Key man down, signings settled for Hume City

by Jordan Lim 0

It was a mixed bag for Hume City in the aftermath of Wednesday night’s 1-1 draw against Oakleigh Cannons, with a serious foot injury to midfielder Joey Franjic snaring the headlines from the contest. 

After wearing a number of late challenges from the Oakleigh midfielders, Franjic – ironically on return from injury – fell to the floor in the 74th minute, clutching at his foot before eventually making his way out of the contest.

The Hume enforcer confirmed on twitter yesterday that he’d unfortunately broken a bone in his foot, which should see him sidelined for some time.

The good news for Hume was the promising performances of several of their mid-season signings; Daniel Chaabani was immense in shutting down Oakleigh’s left wing, Theo Markelis was bright in the front third, while Paul Harvey found a third goal in as many games for City.

READ MORE > Two of those Hume players made the Round 15 NPL Team of the Week

Coach Lou Acevski took the time to assess Franjic’s injury situation post-game, revealing that he believed it to be quite a serious injury from the get go.

“Unfortunately it looks like a bad foot injury at the moment,” Acevski said.

“He’s on his way to the hospital now to get some x-rays and whatever happens, happens.”

Photo: Tom Pollock/Hume City
Photo: Tom Pollock/Hume City

Looking at the game itself, Acevski believed it was “a game of two halves”, which saw both sides capitalise on their possession with a goal each.

Hume took a first-half lead through Harvey before a Tremayne Sadler wonder volley pulled the contest back in the dying moments.

“It was a game of two halves. I thought we were better in the first half and they were better in the second half,” the Hume coach said.

“It’s always a bad feeling copping a goal in the last few minutes of a game. Look, it’s a point away from home, which is a positive again. We had a few injuries and the rest of it, but the boys did really well today.

“Paul [Harvey] battled again; he does what he does every week. He works hard, he wants to score goals. He’s been a quality signing thus far and hopefully it continues.

“Daniel [Chaabani] did well and he’ll only get better with more game time. He did well especially in the first half of the game. But again, once he gets to know the boys, how we play and what we play, he’ll get much better.”

Hume City’s next fixture is away against NPL 1 West outfit Ballarat Red Devils away on Saturday. The 3pm game at Morshead Park marks the third fixture in a week for the visitors, who’ll be desperate to secure passageway into the Quarter-Finals of the FFA Cup.

Feature Photo: Matt Johnson