The Melbourne Heart have comfortably beaten the AIS 2-0 in their Round 7 National Youth League encounter at the AIS Athletics Track on Saturday afternoon.
The Heart scored both their goals in a dominant first half before keeping their opponents at bay after the break.
To their credit, the AIS tried hard all day but the Heart’s experience was a telling factor, with over-age player Kristian Sarkies a huge threat from the outset.
It was an open affair early, with both teams attacking early in perfect football conditions.
It was the AIS who had the best of the early chances, with neat work by Daniel Barac setting up a powerful shot from Stefan Mauk which was parried wide by Heart keeper Thomas Dunn.
But the Heart struck first, a curling free kick by Sarkies headed in for an unlucky own goal by Mitchell Oxborrow.
Barac missed a good opportunity to equalise when the ball found him unmarked in the box but his shot took a deflection and missed wide.
The Heart then extended their lead after Dusan Bosnjak evaded some lax defensive deep in attack and he cut in a neat cross which found David Williams, who converted on the volley.
Sarkies’ free kicks were again causing headaches, this time forcing Paul Izzo to tip the ball over the crossbar.
The AIS kept pushing towards the end of the half in search of a much-needed goal but lacked the polish to give Dunn too much grief.
The hosts came close to clawing a goal back midway through the second half. Firstly Anthony Proia cleverly flicked a cross on but it went just across the goal face then Jacob Melling then had a long shot along the ground go just wide.
Heart midfielder Josh Groenewald then had a chance to put the game beyond doubt with 20 minutes left, but after the ball fell to him 10 metres from goal he couldn’t muster enough power to trouble Izzo.
The AIS went close with just over 10 minutes left, with Benjamin Warland scooting down the left touchline, but his cross was just too deep for Barac to latch onto what would’ve been a certain goal.
The AIS kept pushing to the end with Barac having another shot saved but it never really looked like anything but a Heart victory.
AIS 0
Heart 2 (Oxborrow 13og, Williams 23)
