A brace from Anthony Costa helped Adelaide City overcome Croydon Kings 4-2 in Round 1 of the PlayStation 4 National Premier League South Australia at Adelaide City Park.

The City striker scored in either half with Lewis Farquhar and Nikola Mileusnic getting on the scoresheet in the first.

Rocky Visconte and James Skeffington scored for the visitors.

Mileusnic, who arrived from relegated White City FC, had the first scoring opportunity after four minutes when his swift run and shot was saved by Croydon keeper Nicholas Munro.

Croydon responded with an opportunity of their own four minutes later with Elvis Kasomba’s first time shot being parried against the left hand post; the score followed up by Shaun McGreevy was correctly ruled offside.

City took the lead after 11 minutes, when Costa got on the end of a brilliant right flank run by Mileusnic with the striker converting from a short distance.

The home side doubled their lead in similar fashion three minutes later when Farquhar pushed Mileusnic’s right wing cross across the line.

However, Croydon replied with a goal of their own two minutes later with Visconte striking a sublime free kick from the edge of the box into the right hand corner to cut the deficit in half.

But that was all Croydon had to show for with the visitor’s few attacks halted by steady City defence, whilst the home side attacked with ruthless efficiency.

Mileusnic brought the score back to a two goal margin after 31 minutes with a superb strike from well outside the 16-yard box.

Croydon got one goal back yet again two minutes into first half added time with City keeper Ryan Veitch failing to properly clear a cross and Skeffington hitting the ball first time into the back of the net.

City returned from the break to restore the lead to two goals eight minutes into the second half with Costa putting Croydon defender Jarrod Brazzale under enough pressure to claim the ball and strike it past Munro.

In the 73^rd minute, Thomas Love was sent off for his second bookable offence, but Croydon couldn’t make the advantage count with City holding on for the win.

City’s Nicholas Bucco was unsurprisingly happy with the result.

“We can take a lot of confidence from a big result like this,” Bucco said.

“It was a bit of mental obstacle in the past and I think we really put ourselves in good stead to hopefully kick on and have a great start to the season, especially with another big game next against West Adelaide.”

On the other hand, Visconte was bitterly disappointed.

“There were obviously a lot of negatives that we took out of the game,” he said.

“It was probably our worst performance we played this year, if you include all the pre-season games and the Charity Cup.

“So, we are not only disappointed with the result, but also with the performance.”

Written by Christopher Munker