Reds boss Kosmina stands by decision to drop van Dijk - Herald Sun

Melbourne Victory heaped more A-League pain on Sydney FC tonight, scoring a thrilling 3-2 win.

Brisbane coach Rado Vidosic has questioned his side's hunger after the Heart sent the two-time A-League champions to the bottom of the table for the first time in their history.

Serginho van Dijk (R) of Adelaide United in action during a pre-season friendly against the Mariners. Picture: Varghese Regi Source: The Advertiser

ADELAIDE United boss John Kosmina offered no excuses for leaving Serginho van Dijk in the stands yesterday.

Adelaide drew 1-1 with Perth Glory at Hindmarsh without van Dijk while fellow striker Bruce Djite started on the bench. Van Dijk was axed from the squad after starting in last weekend's 1-0 win over Brisbane Roar.

Kosmina made three changes bringing in Cassio, Evan Kostopoulos and Fabio Ferreira for van Dijk, Antony Golec and Iain Ramsay.

"With Sergi (van Dijk) we wanted to look how we wanted to play," Kosmina said. "I wanted to play with two No.10s (Dario Vidosic and Marcelo Carrusca) and when we did it properly it came up quite well.

"I guess the competition for places is really high so players have to deal with it.

"It's not an easy situation. Players just have to get on with the job.

"That's part and parcel of professional football.

"Some weeks you'll play and some weeks you won't."

But Adelaide again fell below the crowd trend with another home match failing to crack the 10,000 barrier.

The 9212 fans at Hindmarsh yesterday was a slightly better turnout in the club's third home match of the season.

After 8950 watched Adelaide beat new club Western Sydney Wanderers 1-0 and 8496 saw the Reds defeat Wellington Phoenix 3-1, the downturn in crowd numbers is worrying given the healthy state of the rest of the competition.

With an average of nearly 15,000 turning up to six rounds across the country, Adelaide's crowds are the second-worst in the league behind Melbourne Heart.

FoxSports - host broadcaster of the competition - broke another ratings record when 134,889 capital city viewers watched Sydney FC lose to Melbourne Victory 3-2 on Saturday night.

The figure beat the 132,160 that watched Sydney FC and Newcastle Jets in round two.

Out of the 15 matches broadcast on FoxSports that have gained more than 100,000 viewers since 2005, eight have exceeded that mark this season.

The healthy A-League ratings are beating FoxSports' English Premier League broadcasts where between 70,000 and 100,000 viewers usually tune in.