In Round 10 of the South Australia National Premier League, Adelaide City scored a 2-0 win against Raiders at the Croatian Sports Centre on Friday to cap off a successful seven days.

Adelaide City’s ANZAC Day victory comes after a 5-0 win against Cumberland United in Round 9, followed by a penalty shootout win against MetroStars in the Coca-Cola Federation Cup.

Nicholas Bucco opened the scoring after just two minutes, before Alex Rideout rounded off the win in the 53rd minute.

Adelaide City captain Matthew Halliday said Friday’s win was very important.

“It was a very good win for us, especially with the table being so tight at the moment,” Halliday said.

“I think the game was won through hard work. We had to mentally be ready, considering this was our third game in seven days.

“The three wins are massive results for the club and gives us momentum into next week’s game and the remainder of the season.

“We struggled early on this season, but we have started to play consistent football to get these results and hopefully that continues on.”

Adelaide City are now in seventh position – just one point behind sixth-placed MetroStars – and will look to continue their good form next week against West Torrens Birkalla at Adelaide City Park.

“We have to continue to stick to our game plan and make sure we’re up for the challenge against Birkalla; it’s another important three points to close the gap on the league leaders.”

After two consecutive home losses, Raiders remain in ninth position, but have slipped four points behind the top six.

Raiders captain Michael Doyle lamented his side’s slow start to the game.

“It was a disappointing result, we trained really hard all week, we had a few good sessions,” Doyle said.

“I just think it was a sloppy start. You can’t give chances to players like Bucco, they’ll take them every day of the week.

“We just got off to a bad start; you can’t go 1-0 down too early in a game, it’s hard to come back from it.”

Raiders face Campbelltown City at the Steve Woodcock Sports Centre next week, which Doyle labelled as a must-win match.

“I think with the last two results we’ve got in the league, they weren’t good enough and we’ve put ourselves in this position, so the game against Campbelltown is a must win for us to get our season back on track and to make finals.”

In the second minute, Joel Allwright picked out Bucco at the back post, who took a touch before blasting past Raiders goalkeeper Daniel Atkins to give Adelaide City the lead.

20 minutes later, the two attackers linked up in reversed roles, with Bucco slipping through Allwright, but Atkins did well to deny the winger in a one-on-one situation by tipping the ball wide.

Although Raiders did enjoy some good patches of possession in the first half, the home side was unable to break down Adelaide City’s defence.

In the opening minute of the second half, Raiders had a golden opportunity to equalize when Michael Debono was put through on goal, but he sprayed his shot wide.

As Raiders went looking for an equalizer, a defensive error opened up a chance for Alex Rideout, who looped the ball over Atkins to double City’s advantage.

In the 59th minute, Adelaide City almost made it three when Allwright whipped in to Michael Acton at the far post, but Atkins pulled off a fantastic save to deny the full back’s header.

With just over 20 minutes remaining, Raiders had a chance to pull one back, but Elvis Kamsoba’s dipping long-distance effort was pushed away by Adelaide City shot stopper Luke Ostbye.

Moments later, Paul Blefari intercepted the ball at the halfway line, before sliding the ball through to Allwright, who saw his low drive across the face of goal tipped away by Atkins.

In added time, Kamsoba had one last opportunity to snatch a consolation goal for Raiders, but the attacker fired wide after turning sharply in the penalty area.