Melbourne Heart have beaten Hyundai A-League newcomers Western Sydney Wanderers 5-3 on penalties in the Craig Foster Cup.
Melbourne Heart have beaten Hyundai A-League newcomers Western Sydney Wanderers 5-3 on penalties in the Craig Foster Cup.
Both sides had their chances in an open game, with Wanderers going closest it the 22nd minute.
A Heart mistake put Haliti into the open but his rushed shot was pushed away by Andrew Redmayne and Mark Bridge sent it wide of the right upright.
John Aloisi’s side thought they had made the breakthrough on the half-hour mark, but it was ruled offside.
With the game still scoreless at full-time, the game went to penalties with Heart more clinical in the 5-3 victory.
Although going down in the shoot-out, Wanderers boss Tony Popovic was impressed with his squad-s display.
“It was a step up tonight and we handled it well, we-ve been looking forward to this and it was a great gauge for us,” he said.
“The players are starting to get longer minutes in readiness for round one so we will continue to do what we have to.
“The Heart are in good shape, so it was good to see where we-re at,” he said.
