In front of a rather healthy crowd of 4120, the Cosmos and Adelaide City played out a rather
scrappy draw that was punctuated by the odd occurence of constructive play.
Adelaide came to Canberra wanting a draw and hoping that they make sneak a win through
a counter-attack. They were playing their fifth game in two weeks and needed a good result
to take home.
Canberra started with Perinovic and Musitano up front while Adelaide had Hassell and the
ever-dangerous A-League top scorer, Mori. Unfortunately, it was generally not good
defending but bad lead-up play and numerous stray passes that meant these great players
didn't see the ball too often.
Last Sunday the Cosmos scores twice from corners in the early part of the game. It took
27 minutes before they achieved their first in this match and nearly scored from a
Perinovic header. It was good to hear the crowd chant 'Here we Go!' when the corner
was awarded.
For small periods of the game in both halves, Canberra were well and truly on top and showed
glimpses of the form they had against Marconi a few weeks back. During these periods
there were numerous chances, mostly falling to Perinovic and Musitano. Paul Wade drifted
forward occasionally, but his presence up front was not as obvious as it has been in previous
games.
Adelaide had a number of counter-attacks and Cosmos goal keeper Steve Mautone was
forced to make a good save off a Mori volley. Other than that Mautone had a quiet game
except when he freely kicked the ball out. Also, it should not go unmentioned that Toplica
Popovich had an excelent game at back marking out Damian Mori completely. He was
awarded Man of the Match.
Overall, the 0-0 result was justified given the few chances and the scrappy play. Adelaide
will be pleased with the draw in their fifth game in two weeks and Canberra consolidating
after their two recent wins.