ADELAIDE UNITED

Paul Izzo (GK) – 7

The goalkeeper made a handful of vital stops to keep his side in the game, many of them reflex saves from close-range: once on Bobo in the first half, on a Matt Simon shot in the final ten minutes of regular time and another again on Bobo from point blank. He did struggle with his clearances and was easily put under pressure by a Sydney forward pressing up.

Michael Marrone – 3

In addition to a poor game, Marrone got himself red carded at the end for manhandling a ball-kid. True, there was tomfoolery on behalf of the boy but it isn’t an excuse for the player to approach him the way he did. Marrone left his side of defence too open too often and it didn’t take too long until Sydney scored the opener from there. Hashed a few clearances throughout the encounter too.

Jordan Elsey – 5

Caught in two minds on what to do for the opening goal and that theme followed him for the evening. He had his good moments with a clearing header or solid tackle, but was inconsistent defensively.

Ersan Gulum – 6

He sure knows how to win a foul. Gulum was the calmest in Adelaide’s defence up to a point but even Sydney’s pressure made him hot under the collar as they swarmed early. Tried the long ball out of defence a few times and it finally worked when he picked out Mileusnic for the equaliser.

Ben Garuccio – 6

Barely found a cross and found it hard to connect a pass forward of the play. Nearly equalised the game almost immediately after the break when his stunning free-kick clipped the underside of the crossbar.