Diawara sparks up Reds fightback with brace
BABA Diawara has inspired a 3-2 comeback win for Adelaide United over Central Coast to lift the Reds off the bottom of the A-League table for the first time since January.
The Senegalese striker bagged a brace and Dylan McGowan scored another in Gosford yesterday, giving the defending champions a first away win this season and improving their odds of avoiding the wooden spoon.
It was a match in which the pendulum swung unpredictably, and Kwabena Appiah’s first-half goal appeared to give the Mariners a solid platform on which to keep their slim finals chances alive.
Roy O’Donovan converted a late penalty for the hosts to round off the night’s scoring.
Fabio Ferreira was unlucky not to score after the half-hour mark when he fed Appiah, continued his run past two defenders and then unleashed a low effort that Reds captain Eugene Galekovic kept out.
The Reds then fashioned an opening, only for a lunging Diawara to somehow fail to get a boot on Sergio Cirio’s cross as an open net beckoned.
In the very same minute, a defensive lapse allowed the Mariners to take the lead on the eve of halftime.
Storm Roux pounced on a poor clearance and curled in a cross from the right, which Appiah met with a glancing header that went into the net.
But the Reds returned from the break with a vengeance and buried three goals within 10 minutes to take control.
Diawara finished from close range on 56 minutes, after Liam Rose miscontrolled a clearance, and McGowan put the Reds in the lead with a thumping header off a corner.
Diawara’s fourth goal in three games put the result beyond doubt.