Adelaide United share points with the Roar

Adelaide United and Brisbane Roar have played out an enthralling 1-1 draw at Hindmarsh Stadium in front of over 11,000 fans.

The Roar took the lead in the 60th minute through Nakajima-Farran before Sergio van Dijk equalised from the penalty spot for the second consecutive week.

Adelaide went into the game unchanged after their 3-1 win over the Heart, while Brisbane arrived in the City of Churches after a 3-3 draw in Perth.

Brisbane was imposing early on and stuck to their possession game plan forcing United to defend deep in their own half and carve their chances on the counter-attack.

The Roar should have taken advantage of some lax Adelaide defending in the 10th minute only to see Massimo Murdocca spray his shot wide of Galekovic’s post. Interplay between Mitch Nicholls and Ivan Franjic gave Brisbane time to play in a cross over the defence however Murdocca couldn’t make the most of his opportunity.

Brisbane were taking advantage of their wingbacks with both Franjic and Stefanutto seeing plenty of the ball on their respective flanks as the Reds pulled further back into their own half before attempting to break down any Roar attack.

The Reds were millimetres away from taking the lead in the 33rd minute after a slaloming run by Caravella unlocked the Brisbane defence. With the rain wreaking havoc for the players, Mohamed Adnan slipped on the last line of defence allowing Caravella to find Watson who put in a low cross that was just out of reach of a sliding Bruce Djite.

Galekovic came to United’s rescue three times in as many minutes after saving an Adnan free-kick as well as shots to Franjic and Berisha. Brisbane’s Albanian striker had the best chance in the 41st minute after Barbiero was caught in possession by Nakajima-Farran. The Canadian then fed a through ball to Berisha who failed to convert a golden chance to take the lead, his shot easily saved by United’s captain.

Referee Ben Williams was forced to earn his paycheck in the dying embers of the first half as the game threatened to get ugly with Barbiero and Nakajima-Farran clashing near the touchline. After a late challenge on Barbiero entangled the pair the Adelaide-born midfielder reacted angrily, dumping the Brisbane import to the Hindmarsh turf and earning both players a yellow card.

Unfortunately for the fans there wasn’t as much action near the goal-mouth as both teams went into half-time without scoring.

The Roar made the brighter start to the second half with substitute Luke Brattan almost earning an assist after opening United’s defence with a ball to Nakajima-Farran. However just as both teams showed in the first half there was no finish to cap off the move.

Brisbane’s incisive passing finally earned them a goal in the 60th minute, with Nakajima-Farran finally putting the ball into the back of the net. A brilliant through-ball by Captain Matt Smith to Visconte exposed the Reds’ defence leaving the visitors with a simple cut-back and finish to take the lead.

United were hardly threatening in the second half and couldn’t put Brisbane under any pressure as the effects of the shortened week of A-League Fixtures began to take their toll on the players.

It wasn’t until the 70th minute that the Reds began to work their way back into the match with the additions of Malik and Melling to the engine room helping United back into the contest.

The Reds earned a penalty in the 77th minute after a slip from Smith took van Dijk’s legs out from under him. The referee had no hesitation pointing to the spot as the Dutchman powered his shot over Theoklitos into the roof of the net.

As the game entered the final 10 minutes both sides pushed for the winning goal which would have differing repercussions with Brisbane looking to return to winning ways while the Reds hoped to continue their resurgence under John Kosmina.

In the end neither team could find the decisive goal and had to settle for a point each.

Attendance: 11,274
Referee: Ben Williams

The Football Sack ‘Player of the Year’ points
3 M Murdocca
2 Z Caravella
1 I Nakajima-Farran