Adelaide United coach Aurelio Vidmar’s gamble to drop four first-team players for the must-win game against Brisbane Roar paid dividends, with the Reds triumphing 1-0 at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night.
Just two months out from its Asian Champions League campaign, and not tasting a victory since beating Sydney back in Round 11, Fabian Barbiero put Adelaide ahead 13 minutes from time.
But a late Roar fight back forced heroics from Reds goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic as the shot-stopper pulled off an athletic save right at the death, to deny second-half Brisbane substitute Massimo Murdocca.
Vidmar dropped defenders Mark Rudan and Robbie Cornthwaite as well as the midfield pair of Lucas Pantelis and Adam Hughes for the match.
Young Socceroo Daniel Mullen was brought in to the centre of defence, and promising striker Mathew Leckie was also given a start, after recovering from what was thought to be a serious knee injury.
“There might have been a few risks tonight, but I thought those boys at the back were fantastic, Daniel Mullen and Ian Fyfe were tremendous as well as Scott Jamieson and Alemao,” Vidmar said.
“They (Brisbane) were playing quite well in the first half and had a fair bit of possession and hurt us towards the end of it.”
“I thought in the second half our boys were outstanding, (we) really changed the game and with a bit of luck we might have had a second on the counter, I can’t fault their endeavour and passion, a lot of people really stood up.”
The Reds coach was full of praise for Galekovic after the match and, with the Socceroos third-choice goalkeeper yet to be decided, deemed the custodian worthy of a national call-up.
“He (Galekovic) was fantastic (tonight); I’ve been saying that for the most of this year,” Vidmar said.
“Since Eugene has come to this club (Adelaide) two-and-a-half years ago, he’s just been spot on from day one.”
“I’ll certainly be pumping up his tyres for (Australia coach) Pim (Verbeek), to make sure that he gets into that World Cup squad, I think he’s been in outstanding form for two-and-a-half years.”
Adelaide’s fifth win of the season keeps its finals door ajar and moves the Reds onto equal points with Brisbane which sits in ninth with 20.
If sixth-placed Newcastle fails to get a result against Gold Coast United on Sunday, Adelaide and Brisbane will be just two points shy of the top six.
