A brace each to Aaron Mooy and Bruno Fornaroli fired Melbourne City FC to an emphatic 4-0 win over Newcastle Jets at Hunter Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Holding a slender one goal advantage at the interval, City produced a second-half masterclass to sweep aside a stunned Jets outfit, with Mooy and Fornaroli sensationally netting three times inside the space of six minutes to seal the win.
City have now scored a whopping 14 goals in its past three matches, with a third consecutive win moving John van’t Schip’s side into third place on the Hyundai A-League table.
Looking to build on the momentum gained by two consecutive 5-1 victories, van’t Schip named the same starting XI which dismantled the Central Coast Mariners last week, while Robi Koren announced his return to first team action with a place on the substitute’s bench, replacing Hernan Espindola.
Despite running away with a comfortable win, it could have been a very different story were it not for the intervention of Thomas Sorensen inside the opening ten minutes. A swift move saw Jets winger Enver Alivodic break into the penalty area, but the Great Dane spread himself superbly to make a crucial save.
It would be the only clear cut chance the Jets would have on Sorensen’s goal as City took control of the contest. Mooy came close to opening the deadlock in the 18th minute when he latched on to a deft flick from Fornaroli, only for Jets’ shot-stopper Mark Birighitti to race off his line to thwart the danger.
The Newcastle ‘keeper was then called upon to prevent Fornaroli from breaking the deadlock ten minutes from the half-time break, rushing out quickly to deny the Uruguayan with a superb double save.
The Jets were not without their own chances in the opening period but were wasteful in attack – Scott Miller’s side were caught offside on 12 occasions during the match – and were made to pay only two minutes from half-time.
Socceroos defender Ivan Franjic was afforded too much space in the penalty area, threading his pass to Mooy who made no mistake, slotting an angled effort through the legs of Birighitti into the bottom corner to give City the advantage at the interval.
Jets defender Ben Kantarovski spurned a golden chance to level the scores shortly after the break when he fired an open header well wide of Sorensen’s goal, and it would prove to be costly as City took control of the contest with a sensational burst of quality.
Substitute Ben Garuccio – on in place of the injured Connor Chapman – made a telling contribution in the 56th minute, bursting forward and slipping a neat through ball into the path of Fornaroli, who doubled City’s lead with a sumptuous finish through the legs of Birighitti.
Mooy tripled the advantage only three minutes later, surging into the penalty area to smash home Franjic’s drilled cross past a static Newcastle defence, before Fornaroli put the result beyond doubt with a sensational fourth.
The Hyundai A-League’s top scorer produced yet another moment of pure quality, playing the ball through the legs of defender Lachlan Jackson and coolly finishing past Birighitti to take his tally to nine goals this season.
Newcastle had a chance to register a consolation goal three minutes from time when Mateo Poljak managed to chip an effort over the outstretched arm of Sorensen, but skipper Patrick Kisnorbo showed great awareness to clear the effort off the line, as City put the icing on the win by registering its first clean sheet of the campaign.
Match Details
Hyundai A-League Round 10
Sunday, 13 December 2015
Newcastle Jets 0
Melbourne City FC 4 (Aaron MOOY 43, 59, Bruno FORNAROLI 56’, 62)
Venue: Hunter Stadium, Newcastle
Referee: Chris Beath
Melbourne City FC line-up: 1. Thomas SORENSEN (GK), 4. Connor CHAPMAN (Ben GARUCCIO 27’), 5. Ivan FRANJIC (Robi KOREN 69’), 6. Erik PAARTALU, 8. Aaron MOOY, 9. Harry NOVILLO, 21. Stefan MAUK, 22. Jack CLISBY, 23. Bruno FORNAROLI, 24. Patrick KISNORBO (GK), 25. Jacob MELLING (Paulo RETRE 46’)
Substitutes not used: 20. Tando VELAPHI (GK), 15. David WILLIAMS
Yellow cards: Paartalu 19’
Red cards: nil
Newcastle Jets line-up: 1.Mark BIRIGHITTI (GK), 3. Jason HOFFMAN, 5. Ben KANTAROVSKI, 6. Cameron WATSON (Nicholas COWBURN 60’), 7. Enver ALIVODIC (Ryan KITTO 70’), 8.Mateo POLJAK, 9. Milos TRIFUNOVIC, 10. LEONARDO (Braedyn CROWLEY 78’), 13. Lee KI-JEE, 22. Lachlan JACKSON, 23. David CARNEY.
Substitutes not used: 20. Ben KENNEDY (GK), 17. Radovan PAVICEVIC,
Yellow cards: Hoffman 42’
Red cards: nil
