Hume City too strong for Darwin Hearts in Australia Cup Round of 32 clash

Aamir Abdullah scored one goal and had four assists as Hume City stormed into the Australia Cup Round of 16 with a commanding win over Darwin Hearts.

Hume City celebrates its Australia Cup win over Darwin Hearts.

Hume City stormed into the Australia Cup Round of 16 on Tuesday night.

The high-flying NPL Victoria club claimed a comprehensive 6-0 win over Cup Cinderella story Darwin Hearts in Darwin.

All six goals came in a blistering second half showing.

Josh Gulevski opened the scoring and finished with a brace, while Mickel Platt, Aamir Abdullah and Fletcher McFarlane also found the back of the net.

The result making it two from two for Victorian clubs after Oakleigh Cannons sent reigning champion Sydney FC crashing out.

Hume coach David Chick said it took time for his team to break down a spirited Hearts outfit.

“We’re happy with the win and excited to see who we get next,” Chick said.

“We were quite wasteful in the first half and they obviously had a plan, stuck to it and worked hard.

“We were confident we could break them down, it would be difficult to sustain what they were doing for 90 minutes, and when we got one goal it changes things, they have to come out and gaps opened up we could get into to.”

The win continued Hume’s Cup success, having reached the Round of 16 or beyond in four of five appearances in the national stages.

The club reached the semi-final in 2015 and made a quarter-final in 2019.

“We’re in it to go as far as we can, being on the national stage is exciting for everybody,” Chick said.

“Obviously it depends on who you draw but we’ll see who we get and go from there.”

Gulevski opened the scoring, beating his man to head home an Abdullah cross just before the hour mark.

Aamir Abdullah in action for Hume City. Picture: Andrew Batsch.

Platt doubled the lead just four minutes later, in an almost carbon copy of the opening goal, heading home a Josh Bingham cross.

Abdullah made it three goals in seven minutes with a trademark left-foot curler from the right edge of the penalty box.

Abdullah turned provider as his corner was turned in by McFarlane at the back post and Gulevski’s second was also supplied by Abdullah’s cross from the right.

The Hume City gun made it four assists on the night when Hearts keeper Josh Minucci couldn’t handle his cross, deemed an own goal.

Hume didn’t arrive in Darwin until midnight on Tuesday and Chick was pleased with his players professionalism in unusual conditions.

“We left the day before but didn’t arrive until the early hours of the day of the game, we got to the hotel 12.30 or 1am,” he said.

“We went for a walk and everyone felt fine once we got there.

“We weren’t great in the first half, it would be hard to pick anyone, and I thought everyone did a good job in the second half.

“There were no real standouts, it was a good team effort, but Aamir’s goal probably edges it (for best-on-ground).”

The draw for the next round of the Australia Cup will be held next week.

Fellow NPL Victoria clubs FC Melbourne, South Melbourne and Heidelberg United are still to take the field.

Hume will have a weekend off before returning to league action where it has already secured a finals spot.

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Chick said the club was looking forward to chasing silverware.

“You put all that effort in for 26 games and you want to be in a position to play for trophies and we’ve done that,” he said.

“We want to finish as high as we can, get as many points as we can, then tackle finals.

“We’re in it, so we’ve got as good a chance as anybody, we’re working hard to get better every week and the whole club is excited.”