Melbourne City Youth will be looking to make it two from two on Saturday when they travel to the City of Churches to face Adelaide United in round two of the Foxtel Y-League.
Despite the game being abandoned in the 50th minute last week, Joe Palatsides’ side lead three goals to nil after a precipitous downpour as City were awarded the win against the Brisbane Roar last week.
It was the second time in two years that a City v Brisbane Y-League game had to be abandoned due to adverse conditions, but unlike the contest in Brisbane last year, enough minutes had been played for the result to stand without the need for a replay.
City’s lead was a result of first half goals by Denis Genreau, Braedyn Crowley and Ramy Najjarine.
Najjarine – who lined up on the wing in the contest – looked particularily dangerous against the Roar, going close to opening the scoring twice in the first half before eventually breaking through in the 28th minute.
Fellow winger Daniel Arzani was also a standout prior to the game’s abandonment, giving the Brisbane wing-backs trouble as he marauded up and down the touchline.
Brisbane’s attempts at overloading the midfield came to nought throughout the contest with Connor Metcalfe and Josh Cavallo effectively shutting down the midfield and the City backline of Nathanial Atkinson, Lucas Portelli, Ruon Tongyik and Jaiden Madafferi serving as a brick wall that didn’t allow the Roar to launch any efforts that would challenge City goalkeeper James Delianov.
Speaking after the game, City coach Joe Palatsides was satisfied with the effort of his boys.
“Very pleased, it was good to get all the boys back from national team duty,” Palatsides said.
“The boys started out with the right intent, which is what I was more worried about; that we make sure we get into the rhythm of the game quickly, that we controlled the game and then that we had the right attitude to work hard.
“Coming in at half time, I thought three nil was a fair result.
He also took the time to reiterate that the development of his players is his number one concern for this rest of the Y-League season.
“I’m more in line with how many boys we can get into the senior team and into the national team setup and at the moment we’re doing really well with that.”
“We’ve got six scholarship boys upstairs [training with the seniors] and Warren [Joyce] has been speaking really highly of them so we’re thinking there will be a chance for them down the track but they have to maintain their form here,” he said.
This week’s opponents Adelaide United also got their season off to a winning start last week, defeating the Perth Glory youth three goals to nil behind a hat-trick from Apostolos Stamatelopoulos, who had a 12 minute cameo for the Adelaide senior side against City in Round 4 of the A-League season.
Match Details
Foxtel Y-League Round 2
Saturday, 25 November 2017
Adelaide United FC vs Melbourne City FC
Venue: Marden Sports Complex, Adelaide
Kick-off: 4:30pm (AEDT) – 4:00pm (Local)
