The final analysis

Well, Adelaide can’t say they were short on chances today, they simply failed to capitalise on what was total domination in general play. ‘Frustration’ is the word for it, both for the home side and for those of us watching. “Adelaide is always a tough place to come to,” says Jets keeper Mark Birighitti, who is in fact named man of the match. He says his side are very happy to leave South Australia with a point. He worked hard for his clean sheet today.

That’s it from me, but make sure you stop by for plenty more live action throughout this A-League season.

90 + 3 min: “This looks like football before it was codified” says Andy Harper of the scrap this game has devolved into and it’s hard to disagree. I was wrong before, by the way; there’s four minutes of added time.

90 + 2 min: David Carney has been a warrior today and again he’s trying to make things happen for the Jets as they enjoy a moment of sustained possession. Adealaide eventually hack it away from danger.

90 + 1 min: This is just torture for the home fans now as three minutes are added to finish it off. Many of the Reds faithful are filing out of the ground according to Simon Hill.

89 min: Tarek Elrich picks up his secod booking of the season when he takes down Carney for the umpteenth time today. Carney is out on the wing and takes the free kick and though his cross is nodded in for a goal the joy of Newcastle’s players is short-lived thanks to the linesman’s flag.

87 min: The Jets are in attack now but they’ve subbed off Milos Trufanovic, who trudges off the pitch at a snails pace to be replaced by Crowley. Safe to say the home fans don’t enjoy that.

85 min: Kamau is haring about trying to intercept the passes of the Jets defence but barring a miracle, this looks like it’s headed for a draw. Boogard’s injury was an ankle, by the way. He’s icing it up on the sidelines now.

83 min: The Reds go forward again through skipper Elrich but he dinks his chip pass a little too far and it’s out for a goal kick.

82 min: Ryan Kitto is on now for Boogard, who ended up crocking himself out of that earlier fracas. Looks like a knee. There’s not many boos as he goes off, which seems fair.

80 min: Goodwin gets a corner here for the Reds but makes a hash of it, so the Jets again clear danger...Oh no they don’t. Bruce Kamau wins the ball after a horror moment for Boogard and Jackson, but Kamau then messes it up too. A comedy of errors.

78 min: He’s tried his heart out today but when he’s not beavering away trying to get the ball, David Carney is flat on his back having been taken down again before he can slip free. He has a long cross here from a free kick but it’s nothing to trouble Eugene Galekovic.

77 min: I’m calling it now; for Adelaide to get the goal they probably deserve here, Jimmy Jeggo is going to have to be the man. He’s running out of time though, even if his side is all over this one.

75 min: Marcelo Carrusca is warming up on the bench as Adelaide surge forward and win another corner and with that, he comes on for George Mells.

74 min: There’s a firm challenge by Elrich here and it sets things up for Cirio to scoot down the right wing and deliver a cross but a promising move ends with a truly tame shot on goal by Mells. Gargh.

72 min: Adelaide couldn’t bottle it from here, could they? They’re all over the Jets at the moment but they just cannot score.

71 min: Bang! There’s a cracking long-range strike from Jimmy Jeggo but as wonderful as his shot was, the save from Birighitti was even better to tip it over the bar. Moments later Birighitti makes another wonder-save from McGowan but it was off side anyway. This is top drawer goalkeeping.

69 min: Adelaide continue to move forward with promise but unfortunately, also continue to balls it up with the final pass. Do they deserve more than a point today?

68 min: To call some of the passing in this game ‘agricultural’ is clearly an insult to farmers of all kinds, but Newcastle seem to remain hopeful that they’ll eventually score by just mashing it forward without a discernible plan.

66 min: It’s luck more than good management that the Jets aren’t one down here and you can add a little blame for Adelaide, who are really wasting their game-long momentum. It’d be heartbreaking if they concede here on a counter-attack.

65 min: David Carney is now one booking away from a suspension after venting his frustrations at the ref, and even less disciplined is Jackson’s back-heel to hand Adelaide another corner. The Jets defence deal with it but cough up a throw down by the corner flag on the near side. With that, Bruce Djite comes off for his namesake Bruce Kamau.

63 min: Jason Hoffman wins a corner and flicks it off short, allowing Jeggo to sneak in and curl a cross over the wall and nearly into the back of the net as a flailing Birighitti flaps at it. That was close. Adelaide is surging now, suddenly.

61 min: You have to feel a bit sorry for the Adelaide fans staring into the sun as they watch this uninspiring game of football. ‘Reds’ might be the operative word once they’ve left the stadium, sunburned and mildly dissatisfied. There is however time left to salvage things.

59 min: A sort of mild hum of boredom has set in at Coopers stadium if the effects microphone is anything to go by during another torturous and eventually fruitless build-up by Newcastle.

58 min: Isaias finds Goodwin out on the left with a long, beautifully weighted pass and though the winger weaves his way through the Jets defence neatly his full-blooded shot is blocked and Djite can’t make anything of the rebound.

56 min: Both keepers have a bit of work to do here but it’s mainly on account of flat-footed defending and dodgy back passes. This is a real scrap at present.

55 min: It hardly needs saying at this point, but a more confident and polishes side than Adelaide might have made more of the general dominance they’ve had today. As it stands they’re just going through the motions.

53 min: Djite has a ‘mare here running onto a through ball, all ungainly limbs as he runs over the ball when he was ‘on’.

52 min: Ooh, there’s a bit more aggro for Shaun Evans to sort out here as an awful challenge by Trifunovic on Jordan Elsey leads to a brief contretemps between the pair. The end result is a yellow card for the Jets striker. Fair enough too.

51 min: Big Bruce Djite is working his backside off as the lone striker but not getting much reward for his effort, which is a rough summary of how his side is going today.

50 min: Adelaide win another corner and they’re really peppering the area with crosses in the opening stages of this half. David Carney has to get back and lend a defensive hand to clear.

48 min: Adelaide are maintaining their shape well in the early stages of this half but not finding a way through a scramble of players at the halfway line. Jeggo puts Djite through with a lovely ball but Watson gets across to bustle the big striker out of it and nothing comes of the resultant corner.

47 min: There’s a promising surge down the right by Alivodic but before he can whip a cross in he stutters and shows too much of the ball to his opposite number and it’s hacked away.

Yes, this happened

One for all you fans of 1980s Australian walking stars.

44 min: The Jets win a corner and it’s whipped in low and fast by Carney, but cleared easily by the Reds, who move swiftly into attack and there’s another chance for Goodwin but his curling left foot shot is juggled well by Birighitti.

43 min: Perhaps bored by the way this is heading, Isaias almost saddles an opponent before jumping all over his back for a header. The judges give him zero points for his dressage efforts and the ref pays a free kick against him too.

41 min: Kantarovski is trying out his trick bag on McGowan but nothing comes of it down the left flank. This looks like rugby at the moment, to be totally honest.

40 min: Simon Hill is now reduced to quoting the rap lyrics of Scribe as Newcastle butcher another forward foray.

39 min: Adelaide surge forward again through Djite and he wants a free kick for a challenge from Bogarde but replays reveal why he’s getting no love; he basically just got speed wobbles and fell over.

37 min: Shank! Carney curls a left-footed cross into the area and though Tarek Elrich is well placed to hoof it away he ends up shinning it straght out of bounds from whence it came. Trifunovic attempts a bicycle kick from a high cross but has a total fresh air shot. Oh dear. He might have headed that one back into the mixer, really.

35 min: Kije commits a clear foul on Goodwin when the Red was looking to latch onto a long ball and launch an attack. The resultant free kick is floated into the area by Mells but wafts across the top and out for a goal kick. That cross was rubbish, really.

34 min: David Carney finally gets a clear opportunity to sweep in a cross from the left but he’s a little off balance as he hits and it grubs its way into the path of a Red to be cleared.

33 min: Mark Birighitti only got 8 games in four years at the Reds but he’s had plenty more work to do today, ever alert for the frequent Adelaide raids on goal. For now he’s holding firm.

31 min: Djite has been well held by the youngster Jackson so far but Djite wins a corner after trying to weave his huge frame around the centre back out on the right and wins a corner. Djite flicks that on, it’s only partly cleared but eventually David Carney relieves the pressure for the Jets.

30 min: Finally the Jets calm things down a little but there’s a yellow card to Kantarovski for a challenge that is crude, to say the least.

29 min: The Reds are in complete control of this game and denying Newcastle any sustained period of time on the ball. Could be wrong, but it feels like a matter of ‘when’, not ‘if’ Adelaide score.

27 min: Goodwin hasn’t been without his chances to make the decisive pass in the last few minutes but the Jets are hanging in there and defending grimly. Adelaide is right on top at the moment.

25 min: Goodwin is trying to get involved down the right and gets a super through ball but wastes the chance, getting in neither a shot nor a cross before Bogarde slid in with the vital tackle. He made a hash of that, the Reds winger.

24 min: More long ball football from Newcastle and again it’s not reaping dividends. Adelaide look perfectly comfortable while the ball’s nowhere near David Carney.

22 min: We’re back in that earlier holding pattern. “That passing option was totally random,” notes Harps of an attempt by Isaias to move his side into attack. He’s not wrong.

21 min: Wheeeyh, there’s a bit of heat now between Carney - everywhere in the last few minutes - and the Spaniard Isaias, who almost squares off with the Socceroo after a applying a strong challenge. “Carney is a wanker” chant the local crowd in time-honoured style. Maybe Croweaters aren’t as polite as I suggested earlier.

19 min: This is better from the Jets. They’re maintaining possession and pinging it around before Carney rounds his man but duffs his left-footed cross towards the danger zone. The predominate sound in the crowd is booing, it’s safe to say.

18 min: Newcastle finally move forward with some purpose themselves and always look dangerous when the ball is at David Carney’s feet but he’s not getting much support from Poljak, who makes a hash of a cross-field pass. Elsey is doing a sterling job after coming on for Malik.

16 min: Adelaide are all over the Jets now and there’s a promising cross - low and flat - into the area by Craig Goodwin but nothing comes of it. He’s an angry man at the moment, Goodwin. It’s welcome to see after that insipid opening ten minutes.

15 min: McGowan heads forward with a long ball to Djite, who is like an ox as he holds his man off the ball but at the end of that, Elrich tries to thread a pass that was never on when he might have instead had a pop from 30 yards out.

13 min: This is a promising little period for the home side, who’ve maintained possession down by the corner flag, where Djite earns a throw and flowing from that, a free kick in a dangerous area. Trifonovic clears the cross for the Jets.

12 min: A promising move forward by Newcastle ends in an offside ruling but then there’s a swift counter-attack and a great opportunity for Isaias, whose thumping shot is well saved by Birighitti. That was humming off the Spaniard’s boot.

10 min: Newcastle get a sustained period in control of the ball but again it’s a hopeful long ball that’s played in and cut off, so Bogarde tries to get a one-two from Watson. He’s ignored. The fans are booing him too, it appears. He can’t take a trick.

9 min: There’s a foul against Bruce Djite here. I think he’s just trying to get involved somehow, anyhow. This barely looks like football at the moment, let alone the professional variety.

7 min: Jordan Elsey is the man who comes on to replace Malik, but not after a timely intervention from Tarek Elrich as a Newcastle cross came flying in. This’ll be a real test for the youngster.

5 min: There seems to be something wrong with Osama Malik here so we have a bit of a delay as the Reds central midfielder writhes around in displeasure. He doesn’t look good, to be fair. Replacements are at the ready.

3 min: Ooh, there’s a free kick here for Adelaide but Craig Goodwin’s delivery of the cross is a little too beefy so the milling group of would-be scorers provide no real test for Birighitti.

2 min: Adelaide have a little more time on the ball now but can’t find a way into attack down the left flank so switch play and take the long ball route. So far, so uninspiring.

We’re almost under way at Coopers Stadium

There’s a stiff breeze blowing across the park as the teams enter the field and they’re soundtracked by AC/DC’s sort-of-not-quite-classic ‘Hell’s Bells’, which is swiftly replaced by Wonderwall. This DJ is all over the shop.

Both teams are now working their way through warm-ups

And as ever, it’s fascinating stuff; keepy-uppies, shots at goal, stretching - utter madness basically. Newcastle’s Nigel Boogaard also stops by for a chat and says he’s “here to do a job” and “hoping to leave with three points” against his old side. Didn’t see that coming. “I’ll take whatever stick comes my way” he adds, laughing a little at the suggestion that he’s in for a hostile reception. Do the citizens of Adelaide really do true aggro? They just seem too polite.

The weather conditions today

It’s a sunny and mild 19 degrees in Adelaide with 43% humidity, which is surely the most ‘Adelaide’ of all weather readings. Certainly nothing like the sweltering heat that Sydney and Perth laboured under yesterday, anyway.

Our teams today

Adelaide Utd

Newcastle Jets

Preamble

Good afternoon football fans and welcome to Sunday’s piping hot installment of A-League football at Coopers Stadium as home side Adelaide - crushing 7-0 winners last time these two sides met but now under siege and enduring their worst ever start to a season - against Newcastle, a model of consistency compared to the home side.

Russell Jackson here to take you through all the live action today. You can get me on the details above as I hammer away bringing you all the action, and please do so. Zappers and Andy Harper are both on our screen now which signals one thing above all else: it’s ‘business casual’ time. I’m going a little further than their ‘no ties’ credo. Yep, I’ve donned a pair of early 2000s Marseille shorts and I’ve got my knees out. If that doesn’t whet your appetite for further updates, I don’t know what will. I’ll be back shortly with the teams.

Russell will be along shortly. In the meantime, check out Paul Connolly’s interview with Perth Glory goalkeeper Ante Covic from Friday. “You need to be a little bit nuts to be a goalkeeper”, reckons Covic. Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold, meanwhile, believes that a player could die if games continue to be played in the extreme heat his side faced yesterday in Perth.