Hume City FC has held off a late charge from Melbourne Knights FC to secure a 2-1 victory on a rainy night at Nasiol Stadium, celebrating defender Harry Ascroft’s 100th game in style.
Goals to the captain Josh Bingham and defender Mark Ochieng either side of half-time gave Hume City a healthy two-goal advantage before Knights pegged one back, 10 minutes from time, setting up a nerve-wracking end to the game.
With heavy rain falling for much of the fiery encounter, there was plenty of drama throughout the game as Hume City proved to be the far better side across the 90 minutes to pick up their second league win in a row.
Welcoming back both Bingham and Lloyd Isgrove into the starting line-up for the first time in a while, Hume City piled on the pressure from the opening whistle as Rob Harker and Isgrove both had big chances in the first 10 minutes – the latter’s effort from within the box hit the crossbar.
Hume City’s Michael Weier was called into the action for the first time just over 10 minutes into the game with an important save after Knights’ Ciaran Bramwell got on the end of a cutback.
Despite Knights showing a glimpse of its attacking prowess, Hume City remained in control and the more likely to score as Mehmet Uysal almost connected with a dangerous Isgrove cross before Harker forced an acrobatic save from opposition keeper Gabriel Matti with a volley following an entertaining play between Bingham and Isgrove.
Bingham’s presence was certainly being felt as he controlled the game and was causing issues for the visitors’ defence – the captain combining with Harker to get another shot on goal – this one just going over the bar.
The one-way traffic was soon rewarded eight minutes from the half-time whistle when a direct pass from Isgrove into the box found Birkan Kirdar, who coolly drilled around a Knights defender to the byline and produced a low and hard cross into the path of a fast-charging Bingham – the captain putting the ball back into the net.
With Hume City taking a 1-0 lead into half-time, it didn’t take long for the lead to be doubled after a brilliant chip through ball from Joseph Forde ended up in the path of Mark Ochieng, who dribbled into the box, taking on a defender in the process and producing a supreme finish with a low hard effort into the bottom corner – wrong-footing Matti in the process.
The home side had every chance to make it three goals to the good through Harker and multiple Isgrove opportunities, however it was Knights who would find the back of the net following an array of pressure.
With 20 minutes to go, a flurry of corners to the Knights helped get them back into the game as they came close themselves to scoring, leaving Weier to make some crucial saves.
There wasn’t much he could do about the goal in the 80th minute though as Kirdar lost the ball deep in defence following pressure from Bramwell, allowing the Knights to charge on goal with three attackers, Bramwell eventually doing it all himself and just beating Weier.
The goal gave Knights new life as an intense final period of the game began and the visitors started to pile pressure on Hume City.
Despite facing plenty of attack from Knights, Hume City came close to putting the game away with a quick counter-attack a few minutes from time, but it amounted to very little as the ball spent the majority of time in the Hume City half.
The visitors came extremely close to scoring right before the end of normal time, but desperate defending from Ascroft prevented them from getting a shot on target.
In the end, Hume City managed to hold off the late onslaught of pressure from the Knights to get an important win and stay within reach of the top four.
A short break awaits Hume City, with its next match being on Tuesday night with a trip to Kevin Bartlett Reserve for its Round 5 Dockerty Cup tie against FC Melbourne SRBIJA from 7:30pm.
Goals to the captain Josh Bingham and defender Mark Ochieng either side of half-time gave Hume City a healthy two-goal advantage before Knights pegged one back, 10 minutes from time, setting up a nerve-wracking end to the game.
With heavy rain falling for much of the fiery encounter, there was plenty of drama throughout the game as Hume City proved to be the far better side across the 90 minutes to pick up their second league win in a row.
Welcoming back both Bingham and Lloyd Isgrove into the starting line-up for the first time in a while, Hume City piled on the pressure from the opening whistle as Rob Harker and Isgrove both had big chances in the first 10 minutes – the latter’s effort from within the box hit the crossbar.
Hume City’s Michael Weier was called into the action for the first time just over 10 minutes into the game with an important save after Knights’ Ciaran Bramwell got on the end of a cutback.
Despite Knights showing a glimpse of its attacking prowess, Hume City remained in control and the more likely to score as Mehmet Uysal almost connected with a dangerous Isgrove cross before Harker forced an acrobatic save from opposition keeper Gabriel Matti with a volley following an entertaining play between Bingham and Isgrove.
Bingham’s presence was certainly being felt as he controlled the game and was causing issues for the visitors’ defence – the captain combining with Harker to get another shot on goal – this one just going over the bar.
The one-way traffic was soon rewarded eight minutes from the half-time whistle when a direct pass from Isgrove into the box found Birkan Kirdar, who coolly drilled around a Knights defender to the byline and produced a low and hard cross into the path of a fast-charging Bingham – the captain putting the ball back into the net.
With Hume City taking a 1-0 lead into half-time, it didn’t take long for the lead to be doubled after a brilliant chip through ball from Joseph Forde ended up in the path of Mark Ochieng, who dribbled into the box, taking on a defender in the process and producing a supreme finish with a low hard effort into the bottom corner – wrong-footing Matti in the process.
The home side had every chance to make it three goals to the good through Harker and multiple Isgrove opportunities, however it was Knights who would find the back of the net following an array of pressure.
With 20 minutes to go, a flurry of corners to the Knights helped get them back into the game as they came close themselves to scoring, leaving Weier to make some crucial saves.
There wasn’t much he could do about the goal in the 80th minute though as Kirdar lost the ball deep in defence following pressure from Bramwell, allowing the Knights to charge on goal with three attackers, Bramwell eventually doing it all himself and just beating Weier.
The goal gave Knights new life as an intense final period of the game began and the visitors started to pile pressure on Hume City.
Despite facing plenty of attack from Knights, Hume City came close to putting the game away with a quick counter-attack a few minutes from time, but it amounted to very little as the ball spent the majority of time in the Hume City half.
The visitors came extremely close to scoring right before the end of normal time, but desperate defending from Ascroft prevented them from getting a shot on target.
In the end, Hume City managed to hold off the late onslaught of pressure from the Knights to get an important win and stay within reach of the top four.
A short break awaits Hume City, with its next match being on Tuesday night with a trip to Kevin Bartlett Reserve for its Round 5 Dockerty Cup tie against FC Melbourne SRBIJA from 7:30pm.
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