CUP
Melbourne
FC 0 – 4 Eternal (Rusdi, Fergus, Julian (pen.), Loamayer)
Eternal start their Cup campaign on a high as they won against Melbourne with four unanswered goals.
Eternal start their Cup campaign on a high as they won against Melbourne with four unanswered goals.
This week, Eternal were forced to play with 11
players with no substitutes since Effendy, Irawan and several others were
unavailable due to various personal reasons. Rizky Sati started alongside with
his last week’s partner, Eman Chan. Thomas Loka made his first start as right
defender. Enrico was brought forward to accompany Chris and Janhadi in the
midfield.
Just under 10 minutes after the kick-off, Eternal
had their first chance to score from a set piece. Rusdi struck a free kick into
Melbourne’s net, but the goal was disallowed as the referee had not stood in his
position yet. The free kick was retaken but the goalie was in a better position
to catch it. However, it took only a minute for Rusdi to redeem his goal. The Eternal’s skipper hit the ball from
Enrico’s deep cross with powerful directed header that stunned the home team’s goalie.
Fergus was
able to make it 0 – 2 soon after. It was Julian who provided the assist for Fergus. The winger skipped pass a couple of Melbourne’s players before made a
cutting pass to Fergus who coolly tapped the ball into the net.
Soon after, Julian had a chance to increase the
lead further, but his shot still went over the bar. He had another chance not
long after with a shot into the top left corner but the goalkeeper, Gilang
was there to make the save.
Melbourne had a rare sight of goal through Adrian.
The lone striker unleashed a shot into the left corner of Wawan’s goal, after
taking an advantage over a bouncing through ball that troubled Eternal’s two center-backs,
but it was not enough to trouble the Eternal’s goalkeeper.
In the second half, Eternal managed to maintain
the attacking play they displayed earlier in the first half. Minutes after the
restart, the referee gave Eternal a penalty after a handball situation which is
similar to Harry Kewell’s in the last World Cup. Julian sent in a cross from
the right, finding Fergus who headed the ball into the net but was blocked on
the line by Aiman, unluckily involving his arm. Julian powerfully netted the ball from the spot into the middle after
the referee instructed his first penalty had to be retaken.
It was Andrew
Loamayer who made it a four-goal advantage through an over-the-wall free
kick from just outside the box that marked his first goal of this season.
Adrian once again was inches away from finding a
consolation through a powerful long shot which almost beat Wawan, but the former
Northern Wolves’s number one managed to punch it away at the very last moment.
The win gave Eternal a comfortable starting position in
the Cup but they are still behind Kooyong SC who razed Hawthorn Orange 7 – 1 in
the Malaysians’ first appearance of the season. Eternal will face Hawthorne
Orange next week (18/05/12).
Highlights: http://eternalfc.weebly.com/gallery.html
