Sections of the local crowd were in poor form after the Reds' loss to the Melbourne Victory last Friday night and the situation highlighted how even our unassuming city has the potential for hooligan behaviour.

Small objects were thrown onto the field after the game, and there was abusive language going on while a FIVEaa reporter rang his radio station's late-night talk show to describe how the Victory cheer-squad bus required a police escort to leave Hindmarsh Stadium.

There's no question losing to the Victory was annoying for most of the 13,191 people at the venue. The way the visitors ran over the top of the home side in the second half left supporters feeling helpless.

And Kevin Muscat's in-your-face attitude towards 17-year-old goalkeeper Mark Birighitti after recording his second penalty (seriously Musky, get over yourself, mate - you're supposed to slot those), followed by his inflammatory celebrations with the travelling supporters would even stir the Mother Teresas of this world into giving him a dead arm or a nipple cripple.

Selective replays on the big screen don't help, either. When the Adelaide United logo appears instead of vision of what's just occurred, it's easy to assume something controversial has taken place.

But once the final whistle blows and there's no more air left in lungs to jeer the referees any longer, it's time to move on.

Apart from the 2007-08 season, the Reds have provided their fans with consistent success and, more often than not, the contests at Hindmarsh are both positive and entertaining.

Losing is a part of the game, and those fans in the outer who lost their faculties in round 10 need to pull together for the return leg of the Asian Champions League final against Gamba Osaka at Hindmarsh next Wednesday night from 7.30.

The whole of Asia will be watching the game and hopefully it will be remembered for an amazing success story for the Reds rather than the behaviour of the bogans who stir trouble behind the fence.