Victory advances to Round of 16 in Newcastle

Melbourne Victory has advanced to the Westfield FFA Cup Round of 16 with a 3-1 win over Newcastle Jets at Magic Park.

Besart Berisha scored his ninth Westfield FFA Cup goal to give Victory a dream start, and despite the Jets equalising just after half-time, Oliver Bozanic and George Howard netted in the second half to secure the win.

Cold, wet and blustery conditions greeted the players in Broadmeadow, and Victory made just one change to its starting line-up from the match against Atletico Madrid, with Carl Valeri replacing Rashid Mahazi in midfield.

New signing Alan Baro had a huge hand in the game’s opening goal after just five minutes, with his pass perfectly finding Fahid Ben Khalfallah down the right flank.

With space to deliver a cross, Ben Khalfallah’s dipping ball found a lunging Berisha, who headed home from close range.

Newcastle responded with a great chance on 15 minutes, but Devante Clut’s shot was well saved by Victory goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas.

With a third of the game gone, Berisha succumbed to stomach cramps and was replaced by George Howard, though the Westfield FFA Cup’s all-time leading scorer was later cleared of injury.

Victory went into the break with the advantage, but the game changed complexion in the space of five minutes early in the second half.

Thomas was on hand to smartly save an attempted defensive clearance from Howard, however he was powerless to stop Wayne Brown’s clever chip on 50 minutes, which levelled the scores.

Victory was stung into the action, and just three minutes later Baro was fouled in the box and Bozanic converted from the penalty spot.

The visitors continued to press, and with the clock winding down to the end of regular time a defensive error from the Jets enabled Ben Khalfallah to find Howard in the box, who finished calmly with his left foot.

Victory will learn its opponent for the next stage of the Westfield FFA Cup after the Round of 32 matches are completed on Wednesday, August 10.

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Result

Newcastle Jets 1 (Brown 50′)
Melbourne Victory 3 (Berisha 5′, Bozanic 54′ pen, Howard 87′)

Teams

Newcastle Jets: Kennedy (gk), Mullen, Hoffman, Kantarovski, Ugarkovic, Hoole, Poljak, Brown, Nabbout, Cowburn, Clut (Brymora 69′)
Melbourne Victory: Thomas (gk), Galloway, Ansell, Georgievski, Broxham, Berisha (Howard 28′), Austin (Ingham 72′), Bozanic (Mahazi 79′), Ben Khalfallah, Baro, Valeri