Extremely warm night at Hindmarsh, and the first 20 minutes saw Ad City exert much pressure, with Strikers doing all the defending. Then, the opening goal, when Sabljak crossed the ball too far across the penalty area, then Hassall put it back into the area, where Vidmar rose to head it home from close range. Then, Ad City had their turn to defend, with Brisbane piling on the pressure and getting the rewards. Shaky defending saw Dwyer with Knezevic to beat, calmly chipping the ball over his head to even the scores. Then, five minutes later, Dwyer was there again to run onto a long pass and again chip the struggling Knezevic, caught twice too far off his line. Minutes later, Brisbane may have killed off the game, but a scrambled poke towards the line was cleared by a sliding defender. 2-1 at halftime, and things didnt look great for the Force.
Maybe Matic pulled out everyone's contracts and a pair of scissors, because the second half saw a complete reversal. Force came out hungrier than I have seen in a long while, with many chances but no goals. Then a free kick on the edge of the area. Vidmar and Pelosi were than rather than the out of form Mori, and Viddie lobbed it over the wall and into the top left corner. 2-2. What followed can only be called an avalanche, which all teams seem to concede at some stage, and unluckily for the Strikers, this was their turn.
Mori finally broke his drought, when a lunge to save an overhit ball, was converted into a lovely cross my Kemp, which Mori volleyed into the keeper. It bounced back to Mori, who headed it back over the fallen goalie. 3-2. More pressure, and another free kick on the right edge of the penalty area. Crowd calling for Pelosi and his amazing heading ability answered their calls, as the free kick floated into the box, a defender deflected it almost onto Pelosi's forehead, who had no trouble from about 2 metres and empty goal. A scramble in the box later, saw Kemp rewarded for his great work-rate, heading home for 5-2, and late in the game, Veart got involved from the defence, to sneak up and pop in the 6th, and complete the scoreline. Vidmar, Kemp, Pelosi and Veart were best for the Force. Not sure who was best for Brisbane, as I didnt have a program and the Strikers dont have their names on their shirts (why?).
Brisbane was not as bad as the score suggests, and just had an unlucky half of football. They still look good when they attack, but the defence seems brittle under pressure, as does ours at times. Ad City are not out of the woods yet, but needed a result like this for their confidence. Also pleasing to note that Talladira and Brain are coming off the bench, and Kim, Zelic and Day still have to come back from injury.