Joeys enjoy good start to Lions City Cup

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The Qantas Joeys have enjoyed a good start to the Lion City Cup tournament, being played in Singapore, with a convincing 8-0 win over Chinese Taipei.

In what was a scrappy game, played on a very wet and bumpy pitch, the Joeys were two-up inside the first 10 minutes and were never really threatened during the course of the match.

Nikola Stanojevic missed a great opportunity to open the scoring in the 4th minute; captain Brendon Hamill made no mistake four minutes later, flicking home a low free kick into the box from Kamal Ibrahim. A minute later it was 2-0 when a strong run from Million Butshiire set up Joel Miller who finished well.

Three minutes later it was 3-0 when Butshiire crossed perfectly for Ibrahim and he made no mistake and it looked like a goal procession was on the cards.

But the goals stopped coming for the rest of the half and it wasn-t until the 60th minute that Australia added a fourth goal, with Mitchell Mallia hitting a first shot past the Chinese Taipei keeper.

Eight minutes later, Mallia, who came on as a first half substitute, made it a double when played in behind the defence by Tedros Yabio and his shot went in off the underside of the crossbar.

Butshiire made it 6-0 in the 73rd minute after another strong run, before Yabio finished off the scoring with a double strike in quick succession. His second goal was the pick of the goals, receiving the ball on the edge of the box, turning brilliantly to beat his marker, beating another defender and placing his shot past the keeper.

In other news, Cameron Edwards has been added the squad to replace James Jeggo, who picked up an infection on the way over to Singapore.

Match Details

Qantas Joeys 8 (Brendon Hamill 8-, Joel Miller 9- Kamal Ibrahim 12-, Mitchell Mallia 60-/68-, Million Butshiire 73-, Tedros Yabio 77-/78-) Chinese Taipei 0

Joeys line-up: Nicholas Tubbs (gk); Petar Franjic, Brendon Hamill (c), Marc Warren (Nathan Farrell 36-), Chahine Noujaim, Kamal Ibrahim (Mitchell Mallia 36-), Jared Lum, Chris Bush, Nikola Stanojevic, Joel Miller (Tedros Yabio 66-), Million Butshiire

Cautions: Marc Warren, Kamal Ibrahim, Nikola Stanejovic