Josip Tadic celebrates with teammates after scoring the first goal during the Melbourne Heart-Adelaide United match at AAMI Park. Picture: Stephen Harman Source: The Australian
MELBOURNE Heart leapt into the A-League top six and left Adelaide United with a greasy grip on a top-two spot with a 2-0 victory at AAMI Park last night.
The Heart rebounded from its late capitulation to Sydney FC last weekend with a far more controlled performance against a Reds side which struggled for rhythm.
Goals in both halves to Josip Tadic and Richard Garcia secured the victory, pushing the Heart into fifth place.
Adelaide is in danger of both falling further behind league leader Central Coast if the Mariners can pick up points against Newcastle Jets today and having third-placed Melbourne Victory close in if it succeeds against Perth Glory tonight.
As is its usual modus operandi, the Heart grabbed an early lead when striker Tadic headed home a Fred cross in the fifth minute when Adelaide's marking was non-existent.
Both teams had dangerous patches of play and Adelaide could have equalised had Dario Vidosic done better on 42 minutes.
He shot well over the bar after Evan Kostopoulos had played him in on goal.
A minute later, Adelaide keeper Eugene Galekovic made a fine save to deny David Williams and Tadic was unable to make any meaningful contact with a difficult rebound.
But it took just four minutes after half-time for the Heart to go further ahead when midfielder Matt Thompson dispossessed Kostopoulos in midfield, ran to the edge of the box, then played in Garcia who slotted home coolly.
While Heart is the best first-half team in the A-League, it is also the worst second-half performer.
But it was rarely troubled by a flat Reds side in the second half - long-range shots from Kostopoulos and Cameron Watson late in the period were their best attempts.
Both teams also have significant injury concerns out of the match.
Heart lost skipper Fred to what appeared a hamstring or quadriceps injury just 10 minutes into the second half.
And soon after Adelaide's Vidosic limped from the field.
Heart coach John Aloisi confirmed, post-match, that Fred had damaged his quadriceps. "It's disappointing because last week you saw the old Fred coming back and now this has happened ... we'll just have to see the extent of it," Aloisi said.
MELBOURNE HEART 2 (Josip Tadic 5m, Richard Garcia 49m) ADELAIDE UNITED 0 at AAMI Park. Crowd: 7181. Referee: Lucien Laverdue.
AAP
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