New coach, new belief, new hope! Can United build on last week’s excellent draw in Sydney by beating Phoenix?
Adelaide United v Wellington Phoenix
Friday 30th December, 7.30pm
New coach, new belief, new hope! Can United build on last week-s excellent draw in Sydney by beating Phoenix?
Get along to Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday night to welcome inaugural coach John Kosmina back for his second spell at the club. Be sure to give him a rousing reception as he looks to revolutionise this campaign! So score your tickets today and get ready for your Hyundai A-League 2011/12 season to finally take off.
Initially, Kosmina will oversee things until the end of this season and the club-s foray into the 2012 AFC Champions League, but, if last week-s gutsy display at Sydney Football Stadium is anything to go by, Reds fans will be wanting him to stick around for longer than that. United were well worth their 2-2 draw against a Sky Blues side that is pushing for silverware and, on another day, could have come away with all three points.
In a Christmas cracker of a game, Adelaide went in front on two occasions thanks to goals from Daniel Mullen and Dario Vidosic, but Sydney aren-t known as the Comeback Kings for nothing, and twice struck back. While the draw sees The Red-s win-less run extended to six games, the way they held on after Iain Ramsey was red carded late-on shows the guts and determination that this team has. Indeed, an injury in the United back-line meant they even played a few minutes with just nine-men, but still displayed an outstanding rear-guard action to keep the home side at bay. Such resolute defending is in contrast to recent performances, and will stand them in good stead for the remainder of the season.
Phoenix will be hoping for a happier trip over the ditch than last time round, when they made a fruitless journey to Victoria. They-ll certainly need to start better on Friday than they did against Melbourne Victory – especially against an Adelaide side that raced into an early lead against Sydney last week. In Melbourne, Wellington found themselves three goals behind in the first 25 minutes. However, after this miserable opening quarter, the Yellow and Black did at least show some positive spirit, keeping a rampant Victory at bay and reducing the deficit late on thanks to an Alex Smith strike.
While the loss was disappointing, Ricki Herbert will perhaps point towards the fact that it was his side-s third game in a week (with the previous two resulting in fine wins). The slow start was probably as much down to weariness as lack of concentration. Having not played since last week-s clash with Newcastle Jets, they-ll be much fresher this time around and will be going all out to continue Adelaide-s recent home woes.
Surely though, an all-important win is just around the corner for Adelaide United? Will it come this Friday night at? With your unbridled support, there is every chance it will, so get a ticket today and get ready to turn Hindmarsh Stadium into a sea of red. It-s a new era, make sure you-re a part of it!
