Hume City FC has bounced back after a round one loss to claim a long-awaited win over South Melbourne in the National Premier League, leaving Lakeside Stadium with a 2-1 victory.
First half goals to new recruits Steve Whyte and Adisu Bayew saw us go into half time with a 2-0 lead before we held off a late charge from the hosts to end a seven year NPL drought.
Right from the get go, we played with purpose and made a strong start to the contest as we looked the better side for much of the opening exchanges. Although we were on top and had a number of half chances, we were unable to truly test the South Melbourne goalkeeper in a fairly even opening period.
A breakthrough finally came just before the half-hour mark after South failed to clear a low corner from Birkan Kirdar, which found Bayew in the middle of a crowded box. He played the ball out to Steven Whyte at the edge of the box – the midfielder striking the ball superbly with his first touch, scoring his first goal in Victorian football and for Hume City in the process.
Minutes later, South threatened from a corner of their own, but Hume’s defence stood firm to preserve the lead.
We doubled our advantage soon after through Bayew, who went from provider to scorer after finishing off a classy team goal started by Kirdar, his initial effort taking a deflection on its way into the goal to cap off an impressive first-half performance.
Following the half time break, South Melbourne responded immediately, with a deadly first touch from Ishveer Singh inside the box allowing him to turn the defence and fire into the top corner, giving Chris Oldfield no chance of saving it.
The second half saw chances at both ends. Engelhart went close for Hume in the 78th minute before Bingham went even closer as his header went agonisingly wide. South then pushed harder as the clock ticked down, with Singh again going close inside the box, but Hume’s defence produced a series of brave blocks to hold firm.
South’s push for an equaliser saw them commit numbers forward late on, and Whyte nearly capitalised on their pressure with a swift counterattack, only for the recovering defence to deny him a clear shot on target.
The team held on for victory following late pressure to kick start its season and hand the hosts their first loss in 15 games.
Hume City now return to NASIOL Stadium for our clash against recently promoted Bentley Greens at 2pm AEDT on Saturday 28 February.