Melbourne City moved to second in the A-League ladder following a 1-0 win over Adelaide United at Coopers Stadium on Friday.

A 72nd-minute goal from Nicholas Fitzgerald separated the two sides, and as a result, City are now one point behind leaders Adelaide, who have recorded their first defeat in 15 weeks.

The visitors had the majority of chances in the early stages of the game, and they could have led in the seventh minute but Bruno Fornaroli's close-range header went wide of the target.

Harry Novillo and Aaron Mooy combined well during the first half, with the latter producing the first save of the game after unleashing a right-footed shot from outside of the box.

Fitzgerald also caused trouble for Adelaide as he moved to the edge of the area before drilling the ball goal-bound with his left foot, but the goalkeeper made a stop.

After the half-time break, the home side came close to breaking the deadlock when Stefan Mauk rose above his markers to get a header on target in the box, but his attempt was saved.

As the game entered its final 20 minutes, it looked as though the two sides would share a point, but Fitzgerald's shot from the right side of the box ended up in the top left corner and gave City the edge.

Bruce Djite tried to respond for Adelaide by letting a powerful shot fly towards goal, but Thomas Sorensen managed to pull off a diving save.

The home side ramped up the pressure searching for an equaliser, but it was not to be and they were forced to relinquish three points.