Western United thrash Reds 5-1 in Adelaide

A masterclass performance from Western United saw the A-League's newest club dismantle Adelaide United 5-1 at Coopers Stadium on Saturday.

Josh Risdon, Besart Berisha and Alessandro Diamanti all starred for the visitors with Berisha netting twice and Risdon finishing the match with four assists.

Western United coach Mark Rudan was delighted with his side's performance who he said were flawless in sticking to the plan he laid out to demolish the Reds.

"I'm happy because the players executed the game plan to perfection, absolute perfection, that's why I'm happy," he said.

Adelaide coach Gertjan Verbeek was scathing of his side's performance.

"Disastrous. 5-1 and you can't say we were OK," he said. "They were better and we had an off day."

Adelaide started well and had the first chance inside the opening minute which Nikola Mileusnic blasted high before the visitors were dealt a blow minutes later. Goalkeeper Filip Kurto rushed out of his area and climbed over team-mate Andrew Durante to head clear a long ball before falling heavily and hitting his head on the turf. After a lengthy delay Kurto was replaced on 10 minutes by Ryan Scott.

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Diamanti triggered the rout in the 17th minute when he shredded the Adelaide defence with a no-look through pass to Risdon, who squared the ball for Berisha to finish coolly from close range.

The Reds equalised on 24 minutes when Riley McGree drove through Western United's defence and fired low and hard past Scott.

Risdon was again involved for the visitor's second on 32 minutes, picking up an errant pass from James Troisi before supplying Diamanti who darted forward and slotted past the advancing Paul Izzo.

Five minutes later Western United were 3-1 up after Risdon collected his third assist for the half. Diamanti won possession in the midfield and sent Berisha out wide who looped a cross to the back post for Risdon. The full-back headed across the face of goal for Max Burgess who powered a header past Izzo.

After the interval the visitors continued where they left off and found the net inside the first four minutes of the second half. Burgess smartly chested the ball to Diamanti from a throw in, releasing the Italian into space before playing in Connor Pain who picked out the bottom corner.

On 55 minutes Diamanti, Risdon and Berisha combined again for Western United's fifth. The Italian playmaker received the ball from Berish and fed Risdon wide on the right with another no-look pass. Risdon expertly picked out Berisha with a low cross leaving the striker with little to do from the edge of the six-yard box.