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30Mar18
Adelaide Home In On Play-Offs Spot
by Jeremy Ruane
Adelaide United all but guaranteed themselves a Hyundai A-League play-offs spot in front of 11,738 fans at Coopers Stadium on Good Friday, sweeping aside Wellington Phoenix 3-1, a scoreline which flattered the beaten team.
Things could have been a wee bit different, however, had the match officials done their duty in the fourth minute of play. After Adrija Kaludjerovic had just failed to get on the end of a Roy Krishna cross, Nathan Burns' bulldozing run into the penalty area saw him felled by Ben Garuccio.
With the ball breaking for Krishna to let fly - his deflected shot hit the post, referee Peter Green inexplicably allowed play to continue, and Video Assistant Referee Craig Zetter, even more remarkably, found no grounds on which to suggest otherwise, despite the fact it was as clear-cut a penalty as you will ever see.
That scare sparked Adelaide into action, and soon afterwards they were piling on the pressure in search of the opening goal. Thomas Doyle's diving headed clearance denied Ryan Kitto as he looked to turn home Johan Absalonsen's sixth minute cross, while two minutes later the latter's twenty-yarder was smothered by Oliver Sail.
Wellington's young goalkeeper produced a stunning fingertip save in the tenth minute to turn Daniel Adlung's swerving twenty-yarder over the bar, while the same players also featured five minutes later, with the outcome similar as Sail parried Adlung's latest piledriver to safety.
After Paul Izzo had smothered a miscued shot from Burns, Adelaide's attacking impetus resumed, with Sail tipping a Kitto effort over the bar on the half-hour after Matthew Ridenton had been caught in possession by the outstanding Nathan Konstandopoulos - he had a terrific game.
Sail then smothered a shot from the midfielder who boasts one of the longest names in the game, but Wellington's 'keeper was finally beaten three minutes before half-time when his defence let him down badly.
There appeared little danger when Michael Marrone picked up the pieces from a failed Adelaide raid on the right, but a slick one-two with Isaias later, the untracked fullback had got to the by-line, from where he delivered a cross to the near post. Racing in to meet was the totally unmarked figure of Absalonsen, who from six yards, couldn't miss.
Right on half-time, Wellington had another penalty appeal turned away by referee Green after Izzo completely missed Ridenton's teasing free-kick into the danger zone but took out Doyle in the aftermath.
It must be said the visitors don't seem to get a fair go from the match officials in the majority of matches they play. At the same time, they are all too often the architects of their own downfall - their numerous defensive deficiencies are a case in point.
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For some reason, the right back role has rarely been one which Wellington has adequately filled. The latest square peg to try to fill this round hole is Scott Galloway, and Adelaide regularly looked to expose his shortcomings throughout this match, with two goals in as many minutes just after the hour mark in this match their reward.
After Sail had dealt with a tame twenty-five yarder from Marrone, Adlung's pass caught Galloway out of position and invited overlapping fullback Garuccio to exploit the opening, something he did with aplomb. After evading a challenge, he fair battered the ball into the top far corner of the net from an acute angle.
Wellington were still reeling from that 61st minute strike when Adelaide applied the coup de grace two minutes later. Isaias picked out Garuccio on the left, and while Sail parried his low cross away from goal, it fell invitingly into the stride of George Blackwood.
His shot was blocked, but Konstandopoulos latched onto the rebound, side-stepped an opponent and wrong-footed the covering defenders with a well-placed finish to leave United three and easy with just under half-an-hour to go.
They looked to build on their advantage, but found Sail to be the one Wellington player offering more than token resistance. The 'keeper saved bravely at the feet of Konstandopoulos sixteen minutes from time, then spent the rest of the match watching events at the other end of the park, as his team-mates looked to score a consolation goal.
Eight minutes from time, Adelaide's defenders scrambled the ball to safety after Michael McGlinchey's cross to the far post saw Burns fail to make clean contact with his header, while four minutes later, Jordan Elsey cleared the danger posed by Logan Rogerson, who had made his mark two minutes earlier.
The substitute was bundled over just inside the area by Ersan Gulum - even referee Green had to admit this was a penalty. Rogerson took responsibility for the spot-kick, and squeezed it under the diving figure of Izzo to net just the eighth goal Wellington have scored on their travels this season.
But the 52 they have conceded in all matches leaves them just two goals shy of their worst ever defensive record, and with two games still to play, this may yet go down in history as Wellington's worst-ever season, at a time when they are on notice re the long-term viability of their A-League licence.
Adelaide: Izzo; Marrone, Elsey, Gulum, Garuccio; Konstandopoulos (Lia, 79), Isaias, Adlung; Kitto, Blackwood (Diawara, 77), Absalonsen (Elrich, 69)
Wellington: Sail; Galloway (booked, 16), Durante, Fox, Doyle; Ridenton (McGlinchey, 74), Ljujic, Paracki; Krishna (booked, 45) (Singh, 74), Kaludjerovic (Rogerson, 62), Burns
Referee: Peter Green
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