Adelaide United 5 - 1 Newcastle Jets
Adelaide showed what they're capable of here, blowing apart the Newcastle team with a superlative performance. It was clear from the first few minutes that Adelaide were in control of this match, while the Newcastle defence looked lost and not quite sure what was happening. It took just eight minutes for a rejuvinated Fernando Rech to volley Adelaide into the lead, fullback Robert Cornthwaite made it two after heading in a Ross Aloisi freekick just nine minutes later. Shengqing Qu then hit a superlative freekick on 27 minutes to all but end the match as a contest.
Adelaide started the second half quite sloppily, conceding a goal from Mark Bridge after a well weighted through ball. Newcastle almost got back into the game when United 'keeper Robert Bajic was left one-on-one with an opponent, but he managed to keep the ball out of the net. A silly defensive error then let in Shengqing Qu for his second of the game, before Fernando Rech was set-up by new recruit Bobby Petta on 73 minutes for Adelaide's fifth.
So, a polished performance from United, with Rech, Qu and Petta (on as a 2nd half substitute) all looking particularly impressive. The Jets looked disorientated and disheveled and will need to improve when they travel to Sydney in the next round.
Bets: 11 points
Returns: 16.02 points
Profit: 5.02 points 