A brace from Bruno Fornaroli has inspired Melbourne City to an impressive 4-2 win over Adelaide United at Coopers Stadium on Thursday night.
GOALS
City: Paartalu (8’) – Aaron Mooy whipped in a fizzing ball from the corner with Paartalu rising highest to bury a header at the near post.
City: Mooy (35’) – The Socceroo unleashed a rasping drive from the edge of the area which smashed into the crossbar and into the back of the net.
City: Fornaroli (56’) – The Uruguayan showed some quick feet inside the box before sliding the ball past the onrushing John Hall.
Reds: Cirio (66’) – The winger found some space inside the area before curling a low drive into the bottom corner.
City: Fornaroli (71’) – The striker was played in behind by Harry Novillo before coolly slotting past Hall from close range.
Reds: Sanchez (85’) – Bruce Kamau was adjudged to have been fouled inside the area with Pablo Sanchez dispatching the resulting penalty past Thomas Sorensen.
City got the ball rolling early when Erik Paartalu capped off his return to the first team with a near-post header in the eighth minute, before Aaron Mooy doubled the advantage with a blistering strike to give John van’t Schip’s side a 2-0 lead into the break.
Thomas Sorensen was instrumental in keeping a determined Adelaide United attack at bay, until a second half-double to Bruno Fornaroli propelled City to its second win of the Hyundai A-League season – despite the Reds pulling goals back through Sergio Cirio and Pablo Sanchez.
Erik Partaalu fired City into the lead in the 8th minute, bustling through the Reds defence to head home Mooy’s swerving corner past John Hall at the near post.
Another moment of magic from marquee man Mooy doubled City’s advantage in the 35th minute. A clever dummy from Fornaroli allowed Jacob Melling to tee-up Mooy, who unleashed a scorching drive which cannoned in off the underside of the crossbar.
The Reds flew out of the blocks after half-time in search of a way back into the match, with Sorensen rushing out quickly to prevent Djite from turning home Goodwin’s arrowing cut-back.
Bruno Fornaroli had two golden opportunities with in the space of minutes to extend City’s advantage, first mistiming a free header inside the six-yard box, before firing another effort wide of the target after another piercing pass from Mooy.
But it would soon be third time lucky for the Uruguayan in the 56th minute after some encouraging interplay with substitute Harry Novillo. A pin-point pass from the Frenchman found Fornaroli inside the area, who skipped past Goodwin and Malik with ease before firing past Hall to give City a comfortable 3-0 advantage.
Cirio gave the Reds a lifeline with a neatly worked team goal in the 66th minute.
An excellent combination between Marcelo Carrusca and Dugandzic allowed Cirio to find space outside the area, curling in a superb effort past Sorensen to give the home side hope with under half-an-hour to play.
The home side would have the wind knocked out of their sails only four minutes later as Fornaroli turned home his second goal of the night, holding his run long enough to latch on to Novillo’s through ball before rounding Hall to complete a swift counter-attacking move.
Sanchez netted a late consolation from the penalty spot to reduce the deficit, but City were already well on their way to an impressive away win.
