Adelaide continue run despite Sydney fight

In the final 15 minutes of the game every Sydney fan in the stadium was willing a goal, and the atmosphere was electric. The goal came, but unfortunately for those Sydney fans it was from young Adelaide striker Ian Ramsay. The final score was 2-1 to the Reds, who remain top of the table.

Despite the early play being dominated by Sydney possession and opportunities, it was a penalty that produced the first goal. On 40 minutes, Ian Fyfe was penalized inside the box for holding, and Brosque converted to put Sydney ahead 1-0 at half time.

At half time Adelaide made what would later prove a key substitution, bringing Ramsay on for Joeseph Keenan, while Sydney's side remained unchanged.

As play resumed, The Cove was briefly silenced on 57 minutes as a failed Shannon Cole tackle/clearance led to an own goal, the ball rushing past an outstretched Reddy. 1-1, and the traveling United fans were in full voice.

Marcos Flores went down to what is thought to be an hamstring tweak. The full extent of the injury will be known in coming days. He was replaced by Travis Dodd ('54), who made his season debut after a prolonged sidelining.

Sergio van Djik was also substituted ('52) after a knock just above the knee. Interestingly, Daniel Mullen replaced him, and Robert Cornthwaite was pushed into a forward position.

The goal came on 91 minutes from former Sydney FC youth team player Ian Ramsay, who's form this season will have Sydney regretting losing him.

By the look on his face Viteslav Lavicka was obviously devastated, yet he put on a brave front post-match.

"My feeling in this moment is big disappointment of course.

"I think we had [the] activity most of the game. We created the chances but it is the same story again. 3 days ago I spoke here about the possibility to score more than one goal.

"We never give up. In this moment we have to win the first one and turn around the situation."

Sydney captain Terry McFlynn thought his team had plenty of possession to win the game.

"I think we dominated the game. The stats will show that. We created half chances as well, but we didn't put them away and we got punished."

"The win's not far away. We're outplaying teams."

Adelaide head-coach Rini Coolen was gracious in their win against the struggling team, and admitted his team was not the best outfit on the pitch tonight.

"You'll always get some chances, so I'm real happy for the team that if you play a game like this, you're not happy in the way you play, but if you work so hard and keep on going then you get the result - then that's real good for them."