Auckland FC players thank the fans after their draw with Adelaide United. Photo / Photosport
Auckland FC 4
Adelaide United 4
One thing is clear: Auckland FC and Adelaide United are two of the A-League’s best teams and deserve to meet again with the season on the line.
What happens then will be anyone’s guess.
Auckland captain Hiroki Sakai thought he had struck a stoppage-time winner only for Adelaide counterpart Bart Vriends to reply in the 98th minute, leaving two high-flying sides to take one point apiece after a pulsating clash on Saturday afternoon.
The 4-4 thriller at Go Media Stadium came five weeks after both teams found the net once 90 minutes had been played in South Australia, the visitors in that encounter also leaving happier with Logan Rogerson rescuing a 2-2 draw.
Both matches featured drama that extended well beyond the late theatrics, turning this already into one of the competition’s best rivalries. A third instalment in the playoffs should now be on every fan’s wish list.
Entering the round occupying the top two spots, Auckland were forced to settle for an eight-point lead while Adelaide slipped to third on goal difference.
With eight matches to come in the regular season, the Black Knights will hope this result proves a blip on their march to the Premier’s Plate, though the manner in which they collapsed will long sting.
Auckland twice built two-goal leads, holding that buffer after 15 minutes had been played in each half. Then, after two contentious penalties allowed a dominant Adelaide to deservedly find level footing, Sakai seemed to have wrapped up victory with the latest late goal in a maiden campaign featuring many.
But the visitors had other ideas, breaching the competition’s best defence for a fourth and decisive time.
“We’re disappointed to give away the lead as many times as we did – that’s not us,” veteran defender Tommy Smith told Sky Sport. “Right at the end as well, we know we should keep it tight and not concede the last goal.
“But it’s another game unbeaten to keep a decent run going and we just have to move on.”
That decent run looked headed for a fifth straight victory, triumphs including a revenge trip to Western United and a derby demolition of the Wellington Phoenix.
But Adelaide had been the last team to deny Auckland all three points and two penalties from Zach Clough left the spoils shared, contact minimal but clear on both occasions.
“I can’t say too much at the risk of getting in trouble,” Smith said. “But I think you can see from the replays they’re really soft.
“There were decisions and free kicks we should’ve had in the middle of the pitch that weren’t given, and if he’s given the penalties he should give those.
“We just ask for a bit of consistency.”
Consistency has been a hallmark of the Black Knights’ inaugural season – albeit one that has now seen almost half of their 17 goals conceded come in two home fixtures. They have been beaten only twice in 18 matches and boast more than enough quality to overcome this setback before a confident finals push.
Guillermo May has nothing but quality in his left boot and the Uruguayan added another stunner to his ever-growing highlight reel, following that left-footed laser into the top corner with a bundled second from close range.
Appearing intent on dishing out a second straight thrashing, Auckland instead regressed as quickly as they had seized a two-goal lead, fortunate to concede only once in the remainder of the half.
Unsettled and vulnerable with passes regularly going astray, it felt like the halftime break arrived at the right time, and that feeling enhanced seven minutes into the second spell.
The hosts’ third goal was all about the delivery of Francis De Vries, with Rogerson nodding in a curling corner after scoring the club’s first hat-trick a week ago.
But these teams, it seems, are incapable of combining for straightforward outcomes and a VAR intervention was followed by the whistle of Daniel Elder as Zach Clough twice beat Alex Paulsen from the spot.
That set the stage for the final fireworks, with the promise of more to come should the competition be treated to a trilogy.
Auckland FC 4 (Guillermo May 10′, 14′, Logan Rogerson 52′, Hiroki Sakai 90+2′)
Adelaide United 4 (Jordan Elsey 30′, Zach Clough 61′, 79′, Bart Vriends 90+8′)
HT: 2-1
Auckland FC settled for a 4-4 draw with Adelaide United in a top-of-the-table clash.