Adelaide City came out on top of their first encounter with Adelaide Blue Eagles this weekend with a 3-1 win at Marden Sports Complex.

Both sides were locked into an arm wrestle for most of the contest as neither could find the upper hand.

Nic Bucco opened the scoring for Adelaide City but that was soon cancelled out by Marco Balsamo to keep the scores locked at half time.

The second 45 served up much of the same as the action continued to go back and forth.

Bucco grabbed his second late in the game before Anthony Costa added the finishing touches.

City goalkeeper Ryan Veitch was happy to get the win but noticed some areas that needed to be corrected before their second encounter with Blue Eagles over the long weekend.

“Obviously we are happy with the 3 points but not so much with the performance.

“We definitely have to increase our intensity and work rate, being a cup game [on Monday] we know winner takes all and now we are back at home we want to put in a solid performance and advance to the next round.”

Blue Eagles would go on to be winners in Monday’s cup game.

Andrej Rastovac of Blue Eagles was upbeat with his side’s performance despite the loss.

“It was a classic derby,” he said.

“It started out really slow and both teams didn’t want to risk anything, but the teams managed to create a few chances anyway and we saw two nice goals.

“The second half was all guns out and the game became really interesting and an attractive match to watch.

“The penalty for City was clearly the decider, after the second goal City fell back and kept the ball, hitting us on the counter; if we got awarded with the penalty at one all it would be a much different game but the ref made his decision and City got away.”

Bucco broke the deadlock eight minutes in with a well taken strike from outside the box after being picked out by Nikola Mileusnic.

The winger made his way into the box but saw Bucco out of the corner his eye, the playmaker knocked it past one defender before finishing low into the bottom corner.

Eight minutes later, the game would be brought back level through Balsamo.

The Blue Eagles striker hit a nice volley at the back post, putting it beyond Veitch.

Antoni Trimboli floated in a teasing cross into Balsamo’s path, catching the City defence napping for a split second as they failed to deal with it, paying the price.

The rest of the first half would be a back and forth contest as both sides saw plenty of possession but struggled to break down the defence of their opposition.

Blue Eagles immediately showed intent after the break, having a penalty shout waved away after Yvan Boyokino was brought down inside the box.

The game opened up more from there, with both sides having plenty of chances down the wings but were lacking when they got in front of goal.

The breakthrough would come for City with 10 minutes left in regulation time, as the black and whites were sent to the penalty spot.

Bucco would step up and get his second, placing his spot kick just beyond the reach of Pedram Sourjani who was a fraction too late to react.

The home side would be gifted a chance to tie the scores one again, as Boyokino was brought down by Veitch just outside the box, with the goalkeeper being perhaps a tad lucky to stay on the pitch but his last ditch challenge would be ruled acceptable.

The dead ball came to nothing in the end, which proved costly as Costa finished off the hard work by Joel Allwright with an easy tap in to seal the three points.

Written by Brendan Simpkins