The Wanderers and Adelaide United will continue their healthy rivalry at Bankwest Stadium on Friday night as the Red & Black look to continue their mid-season revival.
The Wanderers and Adelaide United will continue their healthy rivalry at Bankwest Stadium on Friday night as the Red & Black look to continue their mid-season revival.
With the last dramatic encounter between the two sides back in late December still fresh in the memory, fans can hopefully look forward to yet another exciting contest.
Few will forget the stunning finale to that game at Coopers Stadium when the Wanderers appeared set for a comfortable win leading 3-1 in the dying seconds only to have to contend with high drama as the Reds were awarded two penalties in the space of a couple of minutes.
The first was put away by George Blackwood to make it 3-2 and he had the chance to force a draw in injury time – again from the penalty spot – only to blast his effort over the bar to hand the Wanderers three much needed competition points.
Whether we get the same sort of action in this game remains to be seen, but the fact it will carry a lot of significance given both clubs still have plenty to play for this season could well set the tone for another fierce and entertaining contest.
The Wanderers are still in strong contention for a spot in the finals while the South Australians are eyeing off second place.
The Red & Black have garnered four points from their last two games following Jean-Paul de Marigny’s elevation to interim head coach.
They sit in eighth spot with 18 points, seven behind sixth-placed Brisbane Roar (25 points) but still with a game in hand.
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The Red & Black have shown signs of getting it together having beaten Central Coast 3-1 followed by a 1-1 draw with the Newcastle Jets last Saturday night when they were unlucky not to make it successive wins.
De Marigny’s side played some of their best football in the opening 30 minutes and had chances to add to captain Mitchell Duke’s fifth minute goal via the penalty spot. Unfortunately, they paid the price with the Jets equalising in the second half to share the points.
Still, there were some encouraging signs.
Duke, as usual, got through a mountain of work while Bruce Kamau was outstanding in the first half as he caused the Jets left side defence all sorts of problems with his speed. Nicolai Muller was also superb and ran himself to a standstill.
With 10 games left in the regular season, there are still 30 points up for grabs and de Marigny remains confident his side can make an exciting charge towards finals football.
There has been a healthy rivalry with Adelaide, especially over the past five seasons.
This game has produced An impressive 23 goals between them over the last six games.
United represent a threat having lost just once in their past five games. They are pushing for a spot in the top two as they are just three points behind second-placed Melbourne City.
