Marcelo Carrusca scored as Adelaide United downed Newcastle 1-0 on Sunday to extend their unbeaten A-League stretch to nine games.

Carrusca’s 43rd-minute goal keeps the sixth-placed Reds heaping pressure on clubs above them – Adelaide now just one point adrift of fifth-placed Sydney FC and fourth-placed Melbourne Victory.

Newcastle remain second-last after the Jets, missing wantaway star David Carney, failed to grasp their opportunities on away turf at Hindmarsh Stadium.

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The visitors enjoyed periods of command in the first half but the absence of Carney, who is seeking a return to Sydney FC, was keenly felt.

Adelaide, now with seven wins and two draws from their past nine games, edged ahead just before half-time when Carrusca struck.

Reds frontman Bruce Djite shot across the face of goal, the ball hit Adelaide’s Pablo Sanchez at speed and rebounded kindly into Carrusca’s path – unmarked, he blasted into the net from two metres out.

The Reds, before a parochial 12,434-strong home crowd, then turned the screws on the Jets with a dominant second half.

After Newcastle butchered a gilt-edged chance for an equaliser in the 53rd minute, when a Leonardo Santiago free kick found Milos Trifunovic with time and space only for his free header to drift wide, Adelaide controlled proceedings though could not find another goal.

Not even the appearance of Newcastle’s prized signing, Danish attacker Morten Nordstrand, who came on from the bench in the 72nd minute, could lift the visitors, now with four wins, four draws and nine losses this season.

-AAP