It was not meant to be for the Brisbane Strikers on a wet night at Perry Park, falling out of the FFA Cup in a 2-1 loss to Melbourne City.
The hosts grabbed an early lead in the first half through Greig Henslee after a sweet free kick from Hiroki Omori, with the midfielder latching onto the ball and slicing it into the net past Thomas Sorensen.
Henslee would go from hero to villain just three minutes later though, cutting down Nick Fitzgerald in the box. Bruno Fornaroli would blast the resulting penalty into the back of the net to equalise, before Jake Marshall would then give City another spot-kick which enabled the Uruguayan to net a second.
Outside90’s Thomas Rutherford takes a look at the players who stole the spotlight at both end of the pitch.
Brisbane Strikers:
Michael Weir – 7: Made an excellent save against Fitzgerald in the first-half, then had little to do until the penalties. Arguably the best Strikers player on the field
Jonti Richter – 5: Had some good touches early in the contest, including a shot that just went wide. Caught the City defenders out a few times and was replaced in 53rd minute by Shaun Carlos.
Sam Knight – 4: Relatively quiet. Struggled to contain Fornaroli and Fitzgerald, was not his best game.
Jake Marshall – 4: Had a decent match until he brought down Bruce Kamau in the box and gave City their second penalty of the night. Copped a yellow card for his troubles.
Greig Henslee – 5.5: The ‘tree-lopper’ scored the first goal of the match, only to cut down Fitzgerald in the box and also hand the opposition a spot-kick.
Hiroki Omori – 5: Took the free-kick that was scored by Henslee, lacked control in the final third though.
Jake McClean – 6: Put some excellent balls into the area, yet made some bad choices defending and fouled City players in dangerous territory a few times.
Michael Angus – 5: Struggled to get anything going for the hosts and received a yellow for his foul on Fornaroli.
Fraser Hills – 4: Could not contain the City counter attacks and did not perform very well overall.
Trent Clulow – 5: Cught out a few times when pushing up field, leaving his backline exposed.
Rhys Meredith – 7: Saw a chance from a free-kick early on that was saved. Made some occasionally poor decisions in the final third and lacked the killing blow.
Substitutes
Sebastian Usai (GK) – NA
Chris Maher – NA: Not on the field long enough to make an impact.
Shaun Carlos – NA
Luke Marsh – NA: Only saw a few touches of the ball
Ryan Palmer – NA
Melbourne City
Thomas Sorensen GK – 8: Kept busy by a frantic Strikers attack. Not much he could have done with the opposition goal, coming from a free-kick and poor marking.
Joshua Rose – 5: Ran some good lines up the flanks, but caught out a few times at the back. Made some decent crosses into the area and was replaced by Bradley Clarke in 72 minute
Connor Chapman – 6: Earned a yellow card early in the first-half and struggled with the rushing visitors a few times.
Osama Malik – 5: Had difficulty with the Strikers attack for most of the match.
Emmanuel Muscat – 5: A few mistimed passes, plus some poor marking and vision had the Strikers hounding Muscat for much of the match.
Luke Brattan – 6: A generally decent match for the midfielder, working well with Neil Kilkenny
Anthony Caceres – 5: The youngster was not able to get much going for his attack and was replaced by Tim Cahill in the 63rd minute.
Neil Kilkenny – 7: Looked good controlling the ball in the midfield and was one of the better players for van’t Schip’s side.
Nick Fitzgerald – 8: Displayed great initiative up front and put pressure on the defence many times. Drew the first penalty.
Bruno Fornaroli – 9: An excellent match from the Golden Boot winner, converting both spot-kicks to earn his team the win.
Bruce Kamau – 8: Quiet in the first-half, but showed up in the latter stages. Earned the second penalty for City after being fouled by Marshall in the box
Substitutes
Tim Cahill – 5: Given a gift to score late on but took too long and was well covered eventually. Not a bad outing for his first match, but not the best.
Paulo Retre – NA
Dean Bouzanis – NA
Fernando Brandan – NA: Not on long enough to make an impact.
Bradley Clarke – 6: Replaced Rose in the 72nd minute, defended well and cleared the lines.
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