A-League Finals
Apr 22, 2016 10.45am
4
1
HT : 0 0
FT
  • Craig Goodwin 36' yellowcard
  • Bruce Djite 48' goal
  • Iacopo La Rocca 57' yellowcard
  • Bruce Djite 60' goal
  • Stefan Mauk 69' yellowcard
  • Dylan McGowan 88' goal
  • Pablo Sanchez 90' yellowcard
  • Pablo Sanchez 95' goal
  • yellowcard Paulo Retre 13'
  • yellowcard Benjamin Garuccio 61'
  • yellowcard Anthony Caceres 67'
  • goal Nicholas Fitzgerald 72'

Bruce Dijte double sends Adelaide United through to A-League Grand Final

Bruce Dijte double sends Adelaide through

Adelaide United have defeated Melbourne City 4-1 at Coopers Stadium to book their place in the A-League Grand Final.

The Reds, who beat the same opposition 2-0 a fortnight ago to claim the Premiers Plate, raced two goals to the good thanks to a Bruce Djite double.

Nicholas Fitzgerald did manage to pull one back for the Heart with a quarter of the lively match still to play, but City's hopes of progressing beyond the semi-final stage for the first time soon came to an end.

The visitors had a good chance to open the scoring inside the opening couple of minutes, which Anthony Caceres could only hit straight at Eugene Galekovic.

Thomas Sorensen was called into action a quarter of the way through the match to smartly keep out Bruce Kamau's effort, before doing likewise from a Djite attempt soon after.

Chances for both sides continued to come - Fitzgerald becoming the latest to blast his shot at Galekovic while Carrusca hit one narrowly wide of the target.

A real end-to-end battle showed no signs of settling down heading towards the interval, as Sorensen again denied Kamou and Jack Clisby was there to clear off the line.

Despite all the action the goals did not arrive prior to the break, but that changed soon after the restart when Dijte curled an unstoppable effort into the back of the net.

The Reds pushed on after opening the scoring and had a second goal to their name on the hour when Clisby brought down Kamau inside the box.

Dijte made no mistake from the spot, but Fitzgerald did find the net with a side-footed finish 10 minutes later to make it game on once more in Adelaide.

There was to be no grandstand finish at Coopers Field, though, as Dylan McGowan fired home from close range and Pablo Sanchez added a fourth late on to seal a comfortable win in the end.

Author photo

Written by

Share this article:
Subscribe to our newsletter

Get FREE daily news and in-depth previews for games from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football — straight to your inbox.

Subscribe