Germain fires Macarthur to narrow ALM win over City

[Pelican Press 0]

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Germain fires Macarthur to narrow ALM win over City

Captain Valere Germain has powered Macarthur to a 1-0 win over Melbourne City, further entrenching the Bulls in the A-League Men’s top six.

Germain showed his class with a well-taken 62nd minute strike in an otherwise scrappy and flat Saturday evening’s entertainment at Campbelltown Sports Stadium.

In front of a crowd of 3843, Germain was set up by in-form winger Jed Drew to give Macarthur just their second home win of the season.

The Bulls leapfrogged City into third spot with the victory and are now four points behind table-topping Auckland, who they face next week.

The defeat was City’s second on the spin and they were forced into an early reshuffle when defender Kai Trewin pulled up with an injury soon into the opening 45 minutes that was played at a sluggish pace.

City had all the possession but it took them more than half an hour to register their first shot on target via a Kavian Rahmani effort that was parried away by Filip Kurto.

Callum Talbot also had a long-range effort swatted away by Macarthur’s Polish No.1 to see out a scoreless first half.

Macarthur had been lifeless for much of the opening half but they nearly snatched a lead through Germain two minutes into the second stanza.

The Frenchman was presented a gilt-edged chance on City’s line which goalkeeper Patrick Beach did spectacularly well to palm away from his goal-line.

But Germain made little mistake with his next opportunity as the Bulls countered downfield through Drew.

The livewire winger halted play just inside the City box before sliding Germain through one on one with Beach with an inch-perfect ball.

Germain calmly finished past the young goalkeeper to put the Bulls ahead and City boss Aurelio Vidmar immediately turned to his bench to throw Mathew Leckie into the fray.

The half-an-hour involvement was the Socceroo’s longest gametime since June after struggling with several injuries.

Leckie’s presence and that of fellow substitute Marco Tilio, playing his first game since November, couldn’t help City break down a stoic Macarthur defence, who hung on for the win.

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