One time top goal scorer Saso Petrovski returned to the NSL tonight with one goal but no glory as his highly fancied Parramatta Power went down to a determined Adelaide side.
Adelaide coach John Kosmina was rightly - if a little smugly - proud of his team: they defended very well for long periods. But Parramatta played rubbish for the most part, even when they were playing better than Adelaide.
The game started under an overcast sky and ended in rain. The pitch looked moth-eaten. And Adelaide arrived with a vocal, cheerful and finally jubilant cheer squad. Frequent cries of "We can't hear you!" received little response from the home fans.
There were a few promising moments for Parramatta to begin with. Michael Beauchamp received applause from his team mates for a fine but too-long ball for Ahmad Elrich.
Simon Colosimo, standing in for the injured Alvin Ceccoli at centre back, was getting bullied by the Adelaide forwards. Matthew Thompson was giving a wonderfully committed performance in centre midfield and Andre Gumprecht was confidently displaying his neat skills.
Parramatta looked like they could win easily Š if they played sensibly. But they didn't and Adelaide scored first. Ross Aloisi robbed Thompson and worked a one-two with Aaron Westervelt, scampering onto a simple ball into the box, easily evading the last two defenders, and slotting the ball past Clint Bolton's left hand. Petrovski, supplied by Gumprecht, had a very similar chance at the other end but botched it. Perhaps he took it too casually. He couldn't get past David Scarsella's legs, but pulled the rebound back for Lucas Pantelis who hit the side netting.
Still, Parramatta seemed to be on top. But playing sensibly must have been the farthest thing from their minds. Colosimo tried a silly backheel and gave the ball away. Thankfully, Thompson was still setting a good example with excellent commitment and eagerness to get the ball. From a good cross by Richie Alagich, Carl Veart slid in and put the ball just wide of goal.
Elrich was frequently hanging wide and getting nothing. Parramatta were intent on dabbling in midfield where they'd turn over possession or else give it away trying to find Petrovski and Ante Milicic directly. Milicic was making some incisive touches and penetrating passes - the players around him just weren't reading the play as quickly.
There was some good tackling by Gumprecht on Goran Lozanovski but the ball came to Nick Budin who shot to Bolton. In the 17th minute Milicic beat an overcommitted Scarsella, chipping over his head but then volleying over goal. A minute later Veart scored from a gift header by Elrich - or was it Shane Thompson beating Elrich - back across goal after a Lozanovski cross from the right.
Parramatta still had time to click and get back into the match - or at least onto the scoresheet - but would they Š could they?
Milicic put a great through ball to the edge of the Adelaide penalty area for Fernando Rech, but Rech couldn't control and the chance went begging. A Lozanovski free kick from deep on the right went to the far post where Michael Valkanis put the ball back across the face of goal, wide of the right post. Colosimo continued to play rubbish, again giving away easy possession. Petrovski did well to break through with a run on goal but tried the hero shot from too far out Š and hit a defender in any case.
Parramatta were clearly the better side Š they were just playing pitifully. Adelaide were playing straightforward, decent football and it was paying off. The defence was organised brilliantly; two players shutting down Milicic or Petrovski and always with players dropping to maintain the shape of the backline. The whole team chased and bustled the Parramatta players off the ball.
In the 40th minute Veart got the ball over the line for the second time, again thanks to a poor Power header, but he employed the hand-of-god tactic and was rewarded instead with a yellow card.
Elrich tried to cause some trouble down the right but was met, as usual, by two defenders. Valkanis made a good tackle on Gumprecht. Westervelt fed Aloisi who shot to Bolton who couldn't hold at first grab.
In the 45th minute Parramatta offered a brief glimpse of the talent hidden beneath its "mysterious cloak of stupidity" when some pretty play initiated by Colosimo and Elrich concluded with Gumprecht crossing from the line on the right. Petrovski met the ball coming in on the far post and buried the ball as one would hope and expect he could.
Matt Thompson, who had switched to centre back so Colosimo could further redeem himself in midfield, hit a great ball to Elrich. Elrich's cross to the far post was played back to Pantelis whose long, low shot was held well by Scarsella. Elrich then got another lovely ball that set him free on the right. He crossed from close to goal and this time Pantelis' shot was blocked.
At half time the red-shirted Adelaide fans practised their songs in the beer queue and complained about (a) how over diligent "rent-a-cop" was at Parramatta Stadium, and (b) how hard it was to think of chants that didn't contain swear words Š and they wondered whether or not is was okay to use swear words that were in the dictionary.
In the second half, Colosimo set Gumprecht away. Gumprecht fed Elrich who was stopped by Aaron Goulding. Milicic was given a lovely ball into the box and seemed to be shut down by Scarsella. He rounded the keeper to the right but left himself with too fine an angle to shoot from and hit the side netting.
A nice lofted cross from Gumprecht on the right was glanced just wide by Milicic. Then a Shane Thompson cross from the line, left of goal, was volleyed at the far post by David Terminello into the side netting. Colosimo played a good ball to Elrich who was beaten by Goulding.
An Alagich free kick from half way on the right didn't seem to interest the Power defenders so Westervelt had an almost free shot from wide on the left. It went over the goal.
The arrival of Travis Dodd (on for Pantelis) made Parramatta's left side look more interesting. Gumprecht hit a lovely ball into the box from the left, picking out Petrovski whose header was well saved by Scarsella. Shane Thompson continued to impress.
Alagich had a long, left foot ping that required Bolton to save down low. Then Shane Thompson headed high over goal on a cross from the left.
Milicic tried to take on half the Adelaide team by himself but finally succumbed to a solid white defensive huddle. Colosimo crossed from the left giving Milicic an awkward header to the right of goal.
With 25 minutes to go it still seemed another Parramatta goal would come: Adelaide were getting opened up pretty easily.
Colosimo hit a lovely through ball, this time picking out Elrich who initially seemed to have enough pace to launch on a free run at goal but Goulding closed him down again and deflected his shot, giving Parramatta only a corner.
Colosimo played back for Gumprecht whose shot was deflected by Valkanis, furious that the Adelaide defenders had all dropped leaving Gumprecht with so much room.
Veart was good taking on Jacek Sobczyk and Matthew Thompson, getting the ball to the line on the right and pulling back for Aloisi who sprayed far to the left of goal.
Colosimo won a free kick on the line to the left of the Adelaide goal. The ball was played back and then into the Adelaide box where Scarsella took charge.
Valkanis fouled Elrich but Colosimo's free kick went straight to Scarsella. Apart from too much punching when it didn't seem necessary, Scarsella was doing okay.
There was more lovely skill by Gumprecht cutting in from the right. Gumprecht passed into the box for Rech who volleyed high. With 15 minutes to go Colosimo was replaced by Peter Zorbas who came on looking like he meant business.
Dodd, meanwhile, was starting to gather cobwebs out on the left. An old guy behind me cursed, "Look for Travis Š please!" Dodd eventually got a ball and shot into the back of Budin. Then it was time for some controversy. Rech shot into the hand of an Adelaide player in his own penalty area. No penalty was given. Then Dodd was sandwiched running into the Adelaide box. Again, no penalty was awarded.
Veart did well on the right, pulling the ball across to Adriano Pellegrino who had a reasonable shot. Gumprecht gave a good ball to Thompson on the right. Elrich got his head on the end of Thompson's cross but the ball was headed off the line.
Adelaide almost had another chance on the counter with Veart in oceans of space on the right. The only thing that saved some embarrassment for Gumprecht was an absolutely rotten pass from Adelaide's left.
There was some more good stuff by Aloisi and a late substitution of an Adelaide substitute before the visitors could rest Š having ended Power's long unbeaten run at home.
Kosmina wasn't defensive about his side's aggression - "at times I thought we were underly aggressive - but Nick Theodorakopoulos was defensive about the decision to play Colosimo at centre back - "I don't think we lost the game because of that". Kosmina said, "We shut down well. We only had two training sessions this week and we spent them working on closing down. Pressurising is the best way to play a game. It's a hard way in terms of your physical requirements but, if you can get through a match like we did, it works well." He said the goal was Aloisi's first but "he gets through a sh**-load of work, an amazing amount of work."
Theodorakopoulos said Colosimo's calibre warranted his selection in the position of Ceccoli. He said the Adelaide players had two very good chances and scored two goals. "Both Petrovski and Milicic had better chances and both failed to score. It was a clear case of them taking chances and we failing. "We picked up just after Simon went back into the midfield. He steadied the ship. We got the goal before half time. I think on the balance of play maybe we are a little stiff not to equalise. We had one cleared off the line just before half time. But in the second half you have to hand it to their players - I thought they were very resilient."
He thought Parramatta deserved better though. "We had the chances in the second half. The keeper did exceptionally well to save Ante's header. And a couple of deflections went the other way." He said he could have come ranting and raving about the hand ball and the Travis Dodd sandwich but that wouldn't get him anywhere.
Kosmina said his team had displayed a lot of mental toughness in recent games. "Even a couple of times when we looked a little bit shaky we managed to regain our composure and structure. It was just that five minutes at the end of the first half when we didn't work that well. Individuals made the wrong decisions in the wrong areas and we got into trouble." He said there was an increasing depth and character in the side week-by-week. He said Parramatta's chances were always scrambling, shooting under pressure.
Theodorakopoulos said if his side kept creating chances they were going to go in. He said if they hadn't come against a side that fought and tackled they would have got away with the game even though they were two-nil behind. "But we are better than that up front. Our finishing has been outstanding."