Melbourne City FC has suffered its first loss of the A-League season, going down 2-0 at the hands of Adelaide United.
A tight first half ended nil-all but the home team were able to find the back of the net twice in ten minutes after City were reduced to ten men in the second half.
Starting XI
With Andrew Nabbout (hamstring injury) and Adrian Luna (suspension) both missing from Tuesday’s line-up, Patrick Kisnorbo was forced into a couple of changes to his starting XI.
Florin Berenguer returned from injury to start in midfield while Marco Tilio replaced Nabbout to made his debut for the Club.
.@florinberenguer is back and Marco Tilio makes his City debut!#ADLvMCY #ALeague #CityTogether pic.twitter.com/9588XD1cd3
— Melbourne City FC (@MelbourneCity) January 3, 2021
What happened?
It was a fast start to the encounter with both teams displaying an attacking brand of football and looking to get on the front foot and create chances.
Gotta love an away day!#ADLvMCY #ALeague #CityTogether pic.twitter.com/oy6Dz4ySdU
— Melbourne City FC (@MelbourneCity) January 3, 2021
Craig Noone was involved in everything early and played a dangerous ball in behind the United defence for Jamie Maclaren but the striker saw his shot saved.
Connor Metcalfe picked up where he left off last week and was lively again in midfield.
Another well-timed run from Maclaren in the 24th minute allowed him to get in behind once again and latch on to Metcalfe’s ball but United goalkeeper James Delianov did just enough to keep it out of the back of the net.
Led by captain Scott Jamieson and Curtis Good, City were solid at the back in the first half with that pair making a couple of important interventions to keep scores level.
Neither side gave an inch early in the second half with it appearing to be anyone’s game as nobody could find a way to break the deadlock.
City were reduced to ten men in the 65th minute when Jamieson was shown a second yellow after a challenge on Yaya Dukuly.
Almost immediately after, Adelaide opened scoring as Tomi Juric found the back of the net after a corner.
Ten minutes later the home side had doubled it’s advanted when Stefan Mauk scored from close range – his shot deflecting off of the boot of Rostyn Griffiths and deceiving Tom Glover.
In search of a spark, Patrick Kisnorbo subbed on attacking threats Naoki Tsubaki and Stefan Colakovski but City were unable to get back into the game.
What’s next?
After some fixture changes due to the recent COVID-19 outbreak in New South Wales, City won’t be in action again until it’s first home game on January 17.
City hosts Western United in what will be its first match at AAMI Park in over 300 days with the fixture kicking off at 6.05pm.
