Missed chances see Victory fall 1-0 to Adelaide United in a behind-closed-doors friendly at AAMI Park.
Victory starting XI
Taleb, Geria, Da Silva, Miranda, Traore, Marchan, Monge, Machach, Velupillay, Fernandes, Adams
Adelaide starting XI
Gauci, Kitto, Ansell, Popovic, Bovalina, Alagich, Yull, Jovanovic, Duzel, Halloran, Hiroshi
Summary
Melbourne Victory fall to Adelaide United 1-0 at AAMI Park in a behind-closed-doors friendly on Wednesday 27 September.
Kitto’s lone goal for United was enough to see The Reds over the line in what was a tightly contested match.
Victory put the pressure on early as Velupillay continually found space down the right.
Nish created Victory’s first chance on goal in the 8th minute after weaving his way into the box, only to have his shot on goal deflected for a corner.
Adams and Velupillay continued to cause Adelaide trouble down the wings, creating chance after chance.
United’s Halloran found himself one-on-one with Taleb in the 20th minute, but the big shot-stopper stood tall, pushing the shot out for a corner.
It was an arm wrestle for most of the first half until Kitto’s shot from outside the box found the back of the net to put United up 0-1.
Fornaroli almost instantaneously replied after stealing the ball from the United keeper, only to hit the outside of the post.
Victory quickly upped the pressure as Fornaroli forced a diving save from the United keeper after nearly curling a shot into the top right of the goal.
Adelaide thought they had doubled their lead just before half-time from a Hiroshi header but it was called offside.
The second half started much like the first, with a constant back and forth between both teams, with a heavy mix of youth featuring for Victory.
Chapman, Nigro, Teague and Bos all started the second half, with Peios, Siciliano, Atherinos and Bozinovski all featuring later.
Adelaide nearly doubled their lead once again after Bovalina’s header hit the post 10 minutes into the half.
Making an instant impact from the bench, Nigro sent in a dangerous low cross from the right, which caused an Adelaide defender to almost put it in the back of the net.
Victory’s best chance of the second half came from a counter when Teague won the ball in the midfield and found Atherinos streaming down the right.
Atherinos made his way into the box but was unable to keep his shot on target, sending it across the keeper, just wide of the post.
After winning the ball in Victory’s attacking half, Teague found some space and sent in a curling shot just outside the box but was unable to trouble the United keeper.
A scoreless second-45 saw Victory fall short.
Result
Melbourne Victory 0 – 1 Adelaide United
