Credit: Adam Butler Credit: Adam Butler

1006 people came to watch an action packed game between Adelaide United and Sydney FC on Friday night at the new The Shores football complex and they were not disappointed with the display and the new quarters of Adelaide United.

From an Adelaide viewpoint, it was a great night, well apart the Sky Blues scoring in the dying seconds of the second half to deny the Lady Reds a point in the10th round of the season.

Teenager Amy Harrison nailed a volley in the 95th minute of the game to get her team over the line, ending the game 2 -1 to the away side.

As they have all season, Adelaide fired into action early with new Scottish recruit, Louise Mason getting into the fray.

Mason, who is an U16 and U19 international, was busy early driving the ball forward but the back line for the Sydney team stood their ground and within the 10 minute mark of the game showed why they are on top of the ladder.

Mason, in an injury replacement for Isabel Hodgson, was in the action for most of the night.  Her presence in the midfield assisted the workload on Lisa Marie Woods making the Adelaide midfield more balanced.

This turned into a real tug of war as Sydney muscled control of the game but Adelaide kept to their pressing style, holding them for long periods in their back half.

Sam Kerr was active on wing and made numerous dangerous runs down the line but was pulled up short by Adelaide duo Monique Ianella and Dalia Borg.

Jodie Taylor was ever present in the middle of the park and was supplied with several chances before she finally got one in the back of the net just on the 25 minutes.

Adelaide were able to regroup after the goal and went on to hold the Sydneysiders to 1-0 going into the half time break.

Although down, the atmosphere was electric with members of the Adelaide United men’s team supporter squads coming out to give voice and their support to the Lady Reds.

The second half saw Adelaide once again coming out firing and with intensity.

Their high work rate was evident and seven minutes after the restart they were rewarded for it as Kristy Moore slotted away an equalizer.

After receiving the ball from a beautiful cross, Moore took on the oncoming Dumont and placed the ball over her head to put it in the back of the net.

The equaliser proved a wakeup call for the visitors who took the intensity up another gear and began attacking with determination.

However, Melissa Barbieri again showed why she was the number one goalkeeper for Australia for almost a decade.

With every shot on goal Barbieri was there; collecting it, stopping it, pushing it over the net or watching it slide wide past the goal post.

Her attitude was wonderful to watch and the a few times she had to scramble to save the ball but she did - over and over and over again.  She kept the Lady Reds in the game and they almost repaid her for it.

Adelaide had a few chances in the second half when Emily Condon came on with a cross to the feet of Tiarn Powell but the ball went wide and out of bounds.  The also had a goal disallowed on a close offside call.

With five minutes of the match remaining it looked like Adelaide could hold on for a share of the spoils with Sydney.

However, as has been the narrative all season, for the fifth time they conceded a goal within the added time of the game.

Is there something they could have done in any of these games any differently? What can they do differently to prevent this occurring again?

Calculate the points lost from those late concessions and this season the Lady Reds could have been featuring in the final four.

The result was indicative of how far the Reds have come.  With every other W-League side conceding 4 goals against Sydney in at least one of their encounters, Adelaide managed to curtail the league's highest scoring side.

Adelaide finally has a sense of pride in their team that has been missing in other years.

They are a team and they are united as one. The camaraderie in the team and Ross Alosis’ coaching staff is unbelievable and they bring that to the pitch, which has shown the advancement of the team almost making the finals.

The challenge will be to keep the core group of players and coaching staff so they can indeed make it up there next year.

Meanwhile Sydney FC are a force to be reckoned with.

They all control the ball in a professional way. They all have a sense of where every other player on the field are at any given time. Their team spirit was also evident in the way their last goal was celebrated.

They are fantastic to watch and this team could very well take out the flag this year.