16 Jul 2014, 12:03 am
Quote:Mercury 4-1 New Vaduz
22' - M. Fitzgerald
26' - J. Foxon
34' - B. Großler
63' - W. Fizeau-Blake
79' - J. Foxon
Mercury's EMU got-off to the perfect start with a dominant win over New Vaduz, equalling the débutants' biggest loss. An instinctive diving header from Matt Fitzgerald opening the yellows' account from a whipped Stephen Rydberg delivery before captain Joe Foxon ran-on to and finished a diagonal from his brother Edward with a smart volley only four minutes later. While Senyan-based scoring sensation Bastian Großler made things interesting with a goal ten minutes before the break, after muscling his way past Chris Deacon and shooting just past Kieran Mercury, Mercury's second-half replacement Wilmont Fizeau-Blake restored the two-goal lead from a free-kick. After James Phillips was clipped by Jürgen Meier down the left channel, Fizeau-Blake found the bottom-left corner of the net with a curving effort that cleared the wall and Pascal Müller's low dive. As the match's finale approached, Foxon found a second to add to his personal tally after latching-on to a floated cross in deep from Phillips' flank, using his height to tower above Martin Ulrich and nod the ball into the roof of the net via the arm of Müller, who tried his best to keep the score down. A great start for Mercury as they aim to better their runners-up finish of two years ago, but New Vaduz's first finals appearance will have to wait for something to cheer about.