Queensland and Adelaide play out yet another One-all draw at Suncorp Stadium despite the Roar being all over the ball the duration of the match.
Queensland it seems are again lacking the out-right goal scorer needed in the League to break the constant deadlocks that happen throughout the season. Despite all their forwards looking good, only one could manage a goal.
But it was Adelaide who drew first blood when after just six minutes of play Brazilian import Cristiano was taken down by a clumsy tackle by Josh McCloghan from behind, a dumb penalty to give away, especially in the first few minutes. Reddy picked the direction but Dodd buried it deep in the corner and got it past him.
Queensland's attack tore up the Adelaide right side as Scott Jamieson had no answer for McKay and later Reinaldo and performed poorly all game. Four or five times in the first twenty minutes a cross came in from the left, unfortunately for the Roar they were unable to capitalise with ball quality and number of men in the centre favouring the defending side each time.
Another useless tactic over used by Queensland throughout the first half was the long shot with just about the whole team having a crack, the closest one being Hyuk-Su Seo's 40-metre effort.
The few signs of change were the obvious class of Van Dijk and Miller. Van Dijk, the master of the One-Two, put people, usually McKay or Murdocca into space many times during the game. Adelaide's Cristiano certainly seems to be a brilliant buy. He caused the Queensland backs a few headaches during the night and always looked dangerous with the ball at his feet.
The first half continued rather cautiously until Queenslands first real clear chance came in the fortieth minute when Tim Smits latched onto a long ball in the box, turned and had his shot deflected back to him. With no room he squared it to a waiting Miller whose shot looked destined for goal until Alemao got his body in front of it just enough to deflect it over the bar.
The second half started with a flurry as Reinaldo made his return to the Roar and Farina returned to his clearly favoured 4-3-3. Reinaldo seems to have picked up from last season as his marauding runs down the right were pivotal. After one of these runs he laid it back to Seo who looked up and passed to van Dijk, who in true style flicked it into the path of Charlie Miller on the edge of the box who made no mistake and slotted the equalizer.
From there the skirmish died off a bit with neither side really penetrating the line as the ball spent a lot of time in midfield. Craig Moore did however reach his one a game yellow card quota which is always good. He was under a cloud coming into the game with even the media starting line-up stating he wasn't playing.
Miller certainly could provide Queensland with the finisher they so desperately need but he seemed to fizzle out after an hour, and with his spark gone so did the game. Mind you, he is a 32 year old Scotsman whose official weigh-in at 78kg sounds a bit light to this writer.
Adelaide's defence held well the whole game. Ognenovski, who was certainly not a crowd favourite, and Costanzo have already formed a great centre pairing and Alemao didn't give Zullo an inch in the second half.
By the end of the game they didn't really look like two tired teams but more two teams out of ideas. Both sides have tremendous potential, whether they can find the key is another story.