Adam Le Fondre shines as Sydney FC thrash Adelaide United

Sydney FC produced a stunning performance to trounce 10-man Adelaide United 4-1 at Coopers Stadium, with Adam Le Fondre playing a starring role.

Adelaide's Jordan Elsey was sent off for a second bookable offence just after the hour on Saturday, but the score was already 3-0 with the visitors in total control.

"I think that was our best performance of the season actually," Sydney coach Steve Corica said.

"It's come at the right time. It's getting better all the time, the boys are ... I thought we dominated from the start." 

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The visitors overwhelmed Adelaide from the outset and essentially spent the first five minutes camped in the Reds' defensive half.

The pressure paid off with Le Fondre breaking the deadlock after just six minutes with a clinical header.

Luke Brattan quickly took a free kick, spreading it wide to Ryan Grant who whipped in a cross for Le Fondre who eluded Ryan Strain at the back post.

The English striker should have added a second on 21 minutes when he was left unmarked from a Brattan free kick, but headed over the bar from close range.

Adelaide's best chance came a few minutes later when Sydney failed to clear a corner and Strain fired a shot over the bar from just outside the area.

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United almost found an equaliser seven minutes after the break when Ryan Kitto whipped in a cross from the left which was met by Stefan Mauk, but his flick-on bounced out off the upright.

The miss proved costly with Sydney doubling their lead two minutes later. Le Fondre started the move, finding Kosta Barbarouses on the edge of the area who threaded a pass to Bobo but James Delianov rushed off his line to smother the shot, with the rebound falling perfectly for Le Fondre who rolled the ball into an empty net.

The Englishman was involved again just before the hour, this time setting up Bobo for Sydney's third.

Brattan released Le Fondre behind Adelaide's defence and a square pass found Bobo for an easy tap in.

Adelaide's night went from bad to worse on 63 minutes when Elsey was shown a second yellow card for stopping Bobo's run on halfway.

The Reds defender could have considered himself lucky to still be on the park after escaping with just a caution in the first half for a lunging tackle on the Brazilian.

Sydney scored a fourth on 71 minutes when substitute Patrick Wood received a pass from Milos Ninkovic and darted around the Reds penalty area before firing low into the bottom corner.

United grabbed a consolation on 89 minutes when substitute Yaya Dukuly turned in a cut-back from Michael Marrone.

"Not good enough," Adelaide coach Carl Veart said. "We started slowly in the first half and we gave Sydney too much respect and time on the ball."