Melbourne City have secured their place in the quarter-finals of the Australia Cup, after defeating Wellington Phoenix 3-0 at Jack Edwards Reserve.
Jamie Maclaren got off the mark for the new season, firing home a two-minute brace in the final 15 minutes of the contest to wrap up an emphatic victory for City – after Steven Ugarkovic opened the scoring before half-time.
Maclaren didn’t score in their Round of 32 victory over NPL Victoria champions Oakleigh Cannons in his 45 minutes on the field, but reminded the Australian football public of how damaging he can be around goal with a tremendous burst.
The all-time leading A-Leagues goalscorer found himself unmarked inside the 18-yard-box to tap home his first of the game, before a classy finish a couple of minutes later from a tight angle wrapped up the victory.
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Rado Vidosic’s side will now await Wednesday night’s draw to find out who they face in the quarter-finals, joining Brisbane Roar as the only side to progress thus far.
Wellington, on the other hand, will go back to the drawing board ahead of the start of the new season as Giancarlo Italiano suffered his first loss in a competitive fixture since becoming permanent head coach.
The ‘Nix had chances late in the game through Oskar Zawada and teenager Luke Supyk but both their efforts were cleared off the line thanks to some desperate defending.
“I was disappointed that in terms of execution of the plan, we worked all week to find their vulnerabilities and I thought we did it well at times during the match, it just was lack of execution,” Italiano said.
“It wasn’t really what I was hoping for, I was hoping for a more polished performance but in saying that that’s really our first good hit out against a quality opponent since I’ve been here.
“There were moments, in the first half I think Oz (Oskar Zawada) a had a massive chance and we had two or three chances in the first half, that if they were scored, it probably would have been a different game.
“Disappointed, yes, with the result, I’m disappointed with the fact we conceded three goals, but I think there’s enough there that where we can work off.
“It wasn’t for a lack of trying, execution let us down quite a bit. The positive out of the whole game, is that up until 70 minutes we were still in the game.”
Italiano lamented a lack of conditioning in his squad, saying they need to “close that gap” ahead of the season.
“In order to play the way we want to play and have sustained periods where we’re running, we are pressing and trying to control the game, you need a big element of conditioning in your legs and I don’t think we’re anywhere near it at the moment,” he said.
“If we can match it for 70 minutes with probably one of the best teams in the league, then maybe that is a good sign, but at the same time, we really need to close that gap if we want to do anything special this year.”
It was another inexperienced Wellington side that took the field on Sunday afternoon, who were without the services of Mohamed Al-Taay, Sam Sutton and Ben Old through injury while Oskar Van Hattum was on international duty.
Lukas Kelly-Heald started only his second senior game and Joshua Rudland was handed his first opportunity from the first whistle. Academy prospects Supyk, Fergus Gillon and Isaac Hughes were all handed opportunities off the bench as well.
Meanwhile, City had a host of star arrivals starting the game from the off, including Socceroos left-back Aziz Behich and Moroccan midfielder Hamza Sakhi.
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This was Behich’s first appearance for the club since his departure in 2014 when they were still known as Melbourne Heart, while Sakhi donned City blue for the first time since making his move on loan from Auxerre.
Fellow off-season arrivals Steven Ugarkovic and Tolgay Arslan slotted into midfield, while Jamie Young started between the sticks and Marin Jakolis on the right flank.
It was Ugarkovic who got the game off to a flier, using some creative ingenuity to volley the ball home, with the help of a deflection from Arslan.
City also rolled out Samuel Souprayen in the second-half for his club debut, coming on for Callum Talbot at half-time and slotting in at centre-back alongside Curtis Good.
Melbourne were able to control the game for much of the second-half and were rarely troubled prior to Maclaren’s double, who sealed the win in style.
MATCH DETAILS
Melbourne City 3-0 Wellington Phoenix
Venue: Jack Edwards Reserve
