Adelaide United provisionally surged into top spot after a comfortable 2-0 win over a lacklustre Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night.
The Reds exceptional nine-match away unbeaten run remained intact thanks in large to Bruce Djite’s impressive double and condemned the Sky Blues to their worst ever winless streak.
Graham Arnold made eight changes to his side with one eye obviously on the Asian Champions League midweek, as news also filtered through they could not qualify for the top six after Melbourne Victory’s win in Wellington earlier.
Meanwhile, Guillermo Amor named an unchanged line-up to his team that dispatched the Central Coast Mariners last week.
But despite the continuity in the Reds outfit they had to absorb a barrage of Sydney attacks, who came out of the blocks all guns blazing.
United slowly began to stamp their authority on proceedings and dominated possession. A neat one-two involving Djite and Stefan Mauk saw the latter square the ball across to the former who hit his shot straight at Vedran Janjetovic.
Djite put the visitors ahead with another poacher’s goal, reacting instinctively to poke home after Janjetovic failed to palm Michael Marrone’s deflected cross away to safety.
With Adelaide in total control, Djite grabbed his brace courtesy of a thunderous strike which took the slightest of ricochets on the stroke of half-time.
In the second stanza, the Reds showed maturity to play at the tempo at their choosing with the likes of Isaias, Marcelo Carrusca, Sergio Cirio and Mauk toiling with the opposition.
Djite could have netted his hat-trick with three minutes left on the clock but he mistimed his shot as United strolled to an unproblematic triumph and sets up a potential title decider next Friday against Melbourne City.
The result means the South Australians move first on the ladder, pending tomorrow’s results, while Sydney stay in seventh.
Bruce Djite clinical in front of goal
Adelaide’s number nine never seems too far away from criticism with regards to his lack of productivity from a goal-scoring perspective. After failing to find the back-of-the-net in more than 20 games which stretched from February 2015 to January 2016, Djite has been one of the form players of the competition. The striker has now netted eight goals since breaking his drought against Brisbane Roar earlier this year and is arguably experiencing his most prolific vein of scoring. Incidentally, he has surpassed his league tally of six goals he mustered during the 2014-15 campaign and his exploits in the harbour city allowed him to claim outright the club’s all-time top scorer from Reds legend Travis Dodd.
Adelaide’s defence superb once again
The Reds’ back four as a unit was resolute yet again and it is no coincidence why United boast the stingiest defence in the A-League. Iacopo La Rocca and Dylan McGowan were domineering throughout the encounter and displayed supreme composure on the ball and when making interceptions. Adelaide also made history in becoming the inaugural club to register four consecutive away clean sheets in the league.
Sydney evidently devoid of confidence
The Sky Blues have not tasted victory since mid-January against arch-rivals Western Sydney Wanderers and appear dejected and mentally fatigued. Sydney played decent in patches, but could not sustain that pressure for long enough to cause United any major concerns. However, knowing that whatever the outcome meant little would have played on the minds of Sydney, following Melbourne’s 4-1 win. Boss Arnold must now motivate his troops for the Champions League as they are in an auspicious position to progress to the next round – sitting top of their group.
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