Auckland FC bow out to Melbourne Victory
- Dave Worsley
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 59 minutes ago
Melbourne Victory have stunned Premiership winners Auckland FC, 2-0 in the second leg of the semifnal tie at Go Media Stadium for a 2-1 aggregate win.
Played in front of a raucous atmosphere, Victory astounded the home crowd in the 55th minute as midfielder Zinedine Machach’s deflected low drive nestled into the back of the net past Alex Paulsen
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The goal made it 1-1 on aggregate and swung the pressure back onto the home side in their first season.
Five minutes later the away side made it 2-0 as Bruno Fornaroli rounded off a brilliant team move to slot the ball beyond Paulsen from inside the box to completely turn the tie on it’s head.
A constant threat at set-pieces, Auckland had their first real sight of goal in the 25th minute and it came from a devilish curling corner from winger Marlee Francois that saw Victory keeper Jack Duncan claw the ball out from under his crossbar before the defence eventually cleared their lines.
Desperately chasing an equaliser Go Media Stadium exploded in the 69th minute as Logan Rogerson headed the ball into the back of the net but the joy was short-lived as May’s cross had seemingly gone out of play before it was finished by his teammate
The home side threw everything at Victory in the final stages of the game and defender Nando Pijnaker had an effort cleared off the line in the dying seconds
But Victory showed what A-League royalty means and what ending the season on a high can do for a club as they qualified for the Grand Final for the second consecutive season.
For Auckland FC, Steve Corica’s side suffer heartbreak in their quest to win the Premiership/Championship double in their first season in existence in front of a record domestic crowd of 29,148.