Star’s injury mars huge City win

Melbourne City have extended their lead to 11-points at the top of the table, seeing off fellow finals contenders Adelaide United 4-1 at AAMI Park.

However, the win came at a cost for City, who lost Andrew Nabbout to a nasty left leg injury inside the opening half – potentially putting his season and a Socceroos recall in jeopardy.

First-half strikes from Melbourne’s full-back pairing Scott Jamieson and Scott Galloway put the home-side ahead before Ben Halloran pulled one back for the visitors after the break.

Jamie Maclaren’s second-half brace sealed the win for City who edge even closer towards the club’s first Premiers Plate.

In his 100th game for City, it didn’t take long for Jamieson to make an impact, as the milestone man’s long-range effort deflected in off Jordan Elsey – continuing his ‘purple patch’ of attacking form.

Adelaide began to grow into the game but ultimately found themselves two behind – coming undone from another short-corner routine.

Craig Noone’s cutting ball found an unmarked Galloway who surged into the box and cleverly slid the ball past James Delianov for City’s second.

Adelaide found an avenue back into the contest shortly after the break as Glover’s reflex save fell in the path of Halloran to slam it into the roof of the net.

However, Adelaide’s fightback came to a halt as substitute Stefan Colakovski won a penalty – leading to Maclaren opening his account for the evening from the spot.

Maclaren soon after had his second, getting on the end of a well-timed cross by Marco Tilio to tap home the sealer.

NABBOUT INJURY BLOW

It was the win which came at a cost as Andrew Nabbout succumbed to yet another injury.

The winger, who has already missed six games due to setbacks in his hamstring and groin, went down in the first half with a nasty looking left leg injury – a hammer blow to City and the Socceroos who lost Mitch Langerak and Callum Elder in the past 24 hours to retirement and injury respectively.

With Nabbout in the side, City have only lost one game, as the forward has caused problems for opposition defenders throughout Melbourne’s surge towards the Premiers Plate.

Adelaide United were unable to wrestle the lead from City at any point on Thursday night. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)Source:Getty Images

DELIANOV RE-CALL

Despite conceding four goals, it was a solid return for James Delianov who was given a late re-call into the Adelaide line-up.

Delianov was thrusted into the starting XI when Joe Gauci went down with a quad injury during the warm-up and didn’t look out of place making some smart saves throughout the contest – in particular when the game was still alive.

His performance creates a selection dilemma for Carl Veart who has now two in-form goal-keepers at his disposal heading into the run home.

MACLAREN RECORD BREAKER, AGAIN

Jamie Maclaren is not only scoring goals for fun, but he continues to break record after record.

Maclaren’s second-half brace makes it 58 goals in all competitions for Melbourne City, leaping Bruno Fornaroli for the most goals scored in a City jersey.

The 27-year-old’s double puts him within touching distance of a third Golden Boot crown as he has now scored 25 goals this season, only two behind Bobo who has the most goals scored in a single A-League season back in 2018 with 27.

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