The Central Coast Mariners denied Adelaide United a record 8th win in a row with a spirited performance at Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday night.
Adelaide went into the game full of confidence having already recorded seven wins in a row. Adelaide's startling form has resulted in the club taking out the A-League Premiership with three rounds remaining to be played.
Adelaide coach John Kosmina opted not to rest any of his players. Kosmina said he wants to maintain the momentum going into the final series and none of his players needed a rest. So Adelaide named a full strength side with the return of Brazilian Rech from injury the only change.
Central Coast came to Adelaide needing to pick up points to maintain its slender hold on a top four finals berth with Perth Glory sitting only one point behind Central Coast on the A-League table. Coach Laurie McKinna said he wanted to take all three points but Adelaide was having a great season and it was going to be a good game.
A big crowd of 13,008 turned out at Hindmarsh Stadium despite the sweltering 41c conditions.
Adelaide started strongly in the oppressive hot conditions. In only the 2nd minute Adelaide's Michael Valkanis got on the end of a long ball and directed his header dangerously across the box. Brazilian Fernando Rech went down in the box but Adelaide's claims for a penalty were waved away by referee Mark Shield.
Two minutes later a classic one-two move between Carl Veart and Lucas Pantelis released Pantelis down the line. The pacey Pantelis pushed down the flank before crossing the ball in low across the face of the Central Coast goals. The outstretched leg of Adelaide's Qu Shengqing was only inches away from reaching the cross at the front post.
Next it was the turn of Adelaide's Richie Alagich to put a dangerous cross from the opposite flank. His cross found Rech on the penalty spot. Rech hit a difficult half volley from goal wards but well over the cross bar.
The shots were coming thick and fast with Qu twisting and turning inside the box only to hit a meek shot that was easily cleared by Central Coast. Central Coast hit back twice in a minute through Wayne O'Sullivan down the flank. On both occasions O'Sullivan got behind the Adelaide back line only to waste the opportunities with two very poor crosses.
With only 14 minutes on the clock Alagich hit a fantastic 40m ball to the unmarked Valkanis on the back post. Valkanis hit a powerful header goal wards only to be denied by a good save from Danny Vukovic in goal for Central Coast.
Five minutes Fernando Rech should have opened the scoring for Adelaide. Midfielder Travis Dodd hit a 40m to the feet of Rech who turned defender Andrew Clark inside out before driving his shot wide and over the bar with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Rech went even closer to opening the scoring in the 23rd minute after being put through by Pantelis. Rech won the foot race and curled his shot with the outside of his boot into the goal post.
Adelaide was creating all the goal scoring opportunities. There was a tight battle going on for control of the midfield with Adelaide having the upper hand. The central defensive pairing of Valkanis and Angelo Costanzo were dominant at the back for Adelaide while, in contrast, the Central Coast backlines were struggling to hold Qu and Rech.
It took until the half hour mark before Central Coast created their first half chance. Young Central Coast striker Adam Kwasnik was allowed to run with the ball to the edge of the penalty area before he unleased a powerful shot that Adelaide's Robert Bajic palmed away for a corner. Central Coast hit the corner low to the edge of the box and O'Sullivan slammed the ball high over the stand.
In typical fashion Adelaide immediately countered. Qu cleverly turned on the ball before driving his shot from the edge of the box straight into the arms of goalkeeper Vukovic.
The hot conditions started to take its toll on the players with the pace of the game slowing down. The two teams fought it out in the middle of the park without creating any real opportunities in the closing 10 minutes of the half.
It was more of the same in the second half until Central Coast midfielder Andre Gumprecht dragged down Adelaide's Aloisi inside the box. Referee Shields pointed to the penalty spot without any hesitation. Carl Veart fired home the penalty to notch his seventh goal for the season - 1-0 to Adelaide in the 50th minute.
Gumprecht almost immediately made amends for his mistake, only three minutes later. The midfielder perfectly timed a run behind the Adelaide backlines before cross the ball into the path of striker Kwasnik who made no mistake slotting the ball home from the penalty spot. The score were level at 1-1.
The goal seemed to lift Central Coast who grabbed the upper hand. They should have grabbed the lead five minutes later when Gumprecht and Kwasnik combined again to get behind the Adelaide backlines and hit the back of net. But the goal was incorrectly ruled offside - with the television replay clearly showing it was onside.
Shortly afterwards the dangerous Kwasnik was carried off the field with a cruciate ligament injury and is expected to miss at least three weeks with the injury.
A quiet Tom Pondeljak should have scored for Central Coast when Stewart Petrie squared a ball to his feet. But Pondeljak miss-kicked the ball only a few metres out with the goal at his mercy.
In the final minute Adelaide's Valkanis thought he had snatched a late winner when he cleverly smashed a powerful drive into the back of the net. However he was correctly denied a goal by the linesman's flag for offside.
The final score was 1-1.
Adelaide coach John Kosmina was pleased with the performance of his side in the first half. "We played in the first half some of the best football we've played all season,' he said.
"We tore them apart and we should've really been in at the break a couple of goals up.
"With a team like the Central Coast you can't afford to waste opportunities, and you know they're going to come back at you and they did - they were desperate."
Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna was disappointment at not taking three points from the match but overall was satisfied with the performance.
"It would've been nice to win and get close to second spot, but the main focus for us is to get in the top four," he said.
"Over 90 minutes a draw was a fair result but in the second half we probably did enough to win it."
Best for Adelaide was the impressive central pairing of Valkanis and Costanzo. Other good performers in a solid team performance included Alagich and Pantelis.
Michael Beauchamp was impressive for the Central Coast. Young striker Adam Kwasnik put in a good performance and goalkeeper Danny Vukovic was commanding in his penalty area.