the nasty sting in their tail they had often lacked in years gone by.
The winner was not only a well taken goal from young Bruce but just reward for the heroic run by Craig Goodwin who flicked it out to Stefan Mauk after being literally knocked out, talk about giving everything for the team. Mauk then put the ball on a plate for Kamau to put it in the back of the onion bag and send the travelling RED fans into ecstasy.
Unbeaten in 12 games, just two points of top spot and a win over our bitter rivals this is one for REDS fans to sit back enjoy and smell the RED roses.
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I am confident that Melbourne Victory will not advance past the group stages of the ACL. Their lack of production against actual opponents will be costly next week.