Blue Eagles fly in Adelaide

Two goals in the opening 20 minutes from Luigi Di Troia and Adam Harris has given Adelaide Blue Eagles a 2-1 victory over West Torrens Birkalla.

Two goals in the opening 20 minutes from Luigi Di Troia and Adam Harris has given Adelaide Blue Eagles a 2-1 victory over West Torrens Birkalla in Round 12 of the Premier League at Marden Sports Complex on Saturday.

Scott Nagel netted for the visitors a minute before the interval, but it wasn-t enough with Blue Eagles climbing to second on the table, leapfrogging Birkalla in the process.

Blue Eagles coach Vojo Gluscevic was thrilled to reach second confirming their recent good form, undefeated since Round 2 and four consecutive victories.

“The first half was brilliant. We scored twice and created a lot of chances. Their goal just before half-time deflated us,” he said.

“It was a tough second half, but we-re happy to get the win. We-re now second and making up for a slow start to the season.”

Birkalla defender John Fusco says the damage was done during that opening spell.

“It wasn-t our best game. We were at sea for the first 30 minutes and that was when the damage was done,” he said.

“Maybe we could-ve got a point in the second half but that was one game we can collectively say wasn-t our best. A positive that we fought back, but we need to be switched on from the start.”

The home side started perfectly as Kym Harris cut back for Di Troia and the youngster shot past Ryan Veitch to net in just the fourth minute.

Just after the quarter hour, Harris was again involved, squaring the ball for his brother Adam, who made no mistake to double Blue Eagles- advantage.

On the stroke of half time, Ryan Kitto cut inside and thumped the crossbar from distance and from the rebound, Nagel placed his shot past keeper Gino De Lucia to give Birkalla hope.

In the second half Chris Annicchiarico hit the crossbar with a header, while Yvan Boyokino ballooned his shot over the bar when one-on-one with Veitch.

Blue Eagles held on to claim maximum points with Christopher Atsikbasis, Di Troia and Mitchell Nicholson starring in the win.

Elsewhere, Cumberland United came from behind to defeat Adelaide City 3-1 at Adelaide City Park on Friday night.

Alex Sunasky gave the home side the lead, but Gianni Francisco netted twice and Valentino Yuel was also on target to see the Foxes climb the table.

On Saturday, a goal in each half gave White City a 2-0 victory over Western Strikers at Carnegie Reserve with the hosts finishing the match with nine men.

Andrej Rastovac opened the scoring and Nick Mavromatis added while Strikers were hampered by two second half dismissals either side of Mavromatis- goal.

Campbelltown City-s recent good form continued as they secured a 2-1 win over Raiders at the Croatian Sports Centre on Saturday.

Mimi Saric gave Raiders the lead after half-time, but two goals in quick succession from Calvin Mbarga and Michael Matricciani helped Campbelltown to a third straight victory.

A first-half blitz gave Para Hills a shock 3-1 win over Croydon at Polonia Reserve.

The Knights were three goals to the good at the interval with Nathan Fleetwood, Jacob Melling and Tom Blackett all finding the net, while Croydon managed a consolation through Luke Klimek.

Adelaide Comets and Enfield City shared the points in an entertaining contest which ended 2-2 at Santos Stadium.

Matthew Bouraee and Elias Demourtzidis hit the back of the net for Comets, while Mark Graham and Dimi Parhas got on the score sheet for the Falcons.

Four second half goals gave MetroStars a comprehensive 4-0 victory over Adelaide Cobras at Weigall Oval on Saturday.

Scott Tunbridge, Adam Van Dommele, Perry Mitris and Lawrence D-Arrigo all scored in a punishing second half spell, extending MetroStars lead at the top of the table to nine points.

Image by Chris Kelly