Neither side managed to find the back of the net, with the Reds using the match practice to build up to their crucial game against Becamex Binh Duong (Vietnam) at Hindmarsh Stadium on Wednesday, April 23.

Former Victory midfielder Kristian Sarkies made his long awaited return for the Reds after recovering from DVT, taking a place in the starting XI.

Marquee signing Paul Agostino also made his first appearance since December last year, playing the final 20 minutes and not showing any signs of a quad injury that has kept him sidelined.

In the opening 60 minutes Adelaide missed a number of chances to take the lead, Jonas Salley, Travis Dodd, Sasa Ognenovski and Lucas Pantelis all guilty of ruing promising build ups.

Pantelis came closest after Salley’s initial shot forced a save from the Melbourne keeper, but Pantelis kicked the ball over the bar from the follow up.

Dodd then missed the target with a header from a corner moments later, United unable to make their opportunities count on the score board.

Despite the match being a friendly, the usual high tempered feeling and passion of an Adelaide versus Melbourne matche was still evident and Victory defender Steve Pantelidis was given his marching orders after being shown a straight red card for a challenge on Matthew Mullen during the second half.

Mullen nearly made a 10 man Melbourne outfit pay in injury time with an effort from range but it struck the cross bar.

Aside from its injured trio of Archie Thompson, Carlos Hernandez and Grant Brebner, Victory fielded its entire playing list throughout the match, including new recruit Tom Pondeljak, who made his first appearance for the club after overcoming a knee injury.

Youngsters Kaz Patafta, Evan Berger and Nathan Elasi were standouts for the home side, while Michael Theoklitos in the first half and Mitchell Langerak in the second half stood tall in goal for Victory

The match finished all square and Reds coach Aurelio Vidmar would have been pleased with the successful returns of Agostino and Sarkies and no injuries to report ahead of United’s AFC Champions League match against Becamex Binh Duong on Wednesday 23 April at Hindmarsh stadium.

Victory Coach Ernie Merrick said the trial match was a good opportunity for the players that haven’t been playing regularly to impress ahead of the club’s final three AFC Champions League 2008 Group Stage matches.

“We tried to setup the way we’ll play against Gamba next week, but we couldn’t, we had to change it to play against Adelaide and then we played so much better in the second half because of that,” Merrick said.

“Three boys that stood out there for me were Evan Berger, Nathan Elasi and Kaz Patafta.

“As youngsters they’re getting more game time and they’re getting more confident.”

Merrick said the side was motivated for its rematch against Gamba, although he wasn’t so sure that the Japanese side, which currently sits four points ahead of Victory on top of the Group G ladder, would drop points in its other two fixtures.

“The boys are pretty keen to do well in Japan, so we’ll just go over there and have a real go at Osaka,” Merrick said.

“I’m confident that we can play well in our next three games, but if we beat Gamba next week, they still have to lose points to another team and I’m not so confident about that.

“But that won’t stop us from giving it our best shot.”

Victory will depart for Osaka this Monday ahead of its clash against Gamba at Expo ’70 Stadium, which will be broadcast exclusively on Fox Sports 3 from 10pm on Wednesday, 23 April.


Match Details
Melbourne Victory 0
Adelaide United 0
@ Olympic Park