Melbourne City’s sparkling goal scoring feats continued with a 3-1 victory over Wellington Phoenix at AAMI Park.
Two goals to Harry Novillo and one for Bruno Fornaroli were enough to down the brave, but overall unimpressive, Phoenix who themselves got on the scoresheet thanks to a piledriver from Roly Bonevacia.
City were too good in the first half and opened the scoring in the 11th minute through their talismanic forward Fornaroli. The Uruguayan danced past Manny Muscat on the right side of the Phoenix defence before bending the ball around Glen Moss.
The second came from Novillo who was on hand to put home a superb cross from Michael Zullo, who troubled the Wellington back line throughout the night.
A wonderful team goal of precision passing and passionate pressing ended with the ball again at the feet of Novillo in the 49th minute who fired past Moss after receiving the ball from Aaron Mooy.
Bonevacia provided the travelling Nix fans with something to savour in the 66th minute with a thunderbolt from 30 yards but it was ultimately too little too late for his side.
Melbourne City
Thomas Sorensen – 6: Reliable when called into action outside of one first half spillage. Could do nothing about Bonevacia’s goal.
Jacob Melling – 6.5: Combined well with Kisnorbo to keep the Wellington forwards quiet for the most part.
Aaron Hughes – 6: Sat deeper than his other centre halves and watched as they controlled the play. Mopped up well when needed.
Patrick Kisnorbo – 6: Dealt with the Phoenix danger well but toed the line with the referee and was lucky to never see yellow.
Ivan Franjic – 5.5: Got more into the game as it went on but still yet to show his best for City. Replaced in the 62nd minute.
Anthony Caceres – 6: A solid debut from the former Mariner who was outshone by his midfield cohort but did not look out of place.
Erik Paartalu – 6.5: Kept things tight defensively and recycled the ball well to his more inventive teammates. A vital, if unspectacular, cog in the team.
Michael Zullo – 8: Provided so much danger to the Wellington defence in the first half. Waned as the match went on but overall had his best performance in a City shirt.
Aaron Mooy – 8.5: Yet another instrumental performance from the Socceroo as he dictated the play for his side.
Bruno Fornaroli – 9: Showed strength, speed and passion in what was another glittering display from the Uruguayan.
Harry Novillo – 9.5: Almost unplayable today as Wellington had no answers to the questions he was asking. Two goals and could have had a hat full of assists.
Substitutes
Paulo Retre – 5: Was given trouble after the introduction of Appiah but did little in his thirty minutes.
Osama Malik – 6: Twenty minutes to show that he could improve City’s defensively solidity and showed just that.
Nick Fitzgerald – N/A: Only 10 minutes on the pitch for the new signing.
Wellington Phoenix
Glen Moss – 6: Couldn’t be at blame for any of City’s goals and without him the Phoenix would have shipped plenty more.
Tom Doyle – 5.5: The best of Wellingtons’s back line. Defended well enough and got forward.
Andrew Durante – 3: Could not deal with the pressure of Fornaroli and Novillo. Will have nightmares about the City duo.
Manny Muscat – 3: Embarrassed by Fornaroli on the first goal and couldn’t help his partner well enough.
Matthew Ridenton – 3: Was given a torrid time all evening by Zullo. Made precious few forward runs.
Albert Riera – 4.5: Overrun in midfield and unable to show his quality.
Vince Lia – 4: Made so little of an impact offensively or defensively before being removed on 50 minutes.
Roly Bonevacia – 7: The only Phoenix player who looked troubling to City. Scored a cracker of a goal and caused a few problems.
Alex Rodriguez – 5.5: Pushed forward well and looked to be the outlet ball for his team mates. Needed better end product. Replaced with 20 minutes to play.
Blake Powell – 3: Anonymous performance from the forward.
Michael McGlinchey – 5.5: Tried to get on the ball as much as possible but couldn’t conjure up any magic.
Substitutes
Louis Fenton – 4.5: Played a rather unmemorable 40 minutes.
Joel Stevens – 6.5: Despite only playing half an hour looked the second most dangerous Phoenix player on the park.
Kwabena Appiah – N/A: Showed little but his incredible turn of pace.
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