Melbourne City have progressed through to the final eight of the FFA Cup after a convincing 5-1 win over Wellington Phoenix at AAMI Park.
A five goal first-half, which included three converted penalties, set up City’s win before an excellent team goal and a saved Phoenix penalty in the second stanza sealed the result.
The match saw Robbie Koren, Harry Novillo, Aaron Mooy, new singing Bruno Fornaroli and Wade Dekker all find the back of the net for the home side, with Roy Krishna scoring the consolation goal for the Phoenix.
Melbourne City
Tando Velaphi – 6: Largely untested for most of the match, guessed correctly and denied the Phoenix’s second penalty.
Paulo Retre – 5: Conceded the penalty which saw the visitors score, but got forward on a few occasions.
Connor Chapman – 6: Good performance from the young centre-back, did not have to defend much.
Patrick Kisnorbo – 5: Solid 90 minutes from the captain, keeping his line structured although they were not tested very often.
Michael Zullo – 7.5: In his second competitive match for City, the former Roar man looked good on the left-hand flank and combined well with Novillo.
Erik Paartalu – 6: A good performance from Paartalu, marshalled the midfield well.
Aaron Mooy – 8: Typical hard-working display from Mooy, scored the first goal and was ever present around the 18-yard area.
Robert Koren – 6: An outing that showed potential from City’s marquee, got into plenty of good positions and scored City’s fourth.
Stefan Zinni – 6: Loves to use his pace on the wing but only played for the first-half.
Harry Novillo – 8: Incredibly impressive in the 29 minutes he played before being substituted off with a suspected hamstring injury, scored a stunning goal.
Bruno Fornaroli – 6.5: Took a while to settle into the match but was able to convert City’s second penalty, provided the assist for Dekker’s goal and played the full match.
Substitutes:
Jack Clisby – 5: Came on at half-time and worked hard for the rest of the match.
Stefan Mauk – 6: Played over half an hour, had a great chance late-on.
Wade Dekker – 7: The competitive debut for Dekker saw him score the final goal in the rout.
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Wellington Phoenix
Lewis Italiano – 3: A terrible night out for the Phoenix goalkeeper as his defence seemed invisible.
Matthew Ridenton – 4: Subbed-out of the match at halftime, seemingly struggled to settle into the game.
Ben Sigmund – 5: Also replaced early in the match, difficult to judge his performance.
Andrew Durante – 5: The entire Phoenix defence struggled to deal with City’s attack. Some really poor defending from Durante led to the final goal.
Manny Muscat – 4: Conceded one of the penalties, was not his best performance.
Albert Riera – 5: Struggled to deal with City’s attacking players, could not contain the battle in the centre of the pitch.
Roly Bonevacia – 6.5: One of the Phoenix’s better performers, he covered plenty of ground in the midfield.
Michael McGlinchey – 5: Quiet for most of the match, did not create nearly as much as he is capable of.
Alex Rufer – 4: Largely ineffectual and was replaced before the halftime whistle.
Roy Krishna – 6: Scored the lone goal for the visitors, did not exploit his pace and could not find space out wide.
Andrew Blake – 5: A poor first-half saw him struggle to deal with City’s wide players. His performance improved as the match progressed.
Substitutes
Vince Lia – 4: Replaced Rufer in the 35th minute, did not do much in the midfield.
Joel Stevens – 7: The youngster was one of the best on the park for the Phoenix, went on plenty of positive runs and was always looking to get forward.
Tam DiMairo – 6: Louis Fenton’s injury replacement was brought on in the 35th minute and put in a decent shift.
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