In a sold-out Coopers Stadium, Adelaide United faced Sydney FC in a repeat of last season’s FFA Cup Final, where the ‘sky blues’ managed to take home their first ever trophy by winning 2-1. However, things were different this time, as United had an incredibly on-form Craig Goodwin who is starting to seem unstoppable, while there was no Bobo on the other side to secure the goals for Sydney FC.

Steve Corica made the decision to leave former Ajax champion Siem de Jong out of the squad, while he had great expectations from his attacking force of Adam le Fondre and Alex Brosque. On the other hand, Marco Kurz was happy to have Mirco Boland back in action in place of Ken Ilso.

The game began with United having possession and creating opportunities in front of Redmayne’s goal, as the first 15 minutes were action-packed. But just as the  ‘sky blues’ were starting to level the playing field, Goodwin came to fire in a free kick from outside the area just after 24 minutes of play, putting the ball past a helpless Redmayne and sending the United fans into jubilee.

It wasn’t meant to last though, as a poor back pass towards Izzo saw Brosque jump on to the ball, leaving the United keeper no other option than to bring down the Sydney FC forward and give them the penalty. Le Fondre had no trouble converting it to an equaliser for the “sky blues”, leaving the two teams level at half time.

The second half saw a more physical battle between them, as they tried to gain control of the midfield area and more possession of the ball, which in turn led to less opportunities being created at either end.

On the 61st minute, Izzo showed his reflexes on a Milos Ninkovic shot from inside the box. However, just as the words ‘extra time’ were starting to loom over everyone’s minds at the Coopers, Goodwin had other ideas. After a cheeky back pass from Halloran outside the box, the former Sparta Rotterdam forward blasted the ball past Redmayne who didn’t even have time to attempt a save, giving a huge advantage to the ‘reds’. Not much changed up until the end of the game, making Adelaide the trophy winners and the team with the most FFA Cups since the start of the competition with two.

Craig Goodwin continues to prove the excellent form he’s in, as he has now scored four goals in succession.