Adelaide United have snapped their three-game losing streak with a convincing 2-0 win over a lacklustre Sydney FC outfit at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday night.
The Reds snapped their three-game losing streak and consigned Sydney to their fifth consecutive loss and fifth match without finding the back of the net.
Stand-in captain Paul Reid was outstanding while Young Socceroo keeper Mark Birighitti showed maturity beyond his 19 years to keep a clean sheet.
Reds boss Rini Coolen admitted he was delighted with ending their run of losses and more importantly how they did it.
“I am real happy that we won the game today, especially a home game. But I’m more happy the way we did it,” he said.
Argentine Marcos Flores kicked off proceedings for the Reds, flicking a first-time through to ex-Sydney FC player Iain Ramsay.
The speedy winger latched on to the ball and shot from eight metres but blasted straight into Liam Reddy with his non preferred foot.
Joe Keenan was next to try his luck, hitting low and hard from 25m but Reddy was again equal to the task.
Sydney were restricted to shooting from distance and when they did manage to put one on target, Birighitti had little trouble keeping the shot out.
Adelaide took the lead 10 minutes before half-time through their leading scorer Sergio van Dijk, who netted his 11th goal for the season to top A-League goal scoring.
Van Dijk started the move in the middle, laying off to Paul Reid before the acting captain released Flores into space on the right.
The Argentine whipped in a cross and Sydney defender Stephan Keller managed to get a touch on ball, but his deflection allowed it to fall perfectly for van Dijk.
The Reds striker took a touch before smashing into the bottom corner from 10m.
Keller nearly redeemed himself and pulled his side level when he picked up a loose ball from a Scott Jamieson corner.
The Swiss import shot on the turn and struck the top of the bar in the closing minutes of the first half.
Sydney lifted in the second half as they went in search of an equaliser but again couldn’t penetrate the United defence.
Shannon Cole tested Birighitti with a 25m free kick but the Reds shot stopper got down well to parry the shot to safety.
As the visitors committed men forward, United doubled their lead just before the hour after a marauding run from Cassio.
The little Brazilian raced on to a clever dink in behind the defence from Reid and charged down the left before his cross took a wicked deflection off Hayden Foxe and over Reddy and into the net.
Hirofumi Moriyasu momentarily thought he pulled one back for Sydney when Birighitti spilled a routine save before collecting with his second attempt.
Minutes later, Reid set up Keenan with a quickly taken free kick but the midfielder lashed over the bar from 6m.
Adelaide United 2 (van Dijk 35, Cassio 58)
Sydney FC 0
16,429 at Adelaide Oval
