It was another positive performance for City as they defeated Melbourne Knights on Tuesday night. See the five things we learned.
It wasnt a fluke
Bruno Fornaroli lit up a chilly Knights Stadium on Tuesday night with a glorious overhead goal that had both sets of fans on their feet. The goal was City’s third for the night but it sparked plenty of talk in the grandstand over the goal’s similarities to his Elimination Final strike against Perth Glory. In a similar fashion to that goal that will forever go into Club folk law, a cheeky flick from Connor Chapman in the direction of Fornaroli saw the Uruguayan leap up to bury his strike home.
El Tuna showed the crowd that braved the cold in North Sunshine that his effort against Perth was no fluke as our number 23 officially made the overhead kick ‘his thing.’
Five in two
The Bruno show did not stop there however as he netted his fifth goal in two pre-season matches, sending an ominous warning sign to the rest of the league. The hat-trick against the Knights that included the overhead, a tap in from a neat bit of play from Bruce Kamau and a low curling effort during the first half completed the man of the match performance for the Uruguayan.
With Floreat Athena up next in the cup, there will be no rest for Fornaroli with Head Coach John van’t Schip hinting that his striker will start next week against Athena.
Bruce looks the goods
Although all eyes were on Fornaroli, Bruce Kamau went under the radar on Tuesday night and the young winger showed why there has been so much hype about him across the border in Adelaide. Kamau played 70 minutes in the friendly and started on the right wing where his pace and control on the ball was too hot for the Knights to handle.
After missing last week’s friendly against Port Melbourne, a solid performance and two assists in the bag kicked off Kamau’s City career in style.
Brandan’s 45
The more high profile debut on Tuesday night was that of Fernando Brandan as the Argentinian experienced his first taste of Australian football. Starting on the left in the front three, the diminutive attacker showed the aggression and speed that had City’s scouts excited on what he will bring to the team.
Considering Brandan had only one session under his belt, it was a solid 45 for Fernando and we only need to look back to Fornaroli’s start to last pre-season to draw parallels in how long it will take for the former Argentinian Primera Division striker to kick into gear in Australia.
Prepared…
After two solid friendly performances, John van’t Schip’s side would be feeling confident they have had enough time on the park to take on Floreat Athena on Tuesday. Although it is the old adage of part timers vs professionals, the gap has been slightly narrowed by the fact that City’s West Australian opponents are in season and City have had two pre-season friendlies so far.
This is a contrast however to City’s pre-season last year that only saw them face Manchester City on the Gold Coast before their tricky match up with Edgeworth Eagles. With two games against similar opponents this pre-season, City are arguably in a better position to tackle the Round of 32 clash.
