There was a huge crowd outside Little Wembley ... err Hindmarsh Stadium ... last night just before the scheduled start of the game with many still waiting to get in. As a result the kick-off was delayed by at least 10 minutes to let more people in.
The attendance was announced at the ground as being 10,056 ! Is this some sort of record for a game played mid-week ?
Anyway, the game was a match of two halves, with AdCity dominating the first. A defensive error by Nathan Day saw him head the ball back towards young 'keeper Nathan Wildy, only for Michael Brooks to intercept. Brooks slotted past Wildy to put the Zebras up 1-0 after only about 12 minutes.
The Zebras bombardment continued for much of the half, with Alex Tobin's shot tipped over the bar by Wildy after 30 minutes. Dino Menilleo also coming close 4 minutes later. The Sharks were finding it difficult and came up with a number of clumsy fouls, with yellow cards to Branko Milosevic (5min), Corey Artone (25min) and Pablo Cardozo (33min).
Whenever the Sharks did move forward, they were consistently held back by the tight Zebras defence, finding it very difficult to have a good shot at goals and even getting near the penalty area.
The second half was in total contrast to the first. The Sharks played much smoother and managed to penetrate the Zebras defence much easier, something they failed to do in the first half.
Alex Castro danced around the Zebras defence on the left side after 50 min, sending his shot past Petkovic across the face of goals, only marginally wide.
Nathan Day slammed in the equaliser about 6 minutes later, when he slotted in a loose ball from close range. (Didn't get a good view of this from where I was, so I'll have to wait for a TV replay).
After 65 minutes, Cardozo found Castro, who sent his shot onto the bar.
The Sharks could have snatched a late winner, when a shot by Corey Artone came so ever close, firstly hitting the right post and the ball then running along the goal-line to hit the other post and bouncing back into the arms of Petkovic, who had enough time to recover and collect the loose ball !
Hassel and Armour collected cards for the Zebras in the second half (62min and 71min, respectively).
The match ended in a 1-1 draw, one of the few draws played between the two clubs (the 4th in 39 games !)
Despite the mid-week fixture, the Adelaide crowd came out to support their soccer in strength !