Avondale starting XI: Manos (GK), Wellsmore, Reid, Brice, Carpenter (subbed for Lundy 76’), Towns, Abdallah (subbed for Cianci 76’), Tevere, Trajceski, Cuba (subbed for Jakupi 90’), Fornaroli (subbed for Ott 67’)

Unused substitutes: Dargenio, Gottoli, Mayen

Goals: Fornaroli 59’, Ott 69’, Cianci 90+4’

Canberra Croatia starting XI: Arranz (GK), Tkatchenko, Grbesa, Spaseski, Peraic-Cullen (subbed for Zsuzsa 89’), Whitehead, Jadric, Green (subbed for Shoki 45’), Colbertaldo (subbed for Piccolo 57’), Pratezina (subbed for Jadric 57’), Ahmed-Shaibu

Unused substitutes: Seselja, Matesa

Goals: Yoshida 73’

The victory puts the Avengers top of the group after Round 1 thanks to the 1-1 draw between Preston Lions and NWS Spirit.

Following a goalless first half, new star man Fornaroli broke the deadlock in the 59th minute after he was able to lose his marker in the box and head home a pinpoint cross by Aamir Abdallah from the right.

Avondale doubled their lead ten minutes later when George Ott expertly brought down a cross by Cian Cuba on the left before chipping the oncoming Seb Arranz.

Canberra Croatia halved the deficit in the 73rd minute thanks to Yoshida Shoki, who was able to get a foot on the end of a cross by Mark Jadric and put the ball into the bottom-left corner.

New recruit Zachary Cianci opened his Avondale account and sealed the win in the 94th minute, sliding to get a toe on the loose ball in the box and putting it low past the keeper.

Avondale coach Jonatan Germano, who made his dugout debut, was pleased with the performance.

“That was the one of the main things, to try to play good football and show the people what we’ve got planned for Avondale’s future,” he said.

“The performance on the weekend was good; we had possession in both halves. That’s what we want to do every single game: have possession, don’t rush and try to put teams on the back foot, so we can have a chance to score goals.

“It was a little bit hard as well, because Canberra Croatia was a good team, they came here with one system and they persevered with that system for pretty much 80 minutes, it was really hard for us to break until Bruno scored the goal.”

Germano credits a tweak in tactics for allowing Avondale to create more opportunities in the second half.

“In the second half we played a little bit differently than the first half; we gave a little bit more freedom to our fullbacks to go forward,” he explained.

Fornaroli is a huge get for both Avondale and the Australian Championship as a whole. His presence will give football fans the ability to watch a player of the highest quality up close, in a suburban setting. This proximity is what sets the Championship apart from the A-League Men’s competition.

Germano was quick to compliment the Uruguayan talisman: “Everyone knows Bruno, everyone knows his quality as a player, as a person,” he said.

“He brings a lot of experience to the team, and you can see that he had one chance inside the box - a good cross by Aamir and a good cross by Blake Carpenter before that - and he took that chance and he put it inside.”

Next up for Avondale is a trip to Sydney to play NWS Spirit on Sunday, October 19 at 4:30 p.m., marking the beginning of a challenging period that sees the Avengers tackle three away games in a row. Bruno and the entire team will need to be at their best if they are to get through it unscathed.