Hume City is just one win away from reaching the national stage of the FFA Cup for the second successive year.
City , the fairytale story from last year’s cup when they reached the final four of the nationwide competition, set their sights this year on making at least the last 32.
And they took another step towards that on Wednesday night, when the NPL team proved far too strong for the last State League side in the competition, Malvern City.
Two first-half goals to defender Shane Rexhepi gave City momentum and second-half goals to Theo Markelis and Sam Beninato sealed the 4-0 win.
City coach Louie Acevski said the two early goals took the sting out of the game and set up the win.
“Always happy when you get a win,” he said.
“They made it difficult and it was good to score early.
“Both were set pieces that worked and the first one was great connection and great goal.”
Acevski said they knew Malvern City would throw everything at them in the second half.
“They wanted to get something out of the game,” he said.
“Credit to them they tried to make it happen. Chris [Oldfield] made a good save at 2-0 and a goal then would have made it 2-1 and they’d have had the momentum.
“Instead we got a goal a couple of minutes after that and killed it off. It was a pretty comfortable win.”
The win capped off a big week for Hume, with one of their off-season recruits finally taking to the park and two more signings.
After having visa problems, Tom Cahill made his debut against Port Melbourne Sharks on May 14.
“It’s been frustrating for him and frustrating for us,” Acevski said.
“His permanent residency has come through. He’s been professional the whole time, training hard and also motivating in the rooms.”
Hume also announced the signings of both Declan Hargreaves and Danny Dixon.
They and another signing, Craig Carley, will be able to play once the transfer window opens next week.
“Declan is a defensive midfielder who is works hard and is hard at the ball,” Acevski said.
“He brings depth into the midfield and is a good character.
“Danny is an exciting winger who will give us another avenue in attack as well as adding further depth to our squad.
“He is an exciting prospect and we’re looking forward to him to help our push for NPL silverware.”
