Soccer-Melbourne City's Antonis stings former club Wanderers with wonder goal

Antonis ran onto a clearance at midfield in the 82nd minute at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, flicked the ball over a Wanderers player's head, then volleyed into the net from inside the centre circle. Goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas scrambled back but had no chance of stopping what City coach Aurelio Vidmar declared "goal of the season".

Frozen out at Western Sydney last season, Melbourne City midfielder Terry Antonis showed his former club what they were missing with a sensational goal that capped a record 7-0 humiliation of the Wanderers in the A-League late on Tuesday. Antonis ran onto a clearance at midfield in the 82nd minute at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, flicked the ball over a Wanderers player's head, then volleyed into the net from inside the centre circle.

Goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas scrambled back but had no chance of stopping what City coach Aurelio Vidmar declared "goal of the season". "It'd be very hard to top, I'd say," added Vidmar.

Mobbed by team mates, a thrilled Antonis ran towards the Wanderers bench and made a "call me" gesture. Antonis was released by the Wanderers last May after not playing a minute of the 2022/23 season under coach Marko Rudan.

"He had a tough year (at the Wanderers) and then he goes and does that," said City goalkeeper Jamie Young. "I think as a goalie there's not much you can do about that.

"I room with Terry so I see what he does away from the pitch and that's a credit to him. He doesn't give up on himself." The Wanderers' defeat was their worst ever in the A-League, having joined the competition in 2012/13.

They have now shipped 14 goals in their past three matches and fallen out of the top six that compete in playoffs since Rudan returned from a three-game suspension in February for publicly questioning the integrity of referees. City's second successive win saw them leapfrog the Wanderers into sixth spot.

Rudan skipped post-match media duties, leaving assistant coach Jean-Paul de Marigny to perform them in his place. De Marigny responded that it was "irrelevant" when asked why Rudan had not turned up to the press conference.

"All up, obviously there's a lot of people hurting in the dressing room," he told reporters. "It was a difficult night for everyone ... I think it's important that we all stick together, that's important throughout the whole football club."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)