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| The Reds warm-up prior to their clash with the Mariners |
Adelaide United’s dreams of a filibuster flourish to their Hyundai A-League season were shot down after suffering a 2-0 loss to the Mariners at Hindmarsh Stadium.
The Reds went into their audition for finals football full of hope but were cut after just four minutes with Daniel McBreen’s goal upstaging the home side.
Jeronimo Neumann’s overacting didn’t much impress the judges as his tumble in the box after 17 minutes earned him no yellow card, but no penalty either.
Things weren’t going to script for the home side as they fell behind early and looked to be sweating under the stage lights as they hardly threatened the visitors through the opening 45 minutes.
Both sides were facing changes as a result of the international break with Michael McGlinchey off with New Zealand, while both sides lost their first-choice ‘keepers to Socceroos duty, Eugene Galekovic and Mat Ryan both drawn into Holger Osieck’s squad to face Oman.
The loss of McGlinchey and Ryan looked a non-issue for the Mariners as Mitchell Duke and Ollie Bozanic prospered in a youthful side concocted by mastermind Graham Arnold.
Contrastingly United were without inspirational ‘keeper/captain Eugene Galekovic and the home side looked toothless without their leader. With a number of shaky moments in defence, the Reds’ faithful were shown how lucky they’ve been over the years to have a ‘keeper of Galekovic’s standards between the sticks.
Super-sub Mile Sterjovski stole the show at the death as his first touch of the game sealed all three points, a simple cut-back to the former Socceroo sending the fans streaming to the exits moments before Shaun Evans blew for full-time.
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