A bumper crowd of 14,280 turned out for Adelaide Unitedıs first home game of 2004 against Newcastle United.
This crucial game pitted 5th place Adelaide United against 8th place Newcastle with only three points separating the two sides. Adelaide reverted to its sweeper defensive lineup with captain Aurelio Vidmar filling the sweeper role. Nicky Budin and Matthew Kemp came into the side for the injured Terminello and Thompson. Newcastle also made two changes to the side with Michael Prentice and Greg Owens coming in for Josh Mitchell and Ryan Griffiths.
The importance of this game seemed to be lost on the 22 players as they put in a very ordinary first half - the worst 45 minutes of football seen at Hindmarsh this season.
The first chance of the game fell to the Nicky Budin in the 7th minute. Alagich chipped the ball into Budin who was in space inside the box. Fortunately for Newcastle, Budin seemed to be caught in two minds as he meekly headed the ball straight into the arms of 20 year old Newcastle goalkeeper Willis.
In the 10th minute Adelaide captain turned on the style pushing forward from the sweeper position. Vidmar brilliantly drifted past four players before driving his shot over the bar. A few minutes later Newcastle almost broke through the Adelaide defence only for the pass from Tsekenis to hit Owens in the back as he surged forward.
In the 18th minute Valkanis was fouled on the edge of the Newcastle penalty area. The opportunity was wasted by Aloisi who scuffed the resulting free kick straight into the Newcastle wall. Next it was Westerveltıs turn to be wasteful. Carl Veart held off his defender before squaring the ball to Westervelt who side footed his shot wide of the Newcastle goals.
In the 42nd minute Newcastle striker Masi broke through the Adelaide defence. His cross found Greg Owens who volleyed into the body of Adelaide goalkeeper Scarsella.
The first half was punctuated by poor passing from both teams. For Adelaide Nicky Budin was having a shocker, Goulding was struggling down the left hand flank and Kemp looked very rusty in his first game back from injury.
Adelaide coach Kosmina must have read the 'riot act' to his charges during the half time because Adelaide came out firing in the second half.
Within three minutes of the restart Adelaide should have gone 1 up. Carl Veart set up Nick Budin who clumsily took the ball too wide before cleverly squaring the ball back to an unmarked Kemp near the penalty spot. With metres of space and the goals beckoning Kemp squandered the golden opportunity when he dummied the ball to no one.
In the 50th minute Carl Veart earnt a free kick for Adelaide when he was up-ended by Tsekinis just outside the box. Westervelt curled the free kick just over the crossbar.
With the game opening right up, Kemp for Adelaide and then Johnson for Newcastle both fancied themselves from distance only to poorly execute their shots.
In the 56th minute Adelaide had another fantastic opportunity to score. Good work by Alagich down the flank was followed by an accurate cross that found the head of Veart inside the box. Veart opted to head the ball back across the penalty box to set up Matthew Kemp but it was easily dealt with by the Newcastle defenders.
The next chance fell to Aloisi in the 62nd minute. A cross from Kemp ended up with Aloisi who headed over the bar from only five metres out.
Adelaide continued to pile on the pressure but Newcastle, led by their outstanding young keeper Willis, were rock solid in defence. Newcastle almost poached a goal against the run of play when Mitchell outpaced Vidmar only to have his unselfish pass to Masi cut out by Valkanis.
In the 78th minute Saric got on the end of a Westervelt corner and headed across goals to Carl Veart. Veart volleyed from point blank range only to be denied by a brilliant save from Willis.
With only two minutes remaining Newcastle went down the right and put in a dangerous cross that had goalkeeper Scarsella at full stretch. Scarsella brilliantly flicked the ball away from the head of Masi. Scarsella was in the action again only a minute later when he committed one of his all too familiar blemishes. Scarsella went outside his box to pick up a loose ball near the corner flag but scuffed his kick straight to Masi. Fortunately for Adelaide, defender Rees put in a sliding tackle to block the shot by Masi into an otherwise undefended goal.
Adelaide will be disappointed to come away from this game with only one point. After a poor first half they created ample opportunities to comfortably win the game. However it should not be forgotten that Adelaide had an energy sapping visit to Brisbane during the week.
In contrast Newcastle should be happy to come away with a point from this game after spending much of the game camped in their own half. The performance of young Willis in goals was a key factor.
Best for Adelaide were the defenders Valkanis, Alagich and Rees. Vidmar had a good game at sweeper. Westervelt was the pick of the midfielders while Aloisi and Veart toiled hard.
For Newcastle young 20 year old Newcastle goalkeeper Willis looks to be an outstanding talent. There must be something about Hindmarsh Stadium that is spurring opposition goalkeepers into excellent performances against Adelaide United. Peter Tsekenis had a consistent game along with Masi.