R6 Wrap: Adelaide City v Campbelltown City
The Round 6 match of the PlayStation 4 National Premier League South Australia between Adelaide City and Campbelltown City was a clash of the titans.
The two giants of the league turned on a great display of football for their supporters from start to finish, in an old fashion arm wrestle the result was in the balance right to the final whistle.
On a sun drenched Adelaide City Park the first half was played at a high intensity with both teams creating good attacking opportunities.
The battle of the midfield was worth the admission fee. Adelaide City’s trio Thomas Love, Jordan Pudler and the work horse Nicholas Bucco had a fantastic duel with their Campbelltown counterparts Vasilis Parhas, Adam Piscioneri and Keita Minomura with both midfields having equal possession time with the ball.
Both teams were spreading wide and setting up attacks through the wing channels. Adelaide City were being well served by Nicola Mileusnic and Kamara Mamadi, while Anthony Ture and Lui Ditrioa were giving their forwards plenty of assists in their forward half.
It was Campbelltown who opened the scoring in the tenth minute when Ditrioa collected a pass on the right side of the eighteen-yard box from Ture and blasted a shot into the roof of the net.
The conceded goal seemed to spark Adelaide City into the game, and in a blink of an eye in as many minutes they netted two goals to snatch the lead.
The first by Joel Allwright in the 16th minute when he was able to get his head onto a Love corner kick which beat an outstretched Campbelltown goal keeper Nichols Harpas.
A minute later Anthony Costa put Adelaide City in front when he received a pass from Pudler in the box and had little trouble slotting the ball into the back of the net from close range.
Campbelltown toiled hard for the remaining of the first half to get back on level terms, but their efforts were repelled by some good defending by the Adelaide City back four, in particular Paul Blefari and Mathew Halliday.
Adelaide City went into the halftime break with a 2-1 lead for their efforts, while Campbelltown would have rued their missed opportunities.
After the break Adelaide City stretched their lead in the 48th minute through Kamara when he collected a cross from the elusive Mileusnic and fired home past Harpas.
Adelaide City seemed to lose their concentration for a brief period and paid the ultimate penalty allowing Campbelltown to wrestle back the momentum and get back to parity on the score board.
Campbelltown captain Iain Fyfe inspired his side in the 61st minute when he headed a goal past a stranded Ryan Veitch on the Adelaide City goal line. While in the 64th minute a clumsy tackle by Blefari on Tom Strain in the penalty area gave Campbelltown a spot kick which Strain obliged by converting the strike for an equaliser.
The visitors were unlucky not to take the lead in the 76th minute with two great attempts on goal being denied by some exceptional goal keeping by Veitch.
Minomura, Piscioneri and Ditrioa were getting on top in the midfield as the ebbs and flows continued between the two team’s midfield structure.
There was to be one last twist to be played out in this contest, and it was the same suspects involved, Bucco, Pudler and Mileusnic. And it was to be Mileusnic in the 88th minute to break the deadlock with a brilliant shot on goal to give the home side the vital three points.
A dejected Ditrioa said after the game that they fought hard all day and had their chances but were unable to maintain control of the game at crucial times.
“We went ahead early, but let them come back into the game and we found ourselves behind on the score board at the halftime break” Ditroia said
“We knew we had the technical ability to score. But we also knew we had to convert our chances which we failed to do late in the game”
It was probably one that got away from us”
New Adelaide City signing Jordan Pudler, sporting a “Cheshire Cat” smile was overjoyed with the result and praised his team mates for hanging tough until the final whistle.
“Both teams had opportunities to steal the win. We controlled the game in parts and then they worked themselves into the match and stole the momentum from us” Pudler said
“Our wide players gave us plenty of run, especially Nikola (Mileusenic) who worked hard all day and was able to score the winner for us at the end.”
The win sling shots Adelaide City to the top of the PS4 NPL SA table where they will become the hunted by the other eleven teams.
It was another great contest between two quality sides of the competition.
Written by: Joe Pangallo - 5RTI Sports 531am
Twitter: @JoJo_ontheball
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