Red mist descends in Gombau debut

Josep Gombau’s first taste of A-League action was a foul-fest as his side registered eight yellow cards, committed 25 fouls and still found time to put three goals past Perth ‘keeper Danny Vukovic.

Adelaide finished the match with nine men on the park with referee Ben Williams on-hand to punish any errant tackles to produce more cards than a Hallmark factory. The eight cautions handed out to United broke the league record for most yellow cards awarded to a single team in a match.

Midfielder Isaias Sanchez received his second yellow for time-wasting in the 65th minute however Gombau refused to point fingers post-match and felt his side has the depth to cover the Spaniard.

“This is football. It is a mistake and it is a yellow card,” Gombau said.

“I don’t want to speak about the referees because that is not my job, my job is to try improve my team,” he said.

Gombau will require a new partnership at the back for next Friday’s grudge match with the Victory after Nigel Boogaard produced the side’s second dismissal of the game in the 79th minute for bringing down young-gun Daniel De Silva.

The Spaniard is confident his squad has the depth to cover the loss of two first-choice players just one round into the new season.

“We lose two players for next week but we have 23 players in the squad and everybody can play,” Gombau said.

“I am sure that the players that come in for them will do very well,” he said.

Despite the record number of cards awarded, Perth Coach Alistair Edwards said both sides weren’t involved in a ‘dirty’ match.

“They were definitely cards,” Edwards said.

“They were definitely fouls but it was just that there were a lot of them.

“There wasn’t any niggle in the game so-to-speak but they were definitely fouls and the referee was right, there was just a lot of them (to call),” he said.

Despite losing Isaias Sanchez and Nigel Boogaard, United still managed to run out 3-1 winners with a brace to Jeronimo Neumann complemented by Fabio Ferreira’s 64th minute strike.

Neumann’s opener in the 9th minute was immediately cancelled out by Ryo Nagai’s sharp headed finish before Adelaide’s Argentinean secured his brace in the 25th minute after some lax defending.

Spanish import Sergio Cirio got time on the ball to cross to the back post where Ferreira headed straight at Vukovic. Perth's gloveman managed to parry the strike but Carrusca and Neumann were waiting for the rebound and Jeronimo was able to put Adelaide 2-1 up before the break.

Ferreira made sure the Reds took all three points after Perth again fell asleep at the back, this time Zullo’s cross lofting into the area where the Portuguese winger met the ball before his defender who was left at a standstill.

On a positive note, the 10,320 fans who witnessed the match at Coopers Stadium pushed the opening round attendance over 100,000 for a record which the league should be much happier to advertise.


Adelaide United

Galekovic (C), Boogaard, McKain, Neumann, Isaias, Cirio, Carrusca, Lustica, Bowles, Zullo, Ferreira.
Subs: Malik, Mabil, Izzo, Elrich, McGrath


Perth Glory

Vukovic, O'Neill, R Edwards, Pantelidis, Burns (C), Nagai, Maclaren, McGarry, Sciola, Risdon, Jamieson
Subs: Clisby, C Edwards, Zahra, De Silva, Spence