Adelaide United’s trouncing of reigning A-League champions Central Coast Mariners 4-0 at Coopers Stadium has revived their flagging season.
With under-fire coach Josep Gombau coming to blows with local media for the second time in a fortnight, the Reds responded by registering only their second win in 10 matches and first since the opening round.
Bruce Djite opened the scoring for the hosts in the 25th minute before Fabio Ferreira doubled the advantage on 40 minutes.
Sergio Cirio, who had a hand in both goals, helped himself to one in the 55th minute and substitute Jeronimo wrapped up the three points for United on fulltime.
Gombau was delighted with the win, not for himself but for others associated with the club.
“I am very happy to win for the players and the fans more than anybody because they trust and support myself and the team,” he said.
“We are believing in what we are doing and this is important.”
Central Coast coach Phil Moss said the Mariners’ first-half performance was at fault for their loss.
“The first half was are undoing and they’re a lot of boys in that dressing room and staff that are hurting,” he said.
“But that’s a good sign because I know the fight and the culture at the Mariners is to show a reaction when we have a below par performance.”
Round 10 wrap
MELBOURNE VICTORY 2 (Adama Traore 36m, Guilherme Finkler 90m) bt PERTH GLORY 0 at AAMI Park. Crowd: 17,008. Referee: Peter Green.
BRISBANE ROAR 2 (Matthew Smith 37m, Ivan Franjic 74m) bt WELLINGTON PHOENIX 1 (Carlos Hernandez 48m pen) at Westpac Stadium. Referee: Shaun Evans.
ADELAIDE UNITED 4 (Bruce Djite 25m, Fabio Ferreira 40m, Sergio Cirio 55m, Jeronimo Neumann 90m) bt CENTRAL COAST MARINERS 0 at Coopers Stadium. Crowd: 7,785. Referee: Ben Williams.
WESTERN SYDNEY WANDERERS 1 (Mark Bridge 33m) bt NEWCASTLE JETS 0 at Hunter Stadium. Crowd: 16,634. Referee: Jarred Gillett.
SYDNEY FC 2 (Alessandro Del Piero 43m, Ranko Despotovic 45+1m) bt MELBOURNE HEART 1 (Michael Mifsud 72m) at Allianz Stadium. Crowd: 16,008. Referee: Chris Beath.
LADDER AFTER Rd 10 P W D L GF GA GD Pts
Brisbane Roar 10 8 0 2 19 7 12 24
W Sydney Wanderers 10 5 4 1 11 7 4 19
Sydney FC 10 6 0 4 13 12 1 18
Melbourne Victory 10 4 3 3 14 10 4 15
Newcastle Jets 10 4 3 3 11 11 0 15
Central Coast Mariners 9 3 4 2 9 11 -2 13
Perth Glory 10 3 3 4 10 12 -2 12
Adelaide United 10 2 3 5 16 17 -1 9
Wellington Phoenix 9 0 4 5 9 15 -6 4
Melbourne Heart 10 0 4 6 8 18 -10 4
LEADING GOALSCORERS
6: Adam Taggart (Newcastle), James Troisi (Victory)
5: Besart Berisha (Brisbane)
4: Alessandro Del Piero (Sydney), Jeronimo Neumann (Adelaide), David Williams (Melbourne Heart)
3: Ivan Franjic (Brisbane), Matthew Smith (Brisbane), Marcos Flores (Mariners), Archie Thompson (Victory), Henrique (Brisbane), Fabio Ferreira (Adelaide), Joel Chianese (Sydney), Ranko Despotovic (Sydney), Tomi Juric (Western Sydney), Andrea Migliorini (Melbourne Heart), Sergio Cirio (Adelaide)
