Adelaide Comets fell to a heavy 4-1 loss at home to a resurgent MetroStars in Round 12 of the PlayStation4 National Premier Leagues South Australia last Saturday.

Michael D’Alosio and Adam Van Dommele scored in the first half, with Doni Pollock and Stefan Semic adding their names to the tally in the second half.

Comets captain Evan Kostopoulos scored a late consolation for the home side.

Proceedings started off promisingly for the home side with early opportunities arising in the form of set pieces in the third and fifth minute.

The Comets approached the match with their usual quick passing game, whilst the MetroStars stood firm with a patient and steady defence.

The Visitors’ patience paid off as early as the 12th minute, when Michael D’Alosio got his head at the end of a Liam Wooding free kick to give Metro the lead.

The Comets were stunned, whilst Metro took confidence from the early lead.

The home side decided to stick to their guns and continue attacking Metro with their passing game on a pitch that was less than favourable for that style of play.

And it proved to be futile, as the Comets failed to create a threatening goal scoring opportunity with Metros’ tireless defence holding firm.

Metro doubled their lead four minutes before half time through another set piece:

A short corner was kicked towards Wooding, whose mistimed shot caused havoc inside the Comets’ 18 yard box with the ball eventually landing at the feet of Van Dommele, who scraped the ball in from a short distance.

The story continued in the second half with the Comets unable to create a scoring opportunity out of open play.

This would come back to haunt the home side yet again, in the form of another dead-ball situation: a penalty.

Wooding was brought down in the box in the 52nd minute, leaving Pollock to seamlessly convert the ball from the penalty spot.

However, Wooding would leave the pitch 15 minutes later, when he was shown the red card for a second bookable offence.

From that point on, the game turned scrappy with players from both teams becoming more aggressive by the minute.

The deficit was cut to two goals in 84th minute by Comets captain Kostopoulos, but the Metros restored the old lead in added time through Semic.

Comets playmaker Christopher Pepe brought up a couple of reasons for his team’s loss against the MetroStars:
“I think Metro pressed really well,” Pepe said.

“In addition to that, we struggled to keep the ball in our forward third.

“So, those were the two things that stood out.

“So, I think we have to address, probably, our defensive shape in training this week.

“We conceded a couple of goals in the last three weeks.

“And four of the goals we conceded were in the six yard box, so that’s definitely something we need to address.”

Metro’s Bailey Truscott mentioned the physicality of the game.

“It was a very scrappy game,” Truscott said.

“The pitch was one of worst I’ve played on this year.

“It was really a battle and we just came up on top.

“The whole team working together really paid off.”

Comets remain in fourth place and travel to Polonia Reserve next week to face Croydon Kings, whilst Metro jump to ninth place and welcome Raiders to TK Shutter Reserve in Round 13.

Written by Christopher Munker