Adelaide slayed as Perth turns up the heat

Perth Glory 3 (Chianese 25’, Fornaroli 44’, Ikonomidis 68’) Adelaide United 0

Perth Glory’s inexorable rise up the A-League table, from bottom in Round 8, continues with this comprehensive victory over Adelaide United.

The Reds held their own for the first 20 minutes, sitting high to frustrate the Perth side’s modus operandi of building from the back, until Glory’s top performers turned on the style to record a 3-0 victory that sees the Perth side go third in the table and equal their best ever win sequence of five-in-a-row.

Calls for football to return to a winter sport have proliferated in the Australian sport pages this week, and the circumstances of this game, which kicked off at 34C/93F, recording a cool 31C/88F at full-time, will provide further grist to the mill.

But the problems for Adelaide really started when Glory’s talented attack turned up the heat.

The Reds held their own for the first 20 minutes and the South Australians would be entitled to feel aggrieved to go behind in the 25^th.

Adelaide forwards George Blackwood and Nik Mileusnic both had opportunities to draw first blood, but as the Glory midfielders gradually got a grip of the match, shrugging off Juande’s absence, their superior flair began to tell.

The goal came just before the first half drinks break. Wing back James Meredith finally got some change out of Halloran, who’d been hampering his scampering down the left wing well. He slipped it to Diego Castro on the edge of the box who saw a clever forward run by Joel Chianese who made no mistake from six metres, despite the attentions of three defenders.

Adelaide continued to press and create chances, notably through Blackwood, who required an instinctive save by Liam Reddy to prevent the equaliser.

But on the 44^th minute mark Meredith again galvanised Glory with an inside pass to Castro. All expected El Maestro to pass to the well-positioned Ivan Franjic out on the right. However, Castro instinctively sensed an easier kill. He wheeled around, left defender Michael Jakobsen on his backside and saw Bruno Fornaroli in space, who steadied and finished with aplomb 20m out.

The Uruguyan striker has obviously grown in confidence during Glory’s recent run and the goals are flowing for him again.

Glory started the second half as they ended the first, regularly penetrating Adelaide’s defensive lines.

Izzo watches Wuthrich header drift wide. Photo credit: Paul McNeela/Prost

On the hour mark Chianese gave way to Chris Ikonomidis, the star Socceroo winger being left on the sidelines recently due to a dip in form, seemed immediately determined to convince Glory coach Tony Popovic of his starting XI credentials.

His case grew stronger after eight minutes on the pitch.  An intricate passing series between the Perth backline culminated in Alex Grant lofting the ball into the box. Ikonomidis’ awareness saw him shrug off Michael Maria and round keeper Paul Izzo before coolly netting from an acute angle.

Ikonomidis had picked up the gauntlet thrown down by Popovic as Adelaide were left staring down the barrel of a three-goal deficit.

Glory kept piling on the agony.

Sublime touches from Castro, blistering pace from Ikonomidis, spell-binding link play from Fornaroli, marauding Meredith surging down the left and Kilkenny orchestrating the midfield, ably assisted by the ever-improving Jake Brimmer, all played their part.

Photo credit: Paul McNeela/Prost

Adelaide must have felt fortunate to keep the scoreline respectable.

The game was essentially over as a contest, but fair play to Adelaide United who kept plugging away, determined to strive for a goal and entertain the crowd.

Perth Glory: Reddy; Meredith (Kim), Grant, Wuthrich, Mrcela, Franjic; Brimmer (K. Popovic), Kilkenny; Chianese (Ikonomidis), Castro, Fornaroli.

Adelaide United: Izzo; Kitto (Lia), Jakobsen, D’Arrigo, Elsey, Strain; Maria, Mileusnic (Konstandopoulos), McGree, Halloran; Blackwood (Opseth).