Hume City extend unbeaten run to six

HEIDELBERG UNITED – HUME CITY 0-3 (0-2)

In the battle between second and third place at Heidelberg United’s Olympic Village the home side fell to the inform Hume City 0-3 thanks to goals by Richie Cardozo, Atilla Ofli and debutant Pece Siveski.

Early on the game was evenly matched as Hume held possession well with plenty of short passes, while the home side were relying on the individual efforts of Saso Alexovski and Shaun McIlroy. The inform Osagie Ederaro missed the clash due to suspension thanks to last week’s red card against Bentleigh and his absence proved to be vital for the home side.

With fifteen minutes gone by the visitors took the lead after a mishap by the Heidelberg defence. Goalkeeper McMaster rushed out to clear a long ball which he could only chest out as far as Hume star Richie Cardozo who with a wonderful volley from 25 yards handed the visitors the lead in bizarre fashion. Just when we thought matters could not get worse for the hosts, McMaster yet again was at the centre of things as he rushed out to fist a long ball out of danger, only as far as the feet of Atilla Ofli who with a great volley doubled the visitors lead.

From then on Hume controlled the match, passing the ball and holding possession well, resiliently denying the home side a sniff at goal. On 37 minutes Hume debutant Pece Siveski almost handed the visitors a third after a nice pass by Cardozo however his low shot was inches wide of the left post.

Heidelberg's only chance of the half came with a minute to go as Nishomoto found Alexovski who was then left with only Acevski to beat, but his weak effort was straight at the keeper.

City came out under no pressure in the second half continuing to pass the ball well and remaining resilient in the back. Heidelberg had two glorious chances to get back into the contest; Nishomoto played Alexovski through who wiggled past two defenders, his effort beating Acevski only to find the wrong side of the post. Moments later it was Hamlet Armenian who with a beautiful run easily disposed of Bosevski yet his final touch let him down as he blasted his shot over the bar.

With ten minutes remaining debutant Pece Siveski all but sealed the points with a strike from outside the area which found the bottom left corner.

The defeat leaves Heidelberg four points adrift second, with a match against the struggling South Melbourne next week while Hume City remain in second place one point off of leaders Oakleigh with heavyweights Dandenong Thunder on Saturday in what should be another great contest.

Heidelberg United – Griffin MCMASTER, George PAPADOPOULOS, Craig ELVIN, Steve MARTIN, Les DOUMBALIS, Hamlet ARMENIAN, Evan CHRISTODOULOU, Takanori NISHOMOTO, Andrew, NABBOUT, Saso ALEXOVSKI, Shaun MCILROY.

Hume City – Lupce ACEVSKI, Steven PACE, Serdar PIR, Phillip RICCOBENE, Isyan ERDOGAN, Pece SIVESKI, Richie CARDOZO, Andy VLAHOS, Atilla OFLI, Ross THOMPSON, Mark PISTINZI.