Adelaide City won a battle of tactics against South Melbourne at Bob Jane Stadium on Sunday evening, winning by two goals to one in the battle for one of the four realistically-available Finals spots. City's victory ended South's unbeaten home record this season, and allowed Adelaide City to leap-frog South on the ladder.
Scott Tunbridge headed the opening goal mid-way through the first half, and Claudio Pelosi took the game beyond South with a goal ten minutes from time as South pressed for an equaliser.
Stephen Pace scored South's consolation goal deep into added time with barely enough left on the clock for the re-start.
Despite the win, Adelaide City coach Zoran Matic was still grumbling about his team's loss against Newcastle United the previous week. "We needed the points last week," he said. "You've got to join the wins if you want to get anywhere."
South coach Danny Wright acknowledged the loss had hurt South's demanding fans, and understood their unhappy reaction at the loss. "The fans let me have it, and that's well within their rights," he said. "That's something I love about this club's supporters - how passionate they are. That's what's made this club great. I experienced that as a player - they'd be booing me one week, and wanting to kiss me the next."
Wright denied that the mid-week release of defender Fausto De Amicis had caused player unrest. "(De Amicis) was no longer in my plans. We gave him the opportunity to move on to another club," he said. "The players understand they've got to get on with the job."
The game was played with a Finals level of intensity, even though the competition had not yet reached that stage. There were plenty of fouls penalised by well-credentialled referee Mark Shield - 23 in the first-half alone - but few, if any, caused other than by honest committed endeavour, and a referee determined to ensure swift application of the game's laws to ensure the intensity was kept within sporting limits.
The stakes were high: a win for either side would help cement a Finals spot, a loss would make the task a struggle.
South Melbourne should have started with an early goal. Michael Baird had received a ball from Bill Damianos after a swift move out from defence by Steve Iosifidis. Baird seemed to have done all the hard work in getting around Ante Kovacevic and cutting inside, and then leaving City goalkeeper Lupce Acevski on his back with a feint. As the home support rose to acclaim the finishing of the move with the expected goal, Baird amazingly shot wide and high.
"We missed some chances today," said Wright. "The final ball let us down very badly today."
That particular miss proved to be very costly for South.
Midway through the first-half, Tunbridge found himself in just the right spot to head home the opening goal. Lucas Pantelis had manoevered himself into some space in an inside left position and blasted a left-foot shot from 15 metres which would have found the net at the top right but for an acrobatic block by Eugene Galekovic.
But the ball was deflected vertically, and Tunbridge was the first to reach the ball as it dropped, bundling the ball over the line from close-range.
Ten minutes before the break, Acevski kept the lead for Adelaide City with a spectacular diving catch just before the ball was about to reach Baird. Damianos had set Ray Sekulovski free on the right, and the youngster's cross was arrowing towards its intended target but for Acevski's agility.
Pelosi almost sent City into the break with a two-goal lead when he turned on the edge of the penalty-area to shoot just over the bar.
If the level of intensity was high in the first-half, it lifted a gear in the second. There were waves of attacks, most mounted by South, which laid siege to the scoreboard end defended by Adelaide City. Too often though, South worked to get into a shooting position in an overly elaborate manner, and Adelaide City was able to clear the danger.
On the hour, Peter Buljan decided that a more direct route should be attempted and hit the post from distance with Acevski well beaten.
Shortly after, Zjelko Susa made ground up the left, squaring to Damianos, who in turn fed Baird to his right. Baird's shot needed to be touched over by Acevski for the corner.
Such was South's dominance that Adelaide City's first shot of the second half did not arise until there were less than twenty minutes remaining. Goran Lozanovski, returning to a ground where he had previously been a favourite but was here this time in much less well-regarded circumstances, sent a well-weighted long diagonal ball to Pelosi. Galekovic was drawn towards the ball, but retreated as he realised Pelosi would be first to reach it. He was still back-pedalling as Pelosi's shot carried just over the bar.
But City's second shot was not long in arriving, and it was truly worth the wait. Lozanovski, who had for much of the game come off second-best against his various South markers, ran onto a ball 35 metres out from goal and directly in front. He loosed a left-foot thunderbolt that required the best from Galekovic to palm it away.
City's third was even better, and resulted in the sealer. Pantelis received a ball at the edge of the area after a failed cut-out attempt by Mehmet Durakovic and bent his left-foot shot around Galekovic's dive low into the corner.
The game had been won and lost, but there were still some minutes to go before the full-time whistle sounded, and South redoubled its efforts to get something from the match.
In the last minute of added time, Pace shot home from close range, but there was little celebration by his team-mates or the fans as they glumly considered the end to a proud home record.