Summary
It’s a common assessment in football that a 0-0 scoreline doesn’t necessarily mean a dull game. Well, this one was.
It was the nil-niliest nil-nil that ever did nil, in spite of how much was at stake.
Adelaide will be livid that Wanderers ‘keeper Liam Reddy wasn’t given his marching orders early on for a glaringly poor last-man challenge. But that said, the visitors offered very little going forward, perhaps missing the late scratching of key playmaker Marcelo Carrusca.
Wanderers for their part showed some great industry, and patient possession - Romeo Castelen in particular posed a threat on numerous occasions. But their final third play was either too predictable or too imprecise - crosses squandered and final balls comfortably intercepted.
A fine late header from Santalab was deflected onto the post, and in stoppage time Mark Bridge almost conjured a winner. But all in all, an overly cautious Western Sydney will have to be happy with a point.
A great contrast to the excitement of last night’s Melbourne City-Brisbane clash, but both sides still displayed high quality, if admittedly, more so defensively than offensively.
It’s an outcome that will hearten John van’t Schip’s men down in Melbourne - two title rivals sharing the points, but it’s Wanderers who finish up top of the pile by one point with three rounds to play in the race for the Premiers plate.
Game on.
Full-time: Western Sydney Wanderers 0-0 Adelaide United
Pffffft! And that’s it! Full-time is blown and Mark Bridge holds his head in his hands.
Probably the first genuine chance of the entire game - and you would have backed a man of Bridge’s experience to bury that. Great scrambling defence though to close the angles.
Nil-nil - honours even.
93 min: Oooh! Would you believe it - that shot has gone literally centimetres wide!!
It was curling away from the goal, and the groan the crowd collectively emitted was something to behold. Great work from Jamieson once again, his deflected cross broke so kindly for Bridge, but it just wasn’t to be.
92 min: 4 minutes extra is the verdict from the fourth official.
Vidosic flicks it to Jamieson - he picks out Mark Bridge - he’s about ten metres out - what can he fashion...!
89 min: A booking for Santalab - his sixth of the season. Not bad for a bloke who spends most of the time riding the pine.
Wanderers with it at the back, but not a tremendous sense of urgency to get forward.
Castelen with an excellent whipped cross once more - but again, there’s nobody at the far post to tuck it home! Across the face, Santalab busting to get there, but Galekovic’s goal goes untroubled.
88 min: So about five minutes to decide this one - the home crowd are trying to lift the Wanderers, but as it stands they’ll return to the summit of the A-League - 42 points, one ahead of Melbourne City and Brisbane, two ahead of Adelaide, if it remains nil-nil.
85 min: A substitution for Adelaide - Mauk makes way and it’s an A-League debut for Mark Ochieng. One of the young faces on the Adelaide bench, a nice moment for him.
He’s a stocky, solid looking bloke for a youngster. Reminiscent perhaps of a young Chucho Benitez, RIP.
83 min: How close was that!!
Another corner for the Wanderers and an absolute bullet header from the substitute Santalab, from seemingly far too far out to trouble the ‘keeper.
It’s cannoned into the man on the post, Goodwin, who deflects the ball onto the post!
Galekovic dives gratefully onto the loose ball, as a Wanderers player dives in.
A lucky escape for Adelaide there!
Updated
81 min: So it’s a Poznan in the stands - they live for that, don’t they, the Wanderers fans. Can’t blame them, especially tonight. If this was an international fixture in the 80s we’d have seen about ten Mexican waves thus far.
79 min: Castelen with another mazey dribble. His twinkling toes have certainly been a highlight tonight.
A corner is won, and whipped in - Adelaide scramble it clear, but for the first time they’re starting to look a bit nervy/scrappy there.
Too early to start shutting up shop, could be a long last ten minutes here for Adelaide fans.
77 min: It’s very much the Wanderers doing all the running at this stage - another looping cross, and this time it’s Vidosic on the end of it.
A tame effort, really, perhaps blindsided by his defender.
75 min: And right on cue - Poppa signals it’s the end of the night for his number 10. I swear I didn’t see a board up, just a happy coincidence of thought.
Nichols off, Santalab on. Can Western Sydney’s super-sub change the complexion of this clash, as he has so often this season?
72 min: Adelaide cut out an attempted final third pass; sloppy from Dimas. Mitch Nichols has been excellent this year, but perhaps a little low on creativity tonight.
It’s a problem with Popovic’s Wanderers, when you play such a disciplined and structured game, if your creators aren’t firing it all gets a little static.
Countering that observation though here’s Castelen with a wicked lashed shot!
Flashes wide from the Dutchman. We’ve certainly seen him score some rippers previously.
69 min: Long lofted ball finds Bridge on the end of the area, but again the Wanderers recycle it.
I haven’t had a chance tonight to say ‘Michael Marrone’. But now I have. Not an obvious pick for ‘Great A-League Names’ but it’s one that’s always had a soft spot in my heart.
Could he double as a crime-fighting detective? Who can say.
67 min: Jamieson looks to combine with Sotirio, but the ball is slightly overhit. Those two have worked well on down the left.
It’s his last contribution - Popovic makes the first substitution of the evening; Vidosic on for the youngster Jaushua (sic).
65 min: Adelaide with a rare counter. Mauk finds himself heavily involved in the buildup, but Topor-Stanley strides across imperiously to snuff out the chance.
Hasn’t had to do too much defending so far, the Wanderers skipper, but he does brilliantly there.
64 min: McGowan playing his 50th game for Adelaide tonight - he’s certainly saved his side here. Wanderers now with a few back-to-back corners as they look to mount some pressure.
62 min: Great chance! Castelen with a great run, he’s beaten Goodwin all ends up. He cuts back a lovely cross to find Mark Bridge - he shoots, on target, but a desperate lunge from Dylan McGowan sees the shot just deflected wide!
First corner of the game. Remarkable it’s taken this long. I wonder what the A-League record for that is?
59 min: Castelen with a bustling run, but just as he goes to pull the trigger inside the box he’s adjudged to have fouled Goodwin. Replays suggest correctly so.
An hour gone now and it’s Wanderers with possession and the edge in attack; but neither side has really fashioned too much. Who knows what that red card in the 13th minute could have done to this fixture?
57 min: Jamieson with a well-worked pass to find Castelen. He lays off to Nichols who picks out Sotirio on the six-yard box. Excellent passage, but Goodwin is on him like a glove. Danger averted.
55 min: It’s moments like these you really miss Josep Gombau. It wasn’t just that his side was so exciting, it was also the constant hilarity of his sideline antics. If I was a cartoonist I’d draw him as some kind of expectorating camel. Boy, could that fella spit when he talked.
Where are you now, Josep. Anyone? Australia misses you.
Updated
54 min: A real half-chance there for the Wanderers - they find themselves 3 on 3 at the back, with Sotirio breaking down the left but Castelen chooses the wrong option and his shot after cutting back inside is easily blocked.
52 min: Don’t expect too much creativity from Adelaide tonight; apart from being away from home the absence of both Elrich and Carrusca robs them of two of their real X-factors when it comes to opening up doughty defences.
50 min: Sotirio tries to pick out a teammate, but not for the first time it’s a overhit cross from the Wanderers. Castelen sprints to retrieve but the moment passes.
Djite draws a foul - he’s worked tirelessly up front, but has been reasonably isolated thus far.
47 min: Jamieson finds space out wide left, but again the Wanderers find the way ahead blocked. They recycle possession, but 20-30 passes later they’re no further forward.
Mauk now finds a spot of open field for Adelaide to hit on the counter; and as he loses the ball courtesy a great Alberto sliding challenge, immediately Wanderers spring the counter to the counter. A counter-counter attack?
Second half: Western Sydney Wanderers 0-0 Adelaide United
45 min: And we’re back underway. Adelaide now running left-right and they enjoy some comfortable early possession.
What will we see in this second half. More chess game? More arm wrestle?
Perhaps some wrestle-chess? Don’t quote me on that.
Is that how you’ve seen it back home? Or at work, sneaking furtive glances at your mobile phone? Wherever you’re following this coverage, let us know how you saw that one.
I’m off to soak my fingers and regroup before hopefully we see some on-field fireworks in the second half.
Half-time: Western Sydney Wanderers 0-0 Adelaide United
Pffft! And there’s the whistle. Some late action, and some bad blood sneaking into this one, but it is still very much as tight as a hand up a vending machine.
Both sides with grounds to be aggrieved, but Adelaide vastly more so after the guest referee inexplicably failed to send off Wanderers ‘keeper Liam Reddy for a poor last-man challenge on Bruce Kamau.
45 min: Just one minute of extra-time to come, probably a relief in the context of this so far. Drr-rab business.
Djite gets a knock on the ankle, before both Castelen and Bridge find themselves ball-at-foot inside the box. Three defenders rush to shut the Wanderers striker down.
42 min: The Adelaide captain, Galekovic, meanwhile goes in the book for what we can only presume was dissent. The Reds (light blue) skipper possibly still steaming about the Kamau/Reddy decision! Wow. Mental note: do not cross this guy, he can hold onto a grudge.
Castelen now with a speculator. Nothing really to worry our Eugene in goals, but at least the Wanderers are finding their shooting boots.
Updated
40 min: Mitch Nichols does brilliantly to turn his marker, allows the ball to run across him to open up a shot on the edge of the box; but he’s tripped! Surely a free kick, but our Japanese referee has let it go. Perhaps a ledger-leveller there?
Nichols then drags a shot across the face of the goal - a first moment of goalmouth action!
37 min: Well look, I don’t want to jump the gun and call this ‘dull’ but there certainly are shades of that notorious World Cup game, you know, Austria v Germany, playing to keep Algeria out.. Perhaps not so much a case of both sides being happy for a draw, but rather neither side keen to open themselves up to a loss. Have a go, ya mugs.
34 min: Both coaches looking pensive on the sideline; also metaphorically being pensive as they furtively jot some notes in tiny notebooks.
Popovic in his trademark black suit and dark scowl makes it look like one of Ceausescu’s henchmen drawing up a ‘special list’; Amor, reclining in his seat casting more of a ‘this is just an idle love poem’ kind of air.
Updated
31 min: A section of the Western Sydney Wanderers fans are giving Bruce Kamau some sustained booing here. A bit harsh given from any conceivable angle the young winger was wrongly booked for simulation.
30 min: Adelaide with some sustained possession in midfield. It’s not a dull game so far, but outside of that Kamau burst neither side has really created anything.
It’s testy; tense; a bit of thrust and counter-thrust at this stage. No doubt it will begin to open up as the match goes on and tired legs creep in.
27 min: Castelen stands up a neat dinked cross to the far post, but there’s nobody there to capitalise. Smacked of a training ground combination, but Sotirio wasn’t there to capitalise. Some senior heads chastise appropriately.
25 min: McGowan goes on a marauding run, but he’s turned possession over cheaply. Sotirio looks to exploit the space left behind the right-sided defender, but Adelaide regroup.
22 min: Scott Jamieson whips in a shot-cross. Fine build up from the left back, but perhaps the final ball lacking. Match commentators muse on failure to capitalise from wide positions this season - anyone got some great hard data or stats they want to share on that? Or, just the idea that Sydney FC’s Brandon O’Neill appears to increasingly look like Jamieson? Same hairdresser? Just one of mine I’ve noted tonight.. Discuss.
20 min: It’s an interesting one. For those of you who also caught Melbourne City v Brisbane last night - quite a scintillating clash - it was always intriguing to see how these two title rivals tonight would set out their stalls.
Tony Popovic isn’t exactly renowned for ‘attack, attack, attack’ style of football, so there’s a fair chance this one might be a bit more cat-and-mouse.
Updated
19 min: Mitch Nichols looks to get Wanderers going forward. Already a bit of feeling out there - that Kamau/Reddy decision obviously not helping an already tense winner-takes-all encounter.
16 min: First of the ‘Who do we sing for”s from the RBB - they’re in fine voice, and who can blame them. What a reprieve for their side!
Adelaide reclaim possession, but Bridge has put Galekovic under pressure here. Almost a nasty moment for the custodian. Insert old Scottish pundit moaning about ‘sweeper keepers’ and the modern fixation with ‘passing’.
13 min: Reds coach Guillermo Amor off his seat and gesticulating passionately. A few Spanish swear words no doubt flying round.
Liam Reddy must be the most relieved man inside Parramatta stadium - the goalkeeper stays on for (presumably) another 77 mins, when by all rights he should be back in the dressing room punching a locker to pieces, Klaus Kinski style.
Maybe our Aussie refs are comparable to the continent’s best..?
11 min: Here’s a MASSIVE talking point - Bruce Kamau is taken down one-on-one with Liam Reddy - a long lofted ball over the top has found the flyer brilliantly; but instead of a red card for the keeper, it’s a yellow for the winger for simulation! Baffling!
9 min: It’s Wanderers caressing it round the back now, they’ve worked a cross from the right but Dimas fails to get much purchase on the header.
7 min: Great last minute lunch by Andreu to prevent Mauk finding himself free inside the box. Tidy defending.
As always do feel free to join the coverage tonight - quips, musings, fun facts - always welcome. Twitter me at @rrjparkin, or email richard.parkin.casual@guardian.co.uk.
5 min: Young George Mells with a deliberate handball to break play. The referee elects to keep his cards in his pocket.
Tonight’s whistleblower is from Japan, Takuto Okabe, has the reins - apologies to the Ben Williams fans amongst you. He’s in charge thanks to the FFA-JFA referee exchange program. I wander who’s getting the better end of that deal?
4 min: Castelen with an early dart into the box but the threat is snuffed out. He’s had his fair share of critics, but the Dutchman has been in some handy form in recent weeks.
I for one am a big fan, Wanderers will need him to sparkle again here tonight.
3 min: Adelaide stroking the ball round the back; Western Sydney happy to shuttle side-to-side as the Reds (playing in light blue) probe.
Let’s hope they have better luck than another A-League team in light blue - if you missed the result in Gosford, ay, ay, ay.
Kick off!
1 min: And we’re off - Adelaide with some early possession, and Western Sydney straight away put them under a hard press.
The players are out on the pitch - lovely conditions for an evening’s footer; so go get the kettle on and don’t forget to wee, because you probably don’t want to miss a second of this one. Kick off not far away!
Team news for both sides:
A clean bill of health for the hosts, Tony Popovic will have his full squad to choose from. For Guillermo Amor, Pablo Sanchez and the ever-reliable Tarek Elrich are injury losses, with defender Jordan Elsey suspended. Breaking news suggesting Marcelo Carrusca might have picked up a late knock - watch this space, I don’t think he’ll feature tonight.
Elsewhere, Craig Goodwin and Dylan McGowan make their fiftieth appearances for Adelaide United, whereas former Wanderer Iacopo La Rocca returns to Parramatta for the first time since he left the club.
WSW are lining up like this:
STARTING XI: Reddy, Neville, Alberto, Topor-Stanley, Jamieson, Andreu, Dimas, Nichols, Castelen, Sotirio, Bridge #WSW #WSWvADL
— WS Wanderers FC (@wswanderersfc) March 19, 2016
Adelaide’s starting XI reads:
#AUFC XI: Galekovic (GK) (C), Marrone, McGowan, La Rocca, Goodwin, Isaias, Mells, Mauk, Kamau, Cirio, Djite #WSWvADL #ForeverUnited
— Adelaide United FC (@AdelaideUnited) March 19, 2016
Great story on the bench for Adelaide United – young Ruon Tongyik is in the frame to make his first senior appearance for the club. Credit to local club Adelaide Olympic and the program that helped the Sudanese-born defender make it onto the professional stage.
The lad appears to have a commanding social media presence – go follow him and see if we can entice him into a second tweet.
Preamble
With the quality of football in the A-League continuing to rise as the finals approach, tonight’s fare is another lip-licker. A win could see either Adelaide or Western Sydney Wanderers go top – the same scenario Melbourne City and Brisbane faced last night.
For all the moaning that surrounds a salary-capped league, can you beat the excitement that is four teams, all duking it out for the Premiership plate? And for all those pre-season pundits who predicted another Melbourne Victory or Sydney FC season of dominance, what a turn up for the books – the ‘big two’ are nowhere to be seen in the title push.
Before last week’s loss to Melbourne City, Adelaide had enjoyed a fourteen-match unbeaten streak, taking the Reds remarkably from bottom to top in just four months.
For Tony Popovic’s men it’s been a less spectacular run of form – they boast only five wins in their last thirteen, but they do have the wood over Adelaide when it comes to Parramatta Stadium.
Western Sydney haven’t lost the last three times these sides have clashed, and in fact the Reds have never beaten them on their home paddock. With the stadium about to undergo extensive renovations, expect the Wanderers’ notoriously passionate and vocal fans to be keen to protect that particular record for another season.
A great opportunity for both sides to notch a significant blow against a fellow title contender – strap yourself in; this one could be a cracker.
Richard will be here shortly with all tonight’s action – but if you have bored, restless eyeballs in the interim, read this:
Absolutely nothing to do with Australian football, sure, but sometimes it’s nice to go on an excursion, no?
Alternatively, here’s Jonathan Howcroft musing on a special quality of the A-League:
