Hume City lit up the FFA Cup with a five-goal drubbing of State League Riversdale and now gets a chance to light up its home at Broadmeadows Valley Park.
City will flick the switch on its new lights at John Ilhan Memorial Reserve for the first time in a competitive match in a big NPL battle with North Geelong Warriors at 7pm on Saturday.
City coach Lou Acevski is calling on the local community to pack the grandstands for the historic occasion.
“It’s our first night game at the facility and it will be exciting,” he told Star Weekly.
“We want to play football that attracts everyone to come and watch, whether you’re a Hume City supporter or neutral.”
The match against North Geelong will be only the third NPL match of the season for Hume, which has won one and lost one so far.
The previous match was abandoned after a serious injury to an Oakleigh Cannons player and a round three meeting with Northcote City was postponed to this Tuesday night.
City has built momentum with the win over Riversdale to progress to the fifth round of the FFA Cup and a step closer to a potential date with an A-League club.
Acevski was wary of the threat Riversdale posed after they had shocked state league 1 club Altona East Phoenix a week earlier.
But he need not have worried, even though his team played its best football only in patches.
“We missed a few chances but we’ll take it and move on,” he said.
“It doesn’t bother me if it’s 1-0 or 15-0 as long as we keep going through.”
Marcus Schoen scored the opening goal to start the rout and doubled up in the second half to finish with two for the game. Deang Aguek tapped in a fine piece of build-up play to make it 2-0 at half-time.
Calvin Mbarga came off the bench to score two late goals to complete Riversdale’s misery.
In other FFA Cup results, Whittlesea Ranges bowed out of the competition with a 3-2 defeat to Goulburn Valley Suns, Diamond Valley United was gallant in its 2-1 defeat to powerhouse Green Gully Cavaliers, while Whittlesea United was given a football lesson in a 5-0 loss to NPL champion South Melbourne.
