A-League: Adelaide United 3-1 Central Coast Mariners at Hindmarsh

ADELAIDE United retained its spot in the A-League’s top six with a comfortable victory over Central Coast on Saturday.

THE two missing ingredients to Adelaide United’s current A-League campaign were sitting in the audience with ‘unattached’ pinned to their fabulous reputations at Coopers Stadium on Saturday.

If Socceroos James Troisi and goal machine Serginho van Dijk wore Reds shirts, wondering how many more goals Adelaide should have scored against Central Coast Mariners wouldn’t have been all the talk at Hindmarsh.

Adelaide claimed a 3-1 win but it took 16 Reds shots for a three-goal reward.

When Pablo Sanchez scored with a sublime header from a Jimmy Jeggo cross in the 80th minute the points looked safe but Mate Dugandzic then scored his first Reds goal deep in stoppage time when he met a cross from Craig Goodwin with his left boot from point blank range.

Goodwin opened the score with a super goal on the hour from a Pablo Sanchez cross when the Mariners lacked numbers in defence to give Adelaide hope of cementing a top six spot.

Goodwin brought the ball down with his left boot before planting a 12m right foot shot into the bottom corner to give Adelaide a deserved 1-0 lead.

Fabio Ferreira then used every rule in the gentlemanly conduct book when he courteously refused to celebrate his stunning equaliser in the 66th minute.

The former Reds winger received the ball 25m outside the box, made space to have an 18m shot which cannoned off the post and into the back of the net.

But Adelaide was made to sweat to score goals as Troisi and van Dijk probably pondered how they could fit into this team which did so much attacking but missed the target too many times in a scoreless first half.

Two missed penalties one from Marcelo Carrusca and the other from Ferreira compounded the lack of goals argument.

Adelaide-born Troisi sat incognito watching his home town club and saw Carrusca attempt to put Adelaide ahead in the 32nd minute from the spot when Mariners captain Nick Montgomery was pinged for a dubious handball after he was caught flat footed by a Goodwin back heel.

Carrusca who has put away seven penalties for the Reds since 2012 smacked this one high before the ball kissed the crossbar with the leather threatening to sail as far as the River Torrens downtown.

On the stroke of half-time Mariners were also awarded a dodgy spot kick when referee Matthew Conger somehow saw an infringement between Reds defender Michael Marrone — who was booked for the foul — and Harry Ascroft who leapt high for a crossed ball inside the box.

Ferreira stepped up only to blast his effort way over the crossbar.

With no goals scored, the very men — Troisi and van Dijk- who know how to jag them must have also been somewhat frustrated at the break.

It’s believed Troisi has had a very strong offer from a Chinese Super League club and may consider taking up that option after Adelaide this week made a play for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup final goal scoring hero.

Debutant keeper Alistair Bray was impressive for Central Coast.

It’s understood Wellington Phoenix made a better offer than the Reds for Troisi who is destined to make a club decision early next week with Adelaide still remotely in the mix to snare his services.

But Van Dijk had a more outlandish introduction to Hindmarsh for the first time in three years when he was presented to the audience before kick off.

He may be offered a deal specifically for Adelaide’s AFC Champions League.

But how they could have used the pair given Adelaide was dominating without giving rookie keeper Alastair Bray, 22, too much early grief.

The Mariners were very unsettled having lost goalkeeper Paul Izzo to Olyroos international duty before he was injured, Adelaide failed to advantage of the nerves of Bray after he was signed from Victorian club Green Gully.

But selfishness in front of goal and just plain poor finishing saw the Reds despite having eight shots enter the dressing room for the break with a blank sheet after having a solid game in defence.

Ferreira’s penalty was the only shot for Mariners for the first 45 minutes.

Goodwin then had Adelaide’s best chance in the 58th minute when he latched onto a Pablo Sanchez pass but his effort didn’t match the brilliance of the through ball — he missed the target from 8m.

Debut Adelaide keeper Daniel Margush was at full stretch in the 64th minute turning substitute Francesco Stella’s 18m shot around the post for a corner.

Originally published as A-League: Adelaide United 3-1 Central Coast Mariners at Hindmarsh