A-League: Adelaide United 0 Gold Coast 3

Gold Coast United recorded just their second victory of the A-League season with an upset 3-0 win over Adelaide United on Friday night.

The bottom-placed side defeated their more fancied opponents in counter-attacking style courtesy of first-half goals to Ben Halloran and Marceo Rigters and a late finish from Dylan Macallister.

Halloran was gifted a goal following a defensive shamble in Adelaide’s box in the 18th minute, while Rigters struck a thunderous shot from 20 yards on 36 minutes.

Macallister wrapped up the points in added time to ensure further pressure would be heaped on under-fire Reds coach Rini Coolen.

In what began as a dour and cagey affair between the two bottom-placed sides it was Reds winger Iain Ramsay in an unfamiliar left-back role who injected life into the match on 10 minutes.

The 23-year-old went on a dazzling run before his deflected cross was intelligently flicked on by Sergio van Dijk at the near post only for Bruce Djite to miss the ball with an attempted header from point-blank range.

But Gold Coast soon opened the scoring in the 12th minute through Macallister.

The Queensland side further turned the tables on Adelaide when Halloran scored on 18 minutes in bizarre fashion via a counter-attack.

Halloran broke down the right wing after being played through by defender Kristian Rees, before squaring to an unmarked Brown just 10 yards out.

Brown’s attempted shot was scrambled away but Halloran was on hand to wrong-foot Galekovic.

Gold Coast scored a second in the 36th minute through a driven 20-yard strike from Dutchman Rigters and Macallister topped off the resounding victory and a much-needed three points for Gold Coast in stoppage time when he buried Peter Jungschlager’s header that drifted across goal.