The Melbourne Heart, Newcastle Jets and Western Sydney Wanderers were all in action as the countdown to the 2013-14 A-League season continues.
The Melbourne Heart, Newcastle Jets, Western Sydney Wanderers and Brisbane Roar were all in action overnight as the countdown to the 2013-14 A-League season continues.
Harry Kewell made his Melbourne Heart FC debut as his new side cruised to a 12-0 win over a La Trobe University XI side at Epping Stadium.
David Williams scored five goals, while Dylan Macallister netted four, triallist Billy Konstantinidis bagged a brace and Iain Ramsay scored a solitary goal in Heart-s second pre-season hit out.
Promisingly for Heart, Mate Dugdanzic was lively down the right wing in the first half and provided five assists, while Kewell appeared in the second 45 minutes and set up two goals.
While the score line was comprehensive for the Red and White, the hit-out provided Head Coach John Aloisi with the opportunity to test out potential structures in either half and allowed recent off season signings, including goalkeeper Tando Velaphi, Kewell and Rob Wielaert, minutes in a game scenario.
A four goal spree in the space of four first half minutes saw Heart surge to a 4-0 lead by the 14th minute, as Williams notched his hat-trick within that period, and Macallister, deployed as a central striker, chimed in with his first.
Williams added a fifth for Heart, and his fourth in the 18th, before Konstantinidis grabbed a double, scoring in the 21st and 33rd minutes.
The ever-present Williams rounded out the half with his fifth to take the score line to 8-0 at the break.
Heart added four goals in the final 25 minutes, with Macallister rounding out his four-goal tally with a second half hat-trick, either side of a goal from substitute Ramsay.
In Newcastle the Jets defeated Mounties Wanderers 5-2 in a pre-season trial match at Cook Park.
A brace to Joey Gibbs and goals from Craig Goodwin and youth team players Brandon Lundy and Beau McNamara secured a comfortable win for the Jets.
The Jets started brightly, with James Virgili attacking down the left flank and squaring the ball to Lundy who buried a side-footed finish from the near the penalty spot to give the Jets a 1-0 lead inside the first 10 minutes.
After the Jets had the better of the first stanza, Mounties were handed a lifeline to get back into the contest after Taylor Regan was ruled to have brought down Alvin Singh in the box right on the stroke of half-time.
Daniel Severino stepped up to take the penalty and made no mistake from the spot, levelling the scores at 1-1 heading into the break.
The Jets came out with renewed vigour in the second half, with Andrew Hoole and Scott Neville linking up well on the right wing.
After making an overlapping run, Neville whipped a cross into the box that found its way to Gibbs, who volleyed home with his left boot to give the Jets a 2-1 advantage after 50 minutes of play.
Gibbs completed his brace a short time later when he drove a low shot from the top of the box that skipped off the greasy surface and into the bottom corner to make it 3-1 in favour of the Jets.
Goodwin made it 4-1 when Bridges found him in space at the top of the box and the left-footer drilled a powerful shot into the back of the net.
Jets youth team player Andrew Pawiak set up McDonald for the Newcastle-s fifth goal of the match with less than 10 minutes remaining.
Mounties netted a late consolation goal after Andrew Hirmiz forced the ball home following a scramble in the box, meaning the final score line read 5-2 in favour of the Jets.
The Western Sydney Wanderers were looking to blow the cobwebs out as they played their first pre-season match against NSW National Premier League side Macarthur Rams.
The Wanderers secured a 2-0 victory in front of a solid crowd at Campbelltown Stadium in Sydney’s west.
Shannon Cole opened the scoring just after the half hour mark after scoring from a free-kick, giving his side what would be a 1-0 half-time lead.
With twenty minutes left to play it was a familiar sight for Wanderers fans as Mark Bridge scored another goal for the club and gave his side a 2-0 victory.
Eight players that were trialing for Tony Popovic’s side were involved in the match with former Perth Glory attacking midfielder Nick Ward and Jake McGing of the Marconi Stallions both starting the match.
Brisbane Roar has recorded their third straight pre-season victory, thrashing Brisbane Strikers 11-0 at Perry Park.
Mike Mulvey named a strong Roar squad and their superior class could be seen almost immediately.
Dimitri Petratos, Besart Berisha and Thomas Broich all scored braces for the visitors.
Petratos smartly tucked one past Strikers keeper David Chambers inside a minute to give his side the early advantage.
A goal to defender Jack Hingert and a second to Petratos saw the Roar enter half-time boasting an unbeatable 6-0 lead against the National Premier League side.
Despite the demoralising scoreline, the home side did have their chances. Former Roar player Jonti Richter nailed a shot from outside the box and was only denied by a diving Matt Acton.
There was no rest for the luckless Strikers even late in the match, Berisha was brought down in the box and the visitors were awarded a penalty. Antonio Murray stepped up to the spot and added his name to an extensive list of goal scorers.
