Adelaide United continued its unbeaten A-League record with an entertaining 1-1 draw with the Central Coast Mariners at Hindmarsh Stadium.
Adelaide paraded new Brazilian signing Fernando Rech before the game. The club had hoped to give Rech his A-League debut against the Mariners but his international clearance was not completed in time.
It had been raining all day in Adelaide and Hindmarsh Stadium was virtually empty only 20 minutes before kick-off. But the rain stopped and the crowd quickly rolled into the ground.
Adelaide coach Kosmina started with a very defensive side playing usual full backs Alagich and Van Dommele in midfield.
The Mariners started strongly from the kick-off and had Adelaide on the defensive. Gumprecht and Pondeljak had the ball moving fluently through the middle of the park. Adelaide was bypassing the middle by hitting long balls up front.
The long ball tactic was frustrating the crowd but it almost reaped an early return for Adelaide in the 15th minute. The Mariners clumsily cleared a long ball straight into Adelaide's onrushing Dodd and he ran onto the rebound with only the keeper to beat. With the goals beckoning Dodd attempted to chip Crawley but his effort cleared the crossbar.
A few minutes later the ball was at the other end of the pitch for a Mariner's corner. Mariner's striker Adam Kwasnik capitalised on poor defending by Adelaide with a free header from the penalty spot to give his side the early lead.
The Mariners continued to dominate the middle of the park and were well in control of the game. The real question running through most minds was how many the Mariners would score tonight.
The Mariners were cruising to a comfortable victory when the game was turned on its head with an unusual moment. Adelaide's Richie Alagich was pushing down the flank and looked to cut inside but lost his footing in the wet conditions and ended up on his backside. The defender tracking him seemed set for an easy clearance when he also lost his footing and joined Alagich on the turf. Alagich reacted quickly, jumped to his feet and hit a great cross into the box. Centre back Valkanis was on hand to head the ball home for Adelaide. The scores were level at 1-1.
The goal breathed life back into Adelaide United and the two sides went into the half time break with the scores locked at 1-1.
Adelaide found the back of the net with another header in the 40th minute. A set piece move from a free kick found Carl Veart at the back post and he his powerful header from close range gave goalkeeper Crawley no chance. The crowd erupted only to be silenced by the linesman's flag for a debatable offside.
Adelaide coach John Kosmina re-shuffled his midfield at half time bringing on Louis Brain for VanDommele and pushing Alagich back to his normal full back role. It had been a difficult opening 45 minutes for young Van Dommele who was being played out of position by Kosmina.
The changes had an immediate impact in the second half along with the return of the rain. Brain was finding space down the right flank and was getting behind the Mariners defence. Adelaide pushed for their second goal but found it difficult to get any shots past the Mariners backlines. Adelaide's seemingly out-of-form captain Ross Aloisi squandered two golden opportunities to put Adelaide ahead in as many minutes.
Hindmarsh Stadium roared into life when marquee player Qu entered the game in the 63rd minute. It was a rousing reception for Qu's first A-League appearance at Hindmarsh Stadium. It also sent a clear message to Adelaide United on what the fans at Hindmarsh want to see.
Qu had an immediate impact on the game and had the crowd cheering with his busy bee movement and clever passing. Qu and Brain combined well before Qu got on the end of the cross and flashed his header just wide of the post.
The flow of opportunities went both ways with the Mariners missing several good chances including a free Gumprecht header from only 3 metres that was well saved by goalkeeper Bajic.
Substitute striker Bugeja squandered a promising counter-attack by Adelaide. Three Adelaide players were bearing down on goals outnumbering two Mariner defenders. Bugeja was on the ball and opted to try to go it alone rather than make use of the numerical superiority. He was easily disposed on the edge of the Mariner's penalty area.
Qu almost grabbed the winner in the closing minutes of the game but his header was well saved by Crawley.
With only seconds remaining on the clock the Mariners had probably their best opportunity of the game. A goal mouth scramble saw the ball fall to a Mariner's player on the five yard line in space. Somehow with the goals beckoning the Mariner's player appeared to slip and injure himself without getting his boot to the ball. The ball was cleared to safety and referee Nardi blew for full time.
The final 1-1 result was a fair result for both teams. Each side had squandered opportunities to win the game.
A big positive for Adelaide was the impact of marquee player Qu. He looked much fitter and sharper than in his previous pre-season appearances for Adelaide. With Qu in the side Adelaide look a far better balanced side and his exciting style will attract fans to Hindmarsh. These fans will be excited by the prospect of silky Brazilian Rech lining up alongside the busy Qu.
The standard of the A-League is starting to rise quickly as the new teams find their feet. It is also putting some pressure on some of the regular NSL players who are struggling with the greater demands of the new league.
This game was the best A-league game played at Hindmarsh this year.
Best for Adelaide was goalkeeper Bajic. He deserves a special mention for putting in a solid display on his debut in what were very difficult conditions for a goalkeeper. Valkanis was the steel in the Adelaide backlines along with Costanzo in midfield while substitutes Qu and Brain almost earned all three points for Adelaide.
Man of the match was Mariner's midfielder Gumprecht. He was outstanding in the middle of the park. Adam Kwasnik toiled hard up front, grabbing a goal before running himself into the ground.
A reasonable crowd of 7,013 turned out at Hindmarsh considering the cold and wet conditions.