Adelaide United coach Carl Veart is hopeful that Japanese signing Hiroshi Ibusuki can solve the Reds’ striker woes after his side were left short of options for a traditional number nine.
Tomi Juric joined Macarthur FC in the off-season, handing the responsibility to Kusini Yengi to lead the line, but the 23-year-old is on the long-term casualty list, requiring surgery to repair his quad which he injured in training in December.
Ibusuki, who only joined the Reds days earlier, enjoyed a dream debut on Saturday night, scoring a dramatic equaliser in the 84th minute, sweeping in the rebound from Stefan Mauk’s saved header after a Craig Goodwin corner to earn a 2-2 draw.
“Hiroshi, from the little bit I’ve seen, he’s only had the one training session with us and we’ve chucked him in tonight and he’s got some quality,” Veart said.
“His touch is excellent, he knows where the goal is, he’ll only improve.
“You don’t play in Spain as long as he did unless you are technically a good footballer.”
Ibusuki spent six seasons in Spain, featuring once in La Liga for Sevilla, before more recently playing with Shimizu S-Pulse in the J1 League.
Earlier, George Blackwood had cancelled out Andrew Nabbout’s opener before Jamie Maclaren put the visitors back in front on 66 minutes.
Blackwood then earned the Reds a penalty with City defender Nuno Reis subsequently sent off for a second yellow card.
Yet Goodwin squandered the chance to equalise from the spot, his shot saved by Tom Glover, which set the scene for Ibusuki’s dramatic equaliser.
City coach Patrick Kisnorbo felt his side had control of the match until the sending-off and applauded their response.
“The pleasing thing was, when Nuno got sent off and there was a penalty, Tom stepped up and he saved it.
“That says everything about what we want in our team.
“Again, the character that we showed was fantastic.”
After a slow start to the campaign, Matt Leckie was a clear standout for the visitors, frequently finding space behind Adelaide’s back four.
The Socceroo was also instrumental in both goals; providing the assist for Nabbout in the first half before splitting Adelaide’s defence to tee up Nabbout who cut back for Maclaren to fire home from 10 yards.
“I’ve told a lot of people, a lot of times, Leckie will take time,” Kisnorbo said.
“I think he’s just building after a solid performance last week and he continues to get better.
“They’re really positive (signs) for us, especially in our attacking third.”
