It was another typically thrilling Friday night at Coopers Stadium, as Adelaide United and Perth Glory shared the spoils in a seesawing 2-2 draw.
In a contest between the winless Glory and undefeated Reds, it was the visitors who took an unexpected first-half lead through Socceroos striker Adam Taggart before momentum swung back into Adelaide’s favour, with Zach Clough and Bart Vriends both finding the back of the net early in the second half.
Trailing 2-1 and staring down a fifth defeat from six games to start the 2024-25 Isuzu UTE A-League season, Taggart came to Glory’s rescue, doubling his tally on the night with a thumping header.
Adelaide had two goals ruled out for offside on the night – including a potential Archie Goodwin winner at 2-2, as the dramatic encounter ended with both sides taking one point each away from Coopers Stadium.
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Adelaide began the brighter of the two teams and almost had the opening goal after four minutes when Stefan Mauk’s curling effort flashed just wide of the top-right corner.
Taggart was presented with two chances against the run of play down the other end but James Delianov was alert to the danger in Adelaide’s goal, comfortably saving both of the Socceroos striker’s early attempts.
Just beyond the half-hour mark, the Reds found the back of the net through Bart Vriends, who thought he’d bagged his first goal in the Isuzu UTE A-League – but after a lengthy Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review, the goal was disallowed due to an offside call.
Referee Shaun Evans explained the decision via a live VAR announcement: “After review, we’ve got an Adelaide player in an offside position before the goal was scored.”
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With Vriends’ goal wiped from the scoresheet, the momentum swung in Glory’s favour and by half-time, it was the visitors who held a 1-0 lead.
Perth first threatened to break the deadlock through Josh Risdon, whose header from a Glory corner was tipped over the bar by Delianov. But there was nothing the Adelaide keeper could do about Taggart’s finish into the bottom-left corner in first-half stoppage time.
The Glory captain’s first goal of the 2024-25 season gave his side a surprise lead to defend at the break at Coopers Stadium.
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But just six minutes into the second half, Adelaide had turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead in a furious response after half-time.
Clough made it 1-1 with his third goal in as many games for the Reds, slotting a composed finish past Glory keeper Cameron Cook after an excellent piece of hold-up play from Ben Folami in the penalty area.
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Just minutes later, a careless piece of defending from Glory defender Luis Canga led to a free-kick in a dangerous area for the hosts.
Clough supplied the delivery for Vriends who thumped his header into the back of the net – and this time the goal stood as the Dutchman officially opened his Isuzu UTE A-League account.
A dramatic night at Coopers Stadium took another unexpected twist when Glory struck back against the run of play – and it was that man Taggart once again with a bullet header into the bottom-right corner as Glory drew level at 2-2.
Substitute Cristian Caicedo flirted with the offside line as he burst into the box to receive the ball in the build-up to Taggart’s equaliser – but the goal was allowed to stand as play resumed with the visitors back on level terms.
Adelaide head coach Carl Veart brought Archie Goodwin off his bench after Taggart’s equaliser and within minutes the young striker had the ball in the back of the net, but the offside flag came to Glory’s rescue to correctly rule out what would have been a third for the Reds on the night.
Adelaide had a late claim for a penalty waved away when the ball struck the hand of Glory midfielder Brandon O’Neill inside the box as the game ended level at Coopers Stadium.
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Taggart was back to his brilliant best in Adelaide on Friday night, with his first two goals of the season earning Perth their second point of the season.
The Glory captain won the Isuzu UTE A-League Golden Boot in 2023-24 but went five games without a goal to begin the current campaign.
After his brace against the Reds, Taggart admitted he could have had three or four goals on the night – but was satisfied with a double and a much-improved performance from his side.
“It’s been a disappointing start but we’ve got to be realistic and just keep pushing,” Taggart told Network 10. “It’s still the start of the season, it was a great step in the right direction tonight. We’ve just got to keep kicking on and pushing hard in training.
“I think you saw in the first three rounds we tried to press and we were probably just a little bit off it, probably one or two steps off most of those presses. We’ve kind of readjusted and sat a bit deeper in a block, and tried to build a bit of confidence, build a bit of momentum with the ball which we’ve been a bit poor with over the first few rounds.
“Adjusting to this block has probably helped us over the past few weeks and I think tonight especially, the boys will be feeling a lot more confident in the performance.
“Although we didn’t have a load of possession I thought when we did have possession, it always felt like we were going to score.
“It felt a little bit like last year going forward (tonight) which was one of the positives we need to build on from last year. Again, we just need to keep going and build on that and who knows? Throughout the year, we might need to adjust again. That’s just football.
“With a young team, an inexperienced side in terms of A-League football, it’s what we’ve got to be aware of and just keep building on performances like tonight.”
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