Melbourne Victory were outmatched by a strong Adelaide United performance on Friday night, losing 3-0.
Summary
A packed Coopers Stadium greeted both sets of players for the first Original Rivalry clash of the season.
Adelaide started the game brightly and maintained the majority of possession, whilst Victory were content to retain their defensive shape and threaten on the counter.
Bruno Fornaroli was making his starting debut for Victory and showed his class and poise from the first minute with some impressive hold-up play.
The game was a tight affair with both sides struggling to generate clear-cut chances.
Josh Brillante came close for Victory when he fired a powerful strike from the edge of the area, but the shot was well saved by Adelaide goalkeeper Joe Gauci.
The tense stalemate was eventually broken by the home side in the 37th minute, when a cross from Ryan Kitto was met by a strong header from Adelaide’s towering striker Hiroshi Ibusuki.
The goal would take the Reds to a half-time lead, although Victory nearly found the equaliser just before the break thanks to a dangerous strike from Nani.
Adelaide’s defence did just enough to deny the Portuguese forward though, ensuring Victory had plenty of work to do to overcome a 1-0 deficit in the second half.
Victory came out for the second half with plenty of energy and immediately looked more threatening in attack
The Reds though remained defensively solid, limiting the space afforded to Victory’s attackers in each foray forward.
Tony Popovic looked to his bench in search of a route back into the game, bringing on Jake Brimmer and Nick D’Agostino just after the hour mark.
The changes made an immediate impact, with Victory looking more dynamic moving forward.
Chris Ikonomidis came desperately close to finding the equaliser twice in quick succession, but on both occasions the ball somehow did not find its way into the back of the net.
Adelaide soon took advantage of Victory’s missed opportunities, with a late penalty being converted by Craig Goodwin to double Adelaide’s lead.
The Reds added a third in injury time following a set-piece delivery which was finished off by Ben Warland.
Well-beaten on the night, Victory will look to rebound following the World Cup break.
Implications
The loss was Victory’s third from their opening six games this season.
The World Cup break means Popovic’s side have plenty of time to reset ahead of the remainder of their campaign.
Result
Isuzu UTE A-League 2022/23 Round 6
Adelaide United 3 (Ibusuki 37′, Goodwin (p) 86′, Warland 90+1′)
Melbourne Victory 0
Next up
Victory’s next competitive fixture is in exactly a month when they travel to Campbelltown Stadium to take on Macarthur FC at 5:00pm AEDT on Sunday 11th December.
