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Sydney’s inner west saw a Japanese attacker illuminate the FFA Cup with the glint of a rare cutting edge – and no, it wasn’t the attacker you’ve heard of.
Having been kept on tenterhooks until early this week to find out whether or not he’d face his hero, Keisuke Honda, APIA Leichhardt’s striker Tasuku Sekiya decided – with Honda left at home in Melbourne – that he might commandeer the headlines instead.
With APIA having begun the match with a pleasing effervescence, all bubbly passing combinations and high pressing, Sekiya pierced through with a stiletto goal that speared past Matt Acton.
A fortunate, pinball sequence left Sekiya clear to dash in, but his run forced an acute angle to shoot from. His effort, pure off the laces and struck across the keeper, caused a sharp intake of breath.
At Leichhardt Oval, the home team had almost total control over the opening 20 minutes; the Victory – who had never lost to non-A-League opposition in this competition – were a little affronted, confused, even tetchy about all of this.
APIA’s right winger, a strapping young man named Corey Biczo, was dribbling madly, stepping over and swerving with the ball. He was worrying Victory’s left flank, until he flew into a challenge after giving the ball away, injuring his shoulder in the process.
“Can I take him inside for two minutes?” the APIA trainer asked the fourth official, as he and Biczo left the field for treatment.
APIA spent the next five minutes or so with ten men on the pitch, so desperate were they get Biczo back out on the turf and avoid a substitution. Biczo would run back out, but only lasted another ten minutes, his shoulder simply too painful to run off. It was a pity.
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Meanwhile, Kenny Athiu, again starting for the Victory, was getting to work trying to exchange his ‘exciting prospect’ tag to one that says ‘established starter’ – for all his greenness at A-League level, Athiu is 26 and needs really to make a jump if he’s to convince as a capable top-flight starter.
His first involvement here saw him blaze a shot over the bar after a good first touch, not exactly an atypical moment. He was up against Themba Muata-Marlow, APIA’s centre back, a towering, imposing defender formerly of Sydney FC and Newcastle – no doddle. Athiu went close with a header direct from a corner, nodding the ball onto APIA keeper Ivan Necevski’s heel, the ball spinning across the goal-line.
Melbourne had recovered from the early torrent of APIA pressure, digging in and wading back against the current, like a grizzly bear striding up an Alaskan stream, eyeing an equaliser like a big, pink salmon.
But APIA weren’t flopping around ready to be snapped up just yet, and although they relinquished control of the game over to the A-League champions, they still threatened on the counter, with Sekiya providing some very neat, subtle touches on the break, keeping the team running downhill. They finished the half the stronger of the two teams, teasing out some silly fouls from Melbourne; there was some spice to this match, to be sure. APIA led 1-0 at the break, deservedly so.
The second half began and instantly, again, Sekiya imprinted his name on the evening. A sloppy sequence saw the Victory give the ball away in their own half, a lazy, blind pass offered on a plate to an APIA’s Sean Symons. He squared inside from the right to Sekiya, who sharply chopped the ball further into the middle.
A Victory defender sent flying past the ball by that touch, Sekiya then finished the move with a rocket of a volley past Acton, a real net-buster sent fizzing through the night and into the goal.
Apia Leichhardt Tigers players celebrate after Tasuku Sekiya scores. (AAP Image/Brendan Esposito)
Sekiya is a dishwasher by day; he certainly washed the Victory here. Two goals, both reward from a small surge of energy and ambition.
Melbourne again took up the initiative, rubbing their eyes, stung early in the half again. As Sydney FC completed a comeback up in Cairns, having also gone down a goal to their lower-league opponents, Victory set about doing the same, and it was through Athiu.
Kosta Barbarouses, using his body cleverly to collect a long hoik up-field, crossed perfectly for Athiu. The striker took his shot in stride, curling it low and hard beyond Necevski. It was exactly the sort of confident, decisive finishing the Victory need from Athiu.
The match teetered into helter-skelter. Huge spaces were appearing for the Victory on the break – APIA had played and lost a 120-minute thriller in the league three days earlier, and perhaps the fatigue was now setting in. Their lead was under dire threat.
Melbourne worked the ball out to the right, and a lofted cross was met by Jai Ingham, looping a toward the far post. It struck it, rolled across the line, before Athiu smashed the ball in, just to make sure. 2-2, and the pitch had tipped all the way in Melbourne’s favour, with APIA gripping on for dear life with 20 minutes to go.
The home team’s physical play, previously a good sign of appetite and aggression, now was slipping worryingly into desperation.
APIA rallied, barely surviving a number of Barbarouses raids down the right. Then they won a free kick, respite at last in their opposition’s half. They sent the tall timber forward, to squeeze out the last few drops of vigour, what little they had left.
Nathan Millgate, a square-shouldered, bullocking right full back, romped in at the far post to meet the curled set piece. He smashed through a bundle of defenders, an iron battering-ram shattering an unworthy castle gate to splinters, and his header flew inside the left-hand post. Having nearly lost their grip, the Tigers were in the lead again.
The final stanza was a flurry of horizontal APIA bodies flying through the air, blocking Victory shots. Every clearance was sent rocketing up the pitch, the ball taking the very strands of the Tigers’ determination with it as it went.
Time ran out, and the home crowd was whooping. 3-2 to APIA it ended, a raucous upset.
Sekiya’s was a wonderful brace and it kept Melbourne on the back foot the entire evening – he greeted fans in the stands like a superstar after the match. The celebration song was delivered like a barbarian victory cry.
The Victory were sluggish; they are still in preseason obviously, but the time it took for them to rouse themselves – not to mention, you know, eventually losing – will be a concern. Perhaps the wait for Honda’s debut had them in a torpor.
His two goals were great, but Athiu doesn’t provide the sort of hold-up play and pivot-point Besart Berisha did for Melbourne. Honda will make Victory more potent than this.