Loddon Mallee Lightning's Seb Hargreaves takes on Melbourne Heart's Jason Hoffman. Image courtesy: Bill Conroy, Bendigo Advertiser
By Adam Bourke, Bendigo Advertiser
Melbourne Heart coach John van 't Schip is confident the club will be more than just competitive in its rookie A-League season after it thumped the Loddon Mallee Lightning 9-1 at Epsom last night.
A friendly match against a squad of young locals is nothing to get carried away with, but it was the manner in which his squad went about the victory that most pleased van’t Schip.
‘‘I saw a lot of good things this evening,’’ he said.
‘‘We kept the ball well, our passing was good and we created a lot of chances.
‘‘Our game last week against Everton and tonight’s game have been pleasing. We’re starting to play the football that we want to play.’’
Even without skipper Simon Colosimo and star striker John Aloisi, the Heart was far too polished and physical for the young Lightning squad.
Former Socceroos star Josip Skoko was the architect of the Heart midfield.
Skoko’s poise and precise passing set up countless Heart attacks in the opening 15 minutes.
It was only the fine work of Lightning goal-keeper Liam Jukes that kept the Heart at bay.
However, in the 17th minute the Lightning’s defence finally cracked.
Skoko found Aziz Behich in space in the middle of the ground, who played a ball through to Simon Tolli, who calmly slotted the ball past Jukes for the opening goal.
On 21 minutes, Jukes produced a brilliant save to deny a Jason Hoffman header from a superb Skoko cross.
Two minutes later Hoffman sent in a great cross from the right and Behich was able to tap in from close range.
Brazilian import Alex Terra made it three goals in 10 minutes when he finished off some fine lead-up play by Behich.
The only negative for the night came nine minutes before half-time when Lightning midfielder Xavier Clayton injured his ankle after a reckless tackle by a Heart midfielder.
Despite having little of the ball, the Lightning held firm for the final 10 minutes to keep the score at 3-0 at the break.
The Lightning started the second half in better style, but still didn’t look like penetrating the Heart defence, which was led by Socceroos World Cup representative Michael Beauchamp.
Ten minutes into the half, Jukes produced another fine save to block a Hoffman shot from close range.
However, the ball deflected to the ever alert Terra, who tapped in his second goal.
Two minutes later the Lightning defence failed to clear the ball out of the box and Terra neatly put away his third goal of the game.
Skoko and Terra were substituted after 60 minutes, but that did little to halt Heart’s momentum. Hoffman, who alongside Skoko was the best player on the pitch, moved from the right wing to up front.
The Young Socceroos midfielder scored a second half hat-trick as the Heart put nine goals in the back of the net.
It loomed as being a 9-0 result before Lightning midfielder Seb Hargreaves, who was his side’s best player on the night, came up with a passage of play that gave the home fans something to cheer about.
A loose ball fell to Hargreaves and the creative Moama midfielder took on and beat Beauchamp before expertly slotting his left-foot shot pass Heart’s back-up goal-keeper Tom Dunne.
The Lightning players swarmed over Hargreaves, while an embarassed-looking Beauchamp wondered what had just happened.
‘‘It was a great experience for our boys to play against such a high-quality side,’’ Lightning coach Dave Coward said.
‘‘The Heart took this seriously and wanted to show everyone how well they can play. I’m very proud of the way our boys played.
‘‘Seb’s goal at the end there is something he’ll remember for the rest of his life.’’
The game wrapped up the Heart’s three-day camp in Bendigo.
Although the friendly game had to be transferred from the Tom Flood Sports Centre to Epsom, van ’t Schip said the visit to Bendigo was a positive experience for the Heart.
‘‘I think it’s good for the club to get outside of Melbourne and show the club to the country areas,’’ he said.
‘‘I think it’s good for the kids to get to know who our players are. It’s good for the club to have interaction with the Bendigo community.''
Last updated: Friday July 23, 2010 11:55AM
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