The Airton Andriolo era at Adelaide United has kicked off in the best possible fashion as the Reds recorded a 2-1 A-League Men victory over Sydney FC at Coopers Stadium.
Returning skipper and Adelaide veteran Craig Goodwin teed up former skipper Ryan Kitto for the opener on 55 minutes before Ethan Alagich made it 2-0 10 minutes later following a dominant first half from Adelaide.
Sydney star Joe Lolley pulled a goal back for the visitors in injury time to ensure a frantic finish, but the Reds held on to give Andrioli a win in his maiden A-League fixture as head coach.
Andrioli said he was delighted to have started his reign with maximum points.
"We're extremely happy,
it's always a little bit nervy the first game of the season," he said.
"Even though we had a
lot of time to prepare you never know, because this is real deal when you play
for points, play against a good opposition and you've got the whole crowd here.
United should have broken the early deadlock on seven minutes but were denied but a stunning save by Harrison Devenish-Meares.
Luke Duzel released Dylen Pierias with a delightful ball over Sydney's defence and the full back rolled it across the box into the path of Goodwin.
The Adelaide captain side-footed from close range but Devenish-Mears scrambled across and thwarted the effort from a few metres out.
United had an almost identical chance two minutes later when Duzel slipped in Yaya Dukuly who whipped a ball in from the left to the far post. Panagiotis Kikianis was left unchecked and his effort from five metres out was cleared off the line by Devenish-Meares.
On 27 minutes Lolley got in behind Kitto and lifted a cross towards Victor Campuzano. The Spaniard headed in to Kikianis before the ball was eventually cleared by Adelaide.
Adelaide kicked off the second half just as they finished the first, testing Devenish-Meares soon after the restart, but Jonny Yull's effort was kept out with an excellent diving save.
But, the Reds deservedly took the lead on 55 minutes following a perfectly executed corner.
Goodwin whipped in a sublime delivery from the right and with everyone committed to the near post, Kitto ghosted in at the back and powered a diving header past Devenish-Meares.
United doubled their lead 10 minutes later after a well-worked passage which was started and finished by Alagich. The Reds midfielder collected the ball from Pierias and found Dukuly wide on the left, before continuing his run into the box.
Dukuly threaded it through for Alagich who lashed home from a tight angle 10 metres out, beating Devenish-Meares at the near post.
Sydney FC skipper Rhyan Grant hit the post on 69 minutes after he was teed up by Lolley but the visitors struggled to carve out any more clear chances until injury time.
The visitors had the Reds pinned back inside their penalty area before the ball fell to Lolley on the edge of the area. The winger unleashed first time and curled the ball through a packed box and into the far corner.
