Melbourne Victory suffered a dramatic 3-2 loss to Adelaide United in its Foxtel Y-League opener on Saturday.

Summary

After Yazid Said gave Victory a first-half lead at VALO Football Centre, Adelaide went in front through Louis D'Arrigo and Carlo Armiento.

Nicholas Sette appeared to earn Victory a point with an 85th-minute goal, only for Blake Carpenter to win it for Adelaide in additional time.

While the Reds made a fast start, including hitting the post through Armiento, Victory struck first through Said in the 19th minute.

The winger, 19, produced a nice finish in a one-on-one with goalkeeper Daniel Margush to give Victory the lead.

Birkan Kirdar went close for the visitor just after the half-hour mark, the talented attacker's free-kick tipped over by Margush.

The Reds equalised shortly after the hour-mark through D'Arrigo, who found the bottom corner from just inside the area, before Armiento put them ahead with 15 minutes remaining.

Victory responded through Sette, who combined with Kirdar to bring the visitor level.

However, Carpenter scored a late winner for the Reds, heading in a corner in the 93rd minute.

Head coach Gareth Naven's post-match thoughts

"The effort was good, attitude, commitment. The energy was probably good for 65 minutes. There's a lot more that we can work on, there's a lot more we can get better at.

"With the ball, I thought we moved it really well. Without the ball, our structure, which is obviously an important part of our success, is definitely an area that we've got to work on, in regards to the small detail regarding where people need to be and doing their roles within the structure. That's always going to be something that we need to work on.

"I could tell in their faces our boys are working hard. They looked stronger and more powerful than us at times. In saying that, I thought we matched them. We were always at the opposition.

"We just didn't manage the match well in the last three or four minutes by giving three or four fouls away in our own half which built their momentum and we conceded from a corner. It's a great learning opportunity for our boys – first game, people are tired, how to manage things, how to slow things up at times, when to play quick, when not to, a whole raft of things these young players need to learn now and be ready for men's football. It's a good step in the right direction but we need to physically get better, tactically improve, some very good technical things from some individuals, but all in all, they worked their socks off."

Result

Foxtel Y-League 2018/19 Round 1

Adelaide United 3 (Louis D'Arrigo 64', Carlo Armiento 75', Blake Carpenter 90+3')

Melbourne Victory 2 (Yazid Said 19', Nicholas Sette 85')

Victory: Matthew Sutton (gk); Daniel Aye, Benjamin Carrigan (c), Aaron Anderson (Matthew Bozinovski 56'), So Nishikawa; Thierry Iradukunda, Brandon Lauton (Stefan Ristic 56'); Nicholas Sette, Birkan Kirdar, Yazid Said (Jack Morton 76'); Jack Palazzolo.