Ben Folami reminded Melbourne Victory coach Tony Popovic of his skill with a late winner at Campbelltown Stadium on Sunday.
Perhaps the forgotten man of the Victory’s attacking arsenal following the membership’s current acquisition of Bruno Fornaroli, substitute Folami scored within the 84th minute to safe the Melbourne membership a 1-0 away win over Macarthur FC.
The recipient of a well-placed by means of ball from fellow alternative Nishan Velupillay, Sydney-born Folami produced a decisive end to make sure the Victory returned from the World Cup break on a excessive after struggling a disappointing 3-0 loss to Adelaide United the weekend earlier than the competitors went into recess final month.
“The boss (Popovic) spoke to me before I came on. He told me to make runs in behind (and) impact the game wherever I can and lucky enough was able to do that today,” 23-year-old Folami advised Paramount +.
“When you’re on the bench, you’re always looking at how you can affect the game and that’s what I did.”
Despite his purpose, former Ipswich Town winger Folami was not sure whether or not his cameo can be sufficient to pressure his manner again into the Victory’s beginning line-up.
“That (the goal) is definitely not going to hurt, but it’s up to the boss,” he mentioned.
“Whether I start or come on from the bench I’m here to help the team.”
Folami appeared unfortunate to not have earnt a penalty for his workforce within the 61st minute when he gave the impression to be pushed over by Tomislav Uskok after outpacing the Bulls centre-back.
However, referee Jonathan Barreiro waved play on, and the VAR didn’t intervene.
“It’s probably not a penalty – I’m not going to lie,” mentioned Folami, who had changed Fornaroli within the 58th minute.
“It’s one of those ones where you’re looking for it as a striker. This time it didn’t pull off for me but lucky enough I was able to score a goal.”
Earlier, Victory striker Nick D’Agostino had an important probability to open the scoring within the forty third minute after being discovered unmarked simply by a intelligent sq. ball from Nani.
However, D’Agostino didn’t recover from his shot, with the ball flying over the crossbar.
The guests continued to assault early within the second half and it was solely a superb save from Macarthur goalkeeper Filip Kurto that prevented the Victory taking the lead within the 54th minute by means of D’Agostino.
However, the Victory had been in the end rewarded for his or her perseverance towards a Macarthur facet that provided little in assault.
Macarthur captain Ulises Davila mentioned: “We’re disappointed with the result but we need to keep going for next week.
“Unfortunately they scored at the end, and that’s football.”
