Melbourne City has begun the A-League Men’s season in style, picking up a big three points against Newcastle Jets away from home on Saturday evening.
Marco Tilio struck in just the second minute of action, City holding that lead right until the end, despite going down to 10 men.
TEAM NEWS
Aurelio Vidmar pulled a few surprises with his first starting XI of the season.
Nathaniel Atkinson was named in midfield with Andrew Nabbout leading the line further up the pitch, while Patrick Beach was named for his professional debut and Yonatan Cohen made his first City appearance.
Starting XI: 33. Patrick BEACH (GK), 2. Callum TALBOT, 27. Kai TREWIN, 26. Samuel SOUPRAYEN, 16. Aziz BEHICH, 8. Jimmy JEGGO, 6. Steven UGARKOVIC, 13. Nathaniel ATKINSON, 10. Yonatan COHEN, 23. Marco TILIO, 15. Andrew NABBOUT.
Substitutes: 1. Jamie YOUNG (GK), 19. Zane SCHREIBER, 20. Arion SULEMANI, 22. Germán FERREYRA, 30. Andreas KUEN, 38. Harry POLITIDIS, 47. Kavian RAHMANI.
What happened?
The season couldn’t have gotten off to a better start for Vidmar’s men, a goal coming less than two minutes after kick-off.
Captain Aziz Behich floated a dangerous ball across the box which was well met by the head of Yonatan Cohen, finding Marco Tilio in a dangerous area.
The City winger’s initial header may’ve been blocked, but he stayed alert to slam home the close-range follow-up.
A smart flick from Cohen played Steven Ugarkovic through a few minutes later. It was a good chance to find a second in quick succession, but he couldn’t quite generate the power required to seriously trouble Ryan Scott.
The momentum stayed with City throughout the early stages of the evening, before Newcastle slowly worked into things as the game wore on.
Patrick Beach was exceptional in the first half of his professional debut, looking confident with his feet and making a couple of crucial saves to deny Aleksander Susnjar and Kosta Grozos.
City came out strongly to begin the second half, although clear-cut chances were at a premium.
A straight red card to Jimmy Jeggo in the 70th minute made things a little harder than City fans watching back home would’ve been hoping, ensuring it was a tense final 20 or so minutes.
The centre back pairing of Kai Trewin and Samuel Souprayen was excellent, while Beach remained assured in goal right until the end.
Arion Sulemani had a great chance to double the advantage in stoppage time, swivelling and striking a powerful effort towards goal which Scott did well to keep out – the clash ultimately ending 1-0.
What’s next?
It doesn’t get much bigger than our next fixture… We play our first home match of the season next week in a Melbourne Derby!
You won’t want to miss this. Click here to get your tickets!
