Hume City FC picked up its first victory in four weeks on Friday night after coolly disposing of Port Melbourne 3-1 on a cold night at SS Anderson Oval thanks to a fast start from the visitors.
In what has been a challenging month for Hume City due to a run of draws and losses to top-ranked teams, the victory came at a good time as two first-half goals from Rob Harker and Josh O’Kane set up the lead before Joel Russell sealed the game in the dying minutes.
Hume got off to a flying start against the bottom-ranked side and piled on the pressure early, dominating the play for the opening 10 minutes – some early chances and a thunderous tackle from Birkan Kirdar setting up the tone of the match.
Hume City’s pressure paid off shortly before the quarter-hour mark as a wonderful Joseph Forde long ball from inside the visitors’ half found a fast-charging Harker, who ran onto the through ball and calmly slotted it past the keeper to break the deadlock.
The composed finish marked a brilliant start to life at Hume City for Harker, as it was his first official start for the season having made a brief first appearance in the previous round.
Hume City doubled the advantage just 10 minutes later after a Kirdar corner found an unmarked Joshua O’Kane at the opposite end of the Port Melbourne box – the Hume City midfielder’s long-range effort from the half-volley hitting the far post and rebounded into the back of the net.
The visitors continued to control the match before an off-field incident involving a Port Melbourne player saw the game stopped as officials attended to the injured individual, ultimately putting a halt to Hume City’s momentum.
Once play resumed shortly after, Port Melbourne looked the better side and began to wrestle their way into control – a solid effort just seven minutes from half-time forcing an acrobatic save from Hume City goalkeeper Michael Weier, who desperately tapped the ball over the crossbar.
While Hume defended admirably for the next few minutes, Port Melbourne were able to claw their way back into the match after striker Thomas Alisandratos broke free from the Hume City defence onto a loose ball and chipped a charging Weier.
When the match resumed following the half-time break, Hume City started off strong in their search for a third goal – Ollie getting the best couple of chances within the first 15 minutes with a shot on target and one just wide from a Kirdar corner.
Midway through the half, Hume City FC captain Josh Bingham made his long-awaited return from injury, coming on as a sub and almost made an instant impact as he was on the end of a scramble in the box, only for the play to be stopped due to an offside decision.
Hume City continued to press and took control of the game as another Kirdar free kick just outside the box resulted in a corner before Port Melbourne had their best chance of the half on a counter-attack that just went wide.
The game was then turned on its head eight minutes from time, as Ollie was released on a fast break but was pulled back by Port Melbourne defender Riade Mouyette, who was then met with a straight red card as a result of the foul.
With the extra man, Hume City finally got their third goal to seal the game with just a few minutes from extra time courtesy of a brilliant piece of individual play from Joel Russell – the youngster dancing around Port Melbourne defenders in the box before scoring at point-blank range.
The Victorian National Premier League now has a week break with Hume City’s attention turning to its Victorian Australia Cup tie with Eltham Redbacks at Eltham North Reserve on Thursday 17 April.
In what has been a challenging month for Hume City due to a run of draws and losses to top-ranked teams, the victory came at a good time as two first-half goals from Rob Harker and Josh O’Kane set up the lead before Joel Russell sealed the game in the dying minutes.
Hume got off to a flying start against the bottom-ranked side and piled on the pressure early, dominating the play for the opening 10 minutes – some early chances and a thunderous tackle from Birkan Kirdar setting up the tone of the match.
Hume City’s pressure paid off shortly before the quarter-hour mark as a wonderful Joseph Forde long ball from inside the visitors’ half found a fast-charging Harker, who ran onto the through ball and calmly slotted it past the keeper to break the deadlock.
The composed finish marked a brilliant start to life at Hume City for Harker, as it was his first official start for the season having made a brief first appearance in the previous round.
Hume City doubled the advantage just 10 minutes later after a Kirdar corner found an unmarked Joshua O’Kane at the opposite end of the Port Melbourne box – the Hume City midfielder’s long-range effort from the half-volley hitting the far post and rebounded into the back of the net.
The visitors continued to control the match before an off-field incident involving a Port Melbourne player saw the game stopped as officials attended to the injured individual, ultimately putting a halt to Hume City’s momentum.
Once play resumed shortly after, Port Melbourne looked the better side and began to wrestle their way into control – a solid effort just seven minutes from half-time forcing an acrobatic save from Hume City goalkeeper Michael Weier, who desperately tapped the ball over the crossbar.
While Hume defended admirably for the next few minutes, Port Melbourne were able to claw their way back into the match after striker Thomas Alisandratos broke free from the Hume City defence onto a loose ball and chipped a charging Weier.
When the match resumed following the half-time break, Hume City started off strong in their search for a third goal – Ollie getting the best couple of chances within the first 15 minutes with a shot on target and one just wide from a Kirdar corner.
Midway through the half, Hume City FC captain Josh Bingham made his long-awaited return from injury, coming on as a sub and almost made an instant impact as he was on the end of a scramble in the box, only for the play to be stopped due to an offside decision.
Hume City continued to press and took control of the game as another Kirdar free kick just outside the box resulted in a corner before Port Melbourne had their best chance of the half on a counter-attack that just went wide.
The game was then turned on its head eight minutes from time, as Ollie was released on a fast break but was pulled back by Port Melbourne defender Riade Mouyette, who was then met with a straight red card as a result of the foul.
With the extra man, Hume City finally got their third goal to seal the game with just a few minutes from extra time courtesy of a brilliant piece of individual play from Joel Russell – the youngster dancing around Port Melbourne defenders in the box before scoring at point-blank range.
The Victorian National Premier League now has a week break with Hume City’s attention turning to its Victorian Australia Cup tie with Eltham Redbacks at Eltham North Reserve on Thursday 17 April.
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