Adelaide took the lead through Craig Goodwin, who latched onto Nikola Mileusnic's cross after some beautiful build-up play from a phenomenal - and newly crowned Australian - Isaias.

Two minutes later Adelaide had their second through Ken Ilso, the Dane robbing Thomas Deng and slotting past Lawrence Thomas for a comprehensive Reds win.

ADELAIDE UNITED

Paul Izzo - 7  

Fantastic save to deny Toivionen's free-kick, stretching every sinew to reach his near post. 

Ryan Strain - 6       

He did the simple stuff well, but Adelaide looked far more threatening when Isaias barged over to the wide midfield role when the Reds were on the counter, and more-or-less did Strain's job for him. 

Scott Galloway - 7

He's showing fantastic qualities this season, which just hasn't quite matched up with an end product yet. All he needs is a breakthrough couple of weeks, much like Nikola Mileusnic had, and he'll be a force to be reckoned with.  

Jordan Elsey - 7  

Solid display, regaining a bit of confidence after some uncharacteristically sloppy performances this season.    

Michael Jakobsen - 8      

Indolent forward contributions but rock-solid at the back. 

Isaías - 9    

Let's say the perfect no-looker to Mileusnic that created Adelaide's opener was on purpose. He is now an Aussie, after all, about time we started holding Isaias up on an unrealistic pedestal. Phenomenal performance all-round.     

Nikola Mileusnic - 8  

Broke past Corey Brown and provided beautifully for Craig Goodwin as Adelaide took the lead.      

Nathan Konstandopoulos - 7    

Caught out defensively but worked his way back into the match with aplomb.

Ben Halloran - 6    

Moved purposefully without expending any staggering contributions, missed a couple of decent chances in the second half.  

Craig Goodwin - 8  

Scored his fifth goal of the season with class after a highly-involved first 20 minutes, continually provided a threat.

Ken Ilsö - 7   

After a quiet opening showed fantastic poise and determination to rob Thomas Deng, sprint into the box and tuck a cool finish under Lawrence Thomas.

SUBS

George Blackwood - 6

Fairly strong performance without threatening - fairly typical from the young Aussie striker.

Ryan Kitto - 6

Strong work ethic, held the ball well.

Michael Marrone - N/A

 

MELBOURNE VICTORY

Lawrence Thomas - 6 

Once again, rushed in where less confident, and perhaps wiser goalkeepers would be fools to tread. Looked scrappy for both goals but had his redeeming moments in the second half.

Storm Roux - 5 

Caught out badly for Adelaide's opener and couldn't help but let a rampaging Mileusnic have his way for the first half.       

Corey Brown - 5

Heavily involved as Adelaide targeted the left fullback, lucky to escape the first half with a single yellow card.      

Leigh Broxham - 7 

A few sloppy passes destroyed Victory's confidence at the beginning of the match, but he also provided some sensational clearances, acan't get enough of his goalline saves. 

Thomas Deng - 6 

Just in case anyone was wondering why he's not in the Asian Cup squad. He'll come back from this horror show a smarter defender because he's got bags of talent - which he showed it in the second half - but pwoah talk about brain fades.   

Carl Valeri - 7

Very tidy skills and passes, did his best to stabilise Victory and played a large part in his side weathering Adelaide's early surge. 

 

Elvis Kamsoba - 7  

He looked lively, especially in the first five minutes, but lack of experience and match fitness normally catches up and he slowly faded.

But then he came back after half-time and was arguably Victory's biggest threat, bar Toivonen, in the second period. One to keep an eye on.

James Troisi - 5      

Very quiet, improved marginally in the second half but he hasn't exerted his influence consistently this season. Subbed early for Rahmat Akbari.

Terry Antonis - 7

Smooth ball-mover, constantly looking to rotate and rarely gets caught in possession, Victory had he and Valeri to thank for keeping them in the game early on. Hit the crossbar late with a belter.   

Ola Toivonen - 7  

One particularly dangerous free kick and used his body well. Provided about as much as you could expect from a physical striker when the other opposition's dominating.  

Kosta Barbarouses - 6    

Far from vintage, lost the ball pathetically for someone of his fantastic qualities, but like Kamsoba, sparked into action in the second without providing anything of note.  

SUBS

Rahmat Akbari - 5

Great talent, clearly showing it in training though - not in his cameos so far this season. 

Raul Baena - 6

Hit and miss, not what you want from a foreign import.

Kenny Athiu - 5

King Kenny looks low on confidence, not using his physicality to any real value any more.