We were all seeing Red right from the kick-off, as Apostolos Stamatopoulos put in a breakthrough A-League performance, only to get sent off all within the first half for trying to break Mandi's leg...

After that, Wellington Phoenix struck back in the second but with goalscorer Cillian Sheridan up-top were still missing a little firepower.

All in all, the 3-1 result leaves Adelaide even with Wellington on 37 points each as the race for fourth place hots up.

BEST

SCOTT GALLOWAY

Two assists, multiple stretching keep-ins, a goal-line clearance...I've said it time and again this season, but Galloway's the most-improved player in the A-league this campaign.

Week after week he's a dynamic, forward-bombing player down Adelaide's right side who's capable of incredibly accurate, looping crosses. 

He can also hit a cracker from range, although not nearly often enough. At 23-years-old the former youth Socceroo can expect a national team call-up at some stage if he keeps playing his cards so, so right. 

 

 

MICHAEL MARRONE'S SECOND A-LEAGUE GOAL

He's the famously mild fan-favourite at Adelaide and a true Mr Consistent over the years for the Reds, but if there's one weakness in the man-bunned fullback's game, it's his lack of goals.

With over 130 Adelaide appearances to his name (and an extra 70-odd for Melbourne Heart) before tonight he only had a solitary A-League strike. 

But there's something about this league that encourages a cyclical journey, so it stands to reason that his first and second goals should both be at Hindmarsh against Wellington Phoenix.

TOPSY-TURVY A-LEAGUE

It's a over-exuberant journalist's nightmare. One minute the Nix are streaming away with 18 goals in three games and everybody's jumping on the Mark Rudan, Wellington dark-horse bandwagon. 

Meanwhile Adelaide are seemingly falling apart, Marco Kurz sacked-in-advance before season's end as the Reds' unnamed new club owners seek an uncertain new direction...

Then suddenly Adelaide win a match and they're even on points, equally likely to take a top four position. How does that happen? Maybe it's that old adage, that nothing's ever as good or bad as it seems. 

...At least in a six-team finals series.

WORST

STAMPING STAMATOPOULOS

You'd think two goals would be enough to get you on the best of the match, right? 

The Western United-bound tongue twister's two strikes, the first of which was admittedly a thumping finish, are definitely enough to get Kopzcynski into the bad books. 

But the Reds' striker's brain fade in the shape of a terrible challenge on Mandi - not the first on the Spaniard this season - studs in right on the ankle, single-handedly earns him the worst rating. 

Something tells us he can expect a lot worse from Marco Kurz though, the famously fiery German gaffer looked like he was about to blow his top when the red ticket emerged...

MICHAL KOPCZYNSKI'S DEFENDING

We were singing his praises mid-week when he came out and said how much fun the A-league was compared to his native Ekstrakalasa with Polish giants Legia Warsaw. But he's possibly having a little too much fun if he thinks that defensive performance was up to this league's standards...

Both goals were directly his fault. The first, he allows Michael Marrone to simply walk towards the post then drop off and with a nudge, put Kopczysnki right out of the action to nod in. Hopeless.

The second wasn't much better, both Wellington centrehalves at fault as Stamatopoulos - hardly an unknown quantity after scoring moments earlier - just strolled into the middle to head in directly in front. It's no wonder no club in the A-League has conceded more goals from corners than Wellington (five). 

Once again, you have to feel sorry for the bloke. If you saw Mark Rudan's expression as the equally fiery gaffer stormed down the touchline, being on our worst of the match isn't your biggest worry...

WHAT ARE YOU DOING SHEZZA?

C'mon Cilian Sheridan, you're better than that. 

The big bearded Irishman looks like he's seen it all during his career; the rough, steely expression of someone who grew up on the Boondocks of Galway (no knowledge of either Sheridan's upbringing or Irish geography). 

But after 13 A-League matches without a goal, rounding the keeper only to chicken out of what could have been a game-saving comeback goal? That sort of attitude is better served to a baby-faced teenage centreback from Toorak...

Of course, he then ended up tapping in for his first A-League goal anyway...but strikers who round the keeper only to cut back are a FTBL pet-hate.