By TERRY MADDAFORD
Adelaide United's dream start to the Australian season has turned sour.
Unbeaten in four games since their delayed start, and playing in front of a 13,000-strong home crowd at Hindmarsh Stadium, United went down 4-1 to defending champions Perth Glory.
After an even opening 15 minutes, the visitors scored
twice in as many minutes.
Tom Pondeljak hit a cracking 30-metre low drive, which was followed by an equally dramatic goal from Damian Mori.
The home side got one back before halftime when Matthew Kemp blasted home.
Bobby Despotovski re-established Perth's two-goal lead four minutes into the second spell, and Pondeljak completed the scoring.
Perth lead the table with 19 points, two more than Parramatta.
The biggest win of the round came at Knights Stadium, where cross-town opponents South Melbourne enjoyed a 5-0 victory over the Melbourne Knights - the biggest margin between the long-time rivals.
First-half goals to Michael Panopoulos, Paul Trimboli (two) and Vaughan Coveny crushed the Knights, who then had Andy Vargas sent off nine minutes into the second spell for a second yellow card offence.
The Knights defended stoutly until the last minute, when Michael Curcija bent a free-kick beyond keeper Tommi Tomich.
The Marconi Stallions warmed up for this week's trip to Auckland with a 1-0 home win over Brisbane Strikers. It was a brave effort by the visitors, who played most of the match with 10 men.
Nick Carle scored in the 68th minute which allowed Marconi to move into the top three on the points table.
In the biggest upset of the round, previously unbeaten Parramatta Power were beaten 3-1 away by lowly Wollongong Wolves.
Power supporters were so convinced their team would win that they forced betting agency Sports Tab to suspend gambling on the match.
Nahuel Arrarte scored the opener in the 29th minute. Power got back to 1-1 before halftime thanks to former Wolves player Alvin Ceccoli.
Two second-half goals from Michael Hawrysiuk earned Wollongong their second victory of the season and took them five points clear of the Kingz at the bottom of the ladder.
In this weekend's feature match, South Melbourne are at home to Adelaide on Sunday - the same day the Football Kingz meet Marconi.
