Melbourne City FC continued to power towards a maiden premiership with a 4-1 win over Adelaide United in Captain Scott Jamieson’s 100th game for the Club on Thursday night.
Starting XI
Head Coach Patrick Kisnorbo made three changes to the side that defeated Brisbane on Sunday; with Florin Berenguer, Rostyn Griffiths and Andrew Nabbout replacing Adrian Luna, Nuno Reis and Marco Tilio who all started the game from the bench.
3️⃣ changes to the line-up from Sunday's win over Brisbane.
Coming back into the XI are Rostyn Griffiths, Florin Berenguer and Andrew Nabbout, while Nuno Reis, Adrian Luna and Marco Tilio move to the bench.
An hour until kick-off! ⏰#CmonCity | #MCYvADL | #ALeague pic.twitter.com/htrElPJAbG
— Melbourne City FC (@MelbourneCity) May 13, 2021
What happened?
An early Andrew Nabbout raid played in Florin Berenguer who was denied by Adelaide keeper James Delianov, although moments later it was the man of the moment Scott Jamieson who opened the scoring.
From an eighth minute corner, Berenguer elected to play short to Jamieson at the top of the box before the skipper thumped home a shot into the back of the net via a Jordan Elsey deflection.
It marks Jamieson’s second goal in four games, highlighting a terrific run of form from the City full-back who on the night made his his 100th appearance for the Club. Jamieson become just the second player in club history to reach the milestone and now closes to within three appearances of David Williams at the top of the charts.
A huge achievement for our Captain tonight.
Congratulations, @ScottJamieson! 💪#CmonCity | #MCYvADL | #ALeague pic.twitter.com/Qd0LOziDxq
— Melbourne City FC (@MelbourneCity) May 13, 2021
The first half continued on in solid contest with Adelaide pressing the City defence high and hard. Melbourne were up to the task however, and were to nab a second goal on the eve of half-time with another corner routine playing in a full-back, this time it was Scott Galloway who placed a delightful left-footed shot across the keeper and into the net.
Adelaide were on the front foot early in the second stanza and a quick-fire Kusini Yengi flick was well saved by an outstretched Tom Glover, however, the parry fell to Ben Halloran at the back post who fired home from a tight angle.
A tension descended over the stands as the scoreline narrowed in such a high stakes fixture but a Kisnorbo triple sub in the 67th minute was to pay almost instant dividends as super sub Stefan Colakovski was brought down in the box and a penalty awarded.
City’s deadly marksman Jamie Maclaren was there to dispatch an expertly taken spot kick to send City into a 3-1 lead.
Marco Tilio, having entered the fray early in the first half following an injury to Andrew Nabbout, was determined in his press of the United defence and was able to intercept a clearance from Jordan Elsey at the halfway line. The ricochet fell into the young attackers path as he drove down the left flank and picked out Maclaren at the far post to fire home and find his sides fourth goal of the night.
Maclaren’s goal was record breaking in a couple of different aspects, making it a personal best return in an A-League season, as well as surpassing Bruno Fornaroli’s club record of 57 goals and becoming the new name at the top of City’s record list.
Our all-time leading scorer. 💙#CmonCity | #MCYvADL | #ALeague pic.twitter.com/JTGxaFAraH
— Melbourne City FC (@MelbourneCity) May 13, 2021
Curtis Good was named man of the match and awarded the Tony Clarke Memorial Medal, as Melbourne City claimed the Blue Ribbon Cup, a fixture designed to commemorate those that have died in the Victoria Police line of service.
What’s next?
The win now sees City with an 11-point gap at the top with 5 games to play ahead of another home fixture with the Wellington Phoenix on Sunday at AAMI Park. Kick off is 4.05pm and you can click here to get your tickets now!
