Draw breaks Adelaide’s losing streak
ADELAIDE United ended their three-match A-League losing run with a 1-1 draw in hot conditions in Perth yesterday to somewhat spoil the Glory debut of French defender William Gallas.
After a scoreless first half, it was Adelaide that opened their account first in the 55th minute, thanks to a brilliant header from Osama Malik after he got on the end of an even better cross from Tarek Elrich out of a corner.
Elrich’s ball got right over the back of the Glory defence where Malik was waiting to head the ball into the net and out of reach of Perth goalkeeper Danny Vukovic.
That got Adelaide’s tails up following three successive losses and it was always going to be hard work for the Glory to fight back in the 30-plus de- gree temperatures in midafternoon in Perth. However, the home side got a boost when 36-year-old former English Premier League star Gallas came on as a substitute in the 63rd minute to replace Steve Pantelidis.
It only took another eight minutes for the Glory to equalise with another substitute, Chris Harold, also scoring with a header out of a corner. Perth quickly took the corner with Sidnei Sciola’s short pass finding Steve McGarry, who then crossed it in over Adelaide’s defence where Harold was waiting to head the ball into the net despite a desperate dive from Eugene Galekovic.
The 1-1 scoreline is where the match stayed despite Adelaide receiving the last good chance in the game in the dying minutes, when Vukovic made a good save from a strike from substitute Awer Mabil. There wasn’t a goal in the first half, but there were plenty of chances for either side with Shane Smeltz not attempting to get to what would have been a simple tap- in during the ninth minute for Perth and Ryan Edwards also missing a header chance not long after.
Adelaide had the better of the first half, with Vukovic making a good save off Cassio, and shots from Jeronimo and Marcelo Carrusca going just wide.