Friday night football at Campbelltown Stadium saw the heavens open with Macarthur FC netting four of the best past Adelaide United.
After welcoming the club’s number 1 ticket holder NSW Premier, The Hon. Gladys Berejiklian to the ground to toss the coin pre-match, a soaked, sodden but vocal crowd were treated to a Matt Derbyshire second-half hat-trick, giving the A-League newcomers a monster first win on home soil over the Reds.
It was all one way traffic in the opening half with the Bulls dominating possession and creating several chances, only to be denied by some top shelf keeping by gloveman James Delinov and some desperation from Noah Smith ensuring the visitors stayed in the game.
Heading into the shed’s nil-all, it appeared to be only a matter of time before the back of the Adelaide net was rattled. Starting the second half like they finished the first, the Bulls applied all the pressure to United’s defence line.
Eventually like the clouds above, the heavens opened, and Matt Derbyshire had – after an anxious VAR wait – his second A-League goal finishing off a neat close range header.
Seven minutes later in the 73rd minute the Englishman was at it again, netting his second of the evening, jumping on the end of a Tommy Oar cross.
As the noise of the crowd grew with the two goal lead, so did the confidence of the Bulls, who looked to put in their most composed and complete performance of the campaign so far. Captain Mark Milligan chanced his arm from the edge of the box and securing the Bulls third for the night.
As the fourth official went to indicate time added on, Derbyshire had other plans, securing the clubs first ever hat-trick and a comprehensive destruction of the Reds.
Macarthur FC coach Ante Milicic said after the match it had been a big week with 3 matches in 6 days.
“It’s a big week when you think about playing Wanderers on Saturday here, travelling to Brisbane who had won four in a row, had an excellent home record particularly and then to come here, knowing that we needed to get a win in front of our home fans and the amount of players that got an opportunity,”
“To win at home, but also win playing good football and to keep a clean sheet is fantastic.
“We send our supporters and our members home happy tonight.”
Speaking on Matt Derbyshire’s performance.
“He kept on going, he’s a striker who loves scoring like they all do but the way he was in those positions to score, I think the goal in Brisbane gave him a lot of confidence,” Milicic said.
