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Adelaide United win no fluke [Sat Aug 27th, 2005]
Adelaide United coach John Kosmina was in no mood to be branded a party-pooper after his side upset the Newcastle Jets 1-0 in front of a crowd of 13,160 at EnergyAustralia Stadium in the opening game of the inaugural A-League.
"We didn't want to spoil a party, we just wanted to win a game," Kosmina said.
Few gave Adelaide a chance of beating the Jets without injured key forward Shingqing Qu.
Adelaide had drawn all three games during the pre-season cup and generally failed to inspire. With Qu out and the Jets welcoming back their key striker Ante Milicic, many thought the home side would be celebrating.
Kosmina, who had already made history by scoring the first goal in the NSL in 1977, wasn't buying into the "upset" theory.
"We know we're good enough, no one else thinks we are," he said.
Adelaide hardly had a bad player on the pitch with skipper Ross Aloisi and Angelo Costanzo particularly impressive in controlling the midfield.
After falling 1-0 behind to a quality Carl Veart header in the first half, Jets coach Richard Money switched his formation after the break to give former Australian international defender Ned Zelic more of the ball to better direct his side's attack.
It worked somewhat, with the Jets creating enough chances to equalise. But United never really let the home side get settled and perhaps deserved a second goal for the opportunities they created.
Money admitted if his team didn't improve, Friday night's crowd was unlikely to return later in the season.
"I sense a lot of disappointment around the room and I can understand that, it's not the start that we wanted, but don't lose faith," Money said.
"We've said what we wanted to say in the privacy of the dressing room and it will remain there.
"It's the first game, it's not what we wanted, but we know we've had some problems and we will grow and we will get better. The thing that we have to make sure is that we get better very quickly."
Kosmina had few doubts the Jets would improve.
"They're a good team, it's always difficult, you've got Ned that's not fit... you've got Ante Milicic who's struggled with a calf injury for a long time now, yet they both had an impact in the game. Once they get fitter Newcastle will become more and more of a threat," Kosmina said.
"It's going to be a really tough league. And it's going to be 0-0 and 1-0 and 2-1 and it will come down to individuals. (Last night) we had 11 good individuals that actually worked together as a team a fair bit."
PA Sport
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