Ben Folami red card dampens Adelaide United’s win over Newcastle
Adelaide overcame the sending-off of star signing Ben Folami to retain their unbeaten record with a 1-0 win against the Newcastle Jets at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday.
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Adelaide overcame the sending-off of star signing Ben Folami to retain their unbeaten record with a 1-0 win against the Newcastle Jets at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday.
Folami became entangled with Newcastle defender Phil Cancar in the 64th minute after a clumsy tackle, and after Cancar regained his feet, he shoved Adelaide’s attacking midfielder.
Referee Ben Abraham initially issued Cancar a yellow card, but then the VAR intervened.
Replays indicated that Folami, who joined Adelaide after leaving Melbourne Victory at the end of last season, had struck Cancar in the face with his hand while they were grappling on the turf.
Asked about the send-off, Veart said: “In my opinion it was a bit soft. I don’t see how that was violent conduct.
“Both boys were tangled on the ground and his hand reached out.
“It’s not a swinging arm and it’s not an elbow, it’s an open hand.
“So I don’t see how that can be seen as violent conduct, and I don’t see how the VAR can step in to say that.”
Veart praised his players for “staying strong” once they were reduced to 10 men and continuing their best start to a season since 2014-15.
After consulting VAR Adam Kersey, Abraham showed Folami a red card for violent contact, leaving Adelaide with 10 men and 26 minutes, plus injury time, to defend their 1-0 lead.
They successfully survived that, despite some nervous moments, to improve their record to four wins and two draws from six starts, climbing to second position behind high-flying Auckland.
In contrast, Jets coach Ron Stanton struggled to contain his frustration after Newcastle’s fifth loss in six games this season.
“I need to get some of the silver spoons out of their mouths and teach them this is your opportunity,” Stanton said.
“You need to fight for this club. You need to fight for the fans … they will clap you when you fight. They will boo you when you don’t fight.
“They were booing, and rightly so. Rightly so.”
The Jets remained 11th on the ladder, after one win from six games.
Red card drama in Newcastle 😲🔴 A spicy altercation sees Adelaide United go down to 10.
— Isuzu UTE A-League (@aleaguemen) December 7, 2024
After VAR review, Ben Folami is given his marching orders.
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ARCH ENEMY
Archie Goodwin is arguably the best local junior to have emerged at the Jets, debuting in the A-League at 16 and playing 44 games for his hometown club.
Frustrated by a lack of game time, he rejected a contract extension at the end of last season and instead signed with Adelaide.
That decision appears to be paying dividends. After five games off the bench, including a goal against Brisbane two weeks ago, the now 20-year-old started upfront against his former team.
He helped Adelaide draw first blood in the 15th minute with a close-range shot that Jets keeper Ryan Scott parried, only for Stefan Mauk to pounce on the rebound and score.
The Young Socceroos representative was replaced in the 61st minute, leaving fans pondering the thought that Newcastle’s loss appears to be Adelaide’s gain.
ROSE YET TO BLOOM
Lachlan Rose was one of Newcastle’s main off-season recruits, after they signed him from Macarthur Bulls.
But the striker missed the first five rounds after suffering a hip injury in the pre-season.
After proving his fitness to take on Adelaide, Rose was rushed into the starting line-up by Jets coach Rob Stanton.
He showed glimpses of his potential in the first half, firing in a pass that Eli Adams headed over the goal, then lunging to get a boot on a Clayton Taylor cross, which rebounded off the crossbar.
The Jets will be hoping the 25-year-old, who was replaced in the 55th minute, continues to sharpen up as he gains match fitness.
EARNING HIS KEEP
Jets keeper Ryan Scott was the busiest player on the pitch in the opening 20 minutes, as Adelaide dominated possession and field position.
The Reds produced 10 shots in the opening 17 minutes. If not for Scott’s heroics in front of the sticks, the home team would have been facing an even bigger deficit than 1-0.
VETERAN’S MILESTONE
Adelaide veteran Isaias Sanchez, a second-half substitute, equalled the club record for most A-League games with his 238th appearance.
The 37-year-old Spanish midfielder is set to overtake former goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic in Friday’s clash with reigning champions Central Coast in Gosford.
WELL BEHIND
Brazilian import Wellissol returned from a knee injury as a second-half replacement, but once again he struggled to provide the spark and creativity Newcastle desperately need.
WESTERN UNITED BOUNCE BACK AFTER LEGENDS BLAST
—Max Hatzoglou
Western United have responded to John Aloisi’s blast of his side’s lack of intensity last week with a performance stacked full of chances but no goals as Macarthur’s Filip Curto pulled off multiple saves to keep the game scoreless on Sunday.
Curto made up to five big saves across the game at Ironbark Fields, including a stop from a sharp Jake Najdovski header in the 82nd minute to stop United from finding the back net from their 19 shots compared to the Bulls’ nine.
Walter Scott also put in an inspiring tackle late in the 85th minute to help continue the Bulls’ strong defensive efforts in their second draw of the season.
Aloisi said his side was “really good” in their scoreless draw against Macarthur at Ironbark Fields on Sunday.
“Great response from the players,” he said post game.
“I was disappointed, they were disappointed, the players, as well so we asked for a reaction.
“You can have bad games, but we didn’t compete as well as we would have liked in terms of the fifty-fifty balls, we gave Victory opportunities in counter attacking moments but today, we didn’t.
“Today, we were excellent, from start to finish, we controlled the game.
“The only thing that we will be disappointed in is that we didn’t get three points because we created enough to win that game easily.”
Earlier in the second half, United’s Matthew Grimaldi made a stunning run on the right wing to almost score after getting past two Bulls defenders, but his shot just went across the face.
It was the third draw of the season for the 1-3-3 United which comes after last week’s 3-1 loss to Melbourne Victory.
“I was very proud of the boys’ effort today, we won our battles and we were just a bit unlucky not to get the three points,” United defender Dylan Leonard said post game.
United had 21 shots to nine in their favour with five on target compared to the Bulls’ one.
It was Bulls goalkeeper Filip Kurto who constantly put in big saves to stop United from scoring.
A save from a sharp Jake Najdovski header in the 82nd capped off a brilliant performance for the Polish goalkeeper.
United had 13 shots in the second half to the Bulls’ two to try and get a result but Kurto and the visitors’ defence regularly stood up.
“It’s a great performance from him, like I said the conditions weren’t great and I think they were used to that (wind), I think they have dealt with it before. And for us, it was hard to get used to,” Bulls coach Mile Sterjovski said.
“Thankfully for us, Filip had a great game today.
“I think there was maybe only two clear-cut chances that they had and he dealt with them really well.”
Aloisi was also complimentary of Kurto’s performance as well.
Aloisi added that he wanted his young and emerging side to feature in finals this season.
“We want to be making finals, if possible, that’s our goal,” he said.
“But we know that we’re improving all the time, the younger players are improving all the time.
“As a club, we’re building that (growth in the younger players) for sure, and playing this style of football, playing football that we’re able to dominate both with and without the ball.
“(Today) they didn’t create anything, and we created a number of chances and looked good going forward.
“So that’s a style of football we want to play.”
Aloisi cleared up any initial injury concerns for winger Abel Walatee after he was subbed off early in the second half after going to ground.
“He is fine, just cramp, he said.
“We just have to keep building Abel physically, the more minutes he plays the better he will get physically.
“I thought he was good in the first half, good in the beginning of the second half, just cramp so we will keep building him.”
United winger Abel Walatee, who had a promising first half, went down in the 61st minute and hobbled off the ground as he was subbed off with what looked to be an issue with his right leg.
It was a vastly different outing to the last time these two teams met at the venue which saw a come-from-behind 4-2 win to United in their first ever game at the venue.
UNITED START WELL
United had the best of the chances in the opening half with United’s Riku Danzaki involved in many of the key moments.
After almost knocking in a terrific ball across the face from Abel Walatee in the 14th minute, Danzaki almost set up an unmarked Noah Botic for a header goal at the back post.
But then the Bulls clicked into gear with Kealey Adamson almost scoring with a top-right corner directed long range shot which goalkeeper Matthew Sutton stopped.
Sutton followed his opposition keeper Filip Curto in pulling off great saves in the first half to keep the encounter goalless to the main break.
Despite losing shots 7-6 and possession (43.8 per cent) to halftime, United were the better of the two teams, winning expected goals 0.54 to 0.21 with Hiroshi Ibusuki and Walatee chances narrowly missing just before the break.
WIND FACTOR
The wind was blowing so hard at Ironbark Fields, at one stage a Luke Brattan attempted long ball almost went backwards.
It had the crowd in shock as the Bulls tried to push against the wind in the second half.
RECORDS TUMBLE AS AUCKLAND HOLD ON IN NEW ZEALAND DERBY
—Jake Garland
Auckland FC have held onto their undefeated streak to start the 2024-25 A-League, defeating Wellington Phoenix as records tumbled.
In front of 26,253 screaming fans, a new record crowd in New Zealand, Auckland held onto a 2-1 victory with the an own goal from Wellington Isaac Hughes ultimately being the difference.
Auckland’s captain Hiroki Sakai crossed the ball in the 31st minute but caught the head of Hughes, gifting Auckland a 1-0 which remained the result at half time.
In the second half, Auckland played more attacking with Nando Zen Pijnaker getting his sides second goal to give them a 2-0 lead.
Auckland claimed a new record for longest start to the season without conceding a goal, breaking the 38-year record in the 25th minute previously held by Preston Makedonia of 474 minutes.
But the record will stop at 532 minutes as Wellington’s Konstantinos Barbarouses managed to break through Auckland’s defence to give them a sniff with eight minutes to go.
Originally published as Ben Folami red card dampens Adelaide United’s win over Newcastle
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