Photo: Mark Avellino
For the second season running, Hume City’s FFA Cup run has come to a halt against the Melbourne Victory, with the A-League outfit claiming a dire 1-0 win at ABD Stadium.
The contest played out like two clubs that knew each other’s game plan, and as such were able to nullify most of their respective attacking forays.
In fact, it was the third time the pair have faced off in the space of 12 months, with another friendly scheduled for earlier this month before the pair found out they’d be pitted against each other in the Round of 16 clash.
The deciding goal came via the penalty spot as Besart Berisha rolled an effort into the bottom right corner in the 27th minute, deceiving Chris Oldfield who ironically won Hume their Round of 32 tie against Marconi Stallions with a save from the 12-yards.
It was former Melbourne Heart fullback Jeremy Walker who clipped Fahid Ben Khalfallah just inside the area as the Tunisian cut in from the left wing, which resulted in Berisha netting his 10th FFA cup goal in as many games.
There was a small shout for a penalty at the other end in the half’s dying embers that fell on deaf ears, while in the same passage of play, Tom Cahill headed comfortably wide from a Nick Hegarty free-kick.
It was a rare set-piece that created any sniff of danger, with delivery from both teams often failing to beat the first man.
The second half continued in similar vain, with a lack of chances created at either end, save for a nervy passage of play in the Victory defence on the hour mark.
Hegarty was able to free up a yard of space on marker Jason Geria to fire in a low cross, which was bravely deflected away to Kym Harris, who was unable to trouble Lawrence Thomas with his blocked follow up effort.
A Mitch Austin cross created a final half chance for the Victory to seal the tie as the game approached its conclusion, but a combination of Chris Oldfield and Deniz Ylidiz was able to see away the danger.
It allowed Hume to push one last time through Harris, who cruelly struck the side netting, with a large section of the 2,866 strong crowd convinced the shot had in fact snuck in.
Meanwhile up in Brisbane, Melbourne City laboured to an unconvincing 2-1 win over the Brisbane Strikers in front of a crowd in excess of 3,500 at Perry Park.
The Strikers took the lead just after the hour mark as central defender Greig Henslee latched his head onto Trent Clulow’s free-kick into the area to stun their star-studded A-League opponents.
City levelled proceedings three minutes later as Henslee turned from hero-to-villain by bringing down Nick Fitzgerald inside the area as reigning A-League Golden Boot winner Bruno Fornaroli stepped up and successfully converted his spot-kick.
Socceroos superstar Tim Cahill entered the fray in the 64th minute in what was his first Melbourne City debut as the Strikers looked the more threatening of the two sides.
However City would edge ahead with what proved to be the winner as Bruno Fornaroli slotted home another penalty after Bruce Kamau was fouled in the box on 78 minutes.
Two minutes earlier, former Dandenong City full-back Brad Clarke made his competitive debut for City coming on for fellow new signing Joshua Rose with the ex-Nunawading junior making a crucial clearance late on as City held onto and secured their passage through the final eight of the competition.