Adelaide United FC has jumped back to the top of the Hyundai A-League table and in the process dashed Sydney FC’s finals hopes with a 2-0 win in front of a terrific 23,002 people, very many dressed in red that made a great show at the Adelaide Oval.
It was a night of South American flair at the oval as two of the Reds' Brazilians stole the show.
Cassio opening the scoring with his fourth goal of the season on the stroke of half time, as Travid Dodd beat two sky-blue shirted men on the left, lost it ,then chased it to the goal-line and snatched it cheekily back off Robbie Middleby. In doing so he slipped the ball into the area where Kristian Sarkies got a toe to it. This pushed the ball into reach of a lurking Cassio who slotted it past Sydney 'keeper Ivan Necevski and into the right side of goal. 1-0
With Sydney pushing up for an equaliser Alemao made a certainty of the points in the 82nd minute, when chasing a long ball hit out of Adelaide's defence he wrong-sided Beau Busch and outpaced him to knock the ball past an advancing Necevski. 2-0
"At this time of the year it’s about getting three points. It wasn’t pretty but I think that we showed quite a bit of resilience, especially in the second half when Sydney had a fair part of the possession," Adelaide United's coach Aurelio Vidmar said after the match. "But we stood firm and both goals probably came at the right time. So I’m really pleased and it’s extremely important that we come back on top after tonight and concentrate on the next couple of weeks because it’s going to be a pretty tough couple of games for us."
"I thought we basically got shown up for experience. Adelaide are a good side they are very confident right across the park," said Sydney FC coach, Kosmina after the match. "They had too much experience for us and we got punished for it." He also admitted that title aspirations were gone.
Sydney FC captain Steve Corica also conceded the team's finals aspirations had been dashed. "This is the only season we haven't made the top four so it's been a disappointing one to say the least really," he said.