He acknowledged that the opening 45 minutes, when teenager Daniel Arzani tormented the Reds rearguard every time he ran at them and the hitherto anonymous Marcin Budzinski popped up to score two goals, had been very good.

But he had reservations about the second-half effort.

The impressive Arzani ran out of gas after 65 minutes, while City dropped off and lowered the tempo, allowing Adelaide to start imposing themselves on the game.

Had George Blackwood converted a chance set up by Ryan Strain midway through the half, the game might have pivoted differently.

But Dean Bouzanis pulled off a good save, Dario Vidosic scored a tremendous volley with three minutes to go and the floodgates opened in the lengthy stoppage time caused by the injury to Nathaniel Atkinson, with Vidosic and substitute Ross McCormack adding two more.

The only downer was the injury to the highly promising Atkinson. Like Arzani, the Tasmanian teenager is a product of City's youth team and has made a huge impression in the past few weeks as he has cemented a place.

Joyce said the initial reports from hospital were that the injury was not as bad as first feared but further tests would reveal how long Atkinson might be out of action.

"We don't think it's a break, that's the latest report from the hospital but obviously we'll have to wait until we hear it for sure. It's near his ankle. You're waiting for confirmation, but it's good news that it's not that a break but it could be ligaments, it could be anything. "

Joyce might have thought there was still room for improvement, but could only be happy with the overall score and the sharpness of the finishing.

"It's the best result, I think that we've had several performances like that this season, but not scored the goals, not taken the chances," Joyce said.

"I think we played really good football in the first half, we were good value for a 2-0 lead, we controlled the game but we missed a lot of good opportunities where we could have scored more goals. Sometimes [we gave] the ball up cheaply, or the last pass [was wrong].

"But tonight the quality of the finishing was outstanding.

"Goals change people's perception - if you get a couple of goals up, people play with a little bit more freedom and express themselves a little more.We've not had that luxury where people actually play with confidence and really zip the ball around, and that's what some of those big scores do for you."

Arzani has plenty of upside, Joyce says, but there is still plenty at this early stage of his career that he needs to work on, including his fitness and game sense.

"I think there's X-factor talent there. He's got a lot of things to improve on, and to learn, but his certainly got X-factor talent and qualities that can win games and create chances," said the former Manchester United reserve coach

Budzinski - ostensibly a marquee signing - has proved disappointing this season, but Joyce is optimistic that his two-goal performance against Adelaide could be the springboard for him to become a major contributor in the final months of the season.

"Brilliant from him. It's not easy you come over the other side of the world, and trying to settle ??? and he wasn't fit when he first came and has found some of the tempo a little bit quick for him," Joyce said.

"But he's knuckled down, and he's kept having a go and kept trying to work, kept trying to improve."

City is now up to third on the table, four points behind second placed Newcastle Jets whom they entertain in a blockbuster Thursday fixture.

Win that, and City will be closing in on second spot and increasing their chances of securing an Asian Champions League qualifying position.

Adelaide coach Marko Kurz shrugged and put the heavy defeat down to this game being one of those matches were everything went right for City and little for his team.

He did cause a ripple of laughter in the post-match press conference when he referred to his sky blue opponents as Manchester City - an unconscious reference to their Premier League owners.