Friday, August 07, 2009

Adelaide 1 v Perth 0

It was the right result. Adelaide dominated the first half. Clearly Adelaide missed out on a straight forward penalty in the first 2 minutes as Jacob Burns had his first touch on an Adelaide leg entering the penalty box from the right. Later, justice was made when Chris Coyne pushed/pulled down Robbie Cornthwaite for a linesperson's decision.

You just don't mess with Cornthwaite. Ask Melbourne's Ney Fab. He will get you with the refs. Anyway, Jacob Burns and Chris Coyne's efforts may mean that clubs will fancy their penalty chances against Perth this year. The Fox commentators made the points about returning Socceroos not finding it as easy as they would like. But Burns was lucky not to get two yellows.

Both sides, particularly with Adelaide awaiting its foreign signings, seem to lack depth. And both lost key players to injury early - Jamie Coyne Perth and Lucas Pantelis Adelaide.

It would have been a long game for Perth fans. And the Perth bench was feeling ripped off by Ref Zetter. But really Mitchell's team were not good enough in the key match-ups. Dadi is looking one year older (despite, or because of, playing the off season). Sikura added nothing like the intensity he last year when he was fighting for a contract. Perhaps they are the errors.

And Mile Sterjovski was closed down by the Adelaide defence led by ex-Sydney Iain Fyfe.

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