A last-minute Marcelo Carrusca penalty has steered Adelaide to a dramatic 2-1 win over Sydney FC at Coopers Stadium.
United were staring down the barrel of a draw against the Sky Blues, who were forced to play most of Friday night's A-League contest with 10 men after the dismissal of Alex Gersbach on 28 minutes.
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United score thrilling win
A last-minute penalty handed Adelaide a 2-1 victory over 10-man Sydney at Coopers Stadium on Friday night.
The Reds had taken the lead through Jimmy Jeggo just after the hour but a clever finish from Filip Holosko appeared to hand Sydney a share of the spoils.
But in the dying stages Jacques Faty fouled Dylan McGowan at a Reds' corner and referee Strebre Delovski pointed to the spot.
Carrusca stepped up and coolly converted to see United take all three points and register their second consecutive victory, in front of 9076 fans.
The visitors started better of the two sides and on seven minutes Mickael Tavares stung the palms of United keeper Eugene Galekovic from just outside the area after a well worked short free kick.
The game threatened to boil over in the 28th minute when Gersbach was shown a straight red card for his lunging tackle on Jeggo.
Both camps remonstrated at length before Pablo Sanchez almost broke the deadlock.The Spaniard's free kick from the corner of the box deceived Sydney keeper Vedran Janjetovic but crashed onto the cross bar.
Adelaide looked to make the most of their extra man advantage and Sanchez thought he'd put the Reds in front in first half stoppage time but his header was controversially denied for offside.
United's no.7 went close again early in the second half when Jeggo's teasing cross was met by Sanchez at the back post but kept out by an impressive reflex save from Janjetovic.
The Reds did eventually break the deadlock though, courtesy of a wonder strike from Jeggo on 62 minutes.
The midfielder's first effort from 20 metres bounced back off the upright but he made no mistake with his second, a rasping volley from virtually the same spot after it sat up nicely.
But the visitors stole an equaliser against the run of play just eight minutes later, when Filip Holosko made the most of some uncertainty in the United penalty area and spectacularly lobbed Galekovic on the turn from 12 metres.
There was to be one final twist as United snatched victory deep into stoppage time with Carrusca slotting home his spot kick.
AAP