By Julian Buckeridge (@MrJulianB)

Springvale White Eagles made it two wins in a row, defeating Brunswick City 3-1 in a dominant display at Dunstan Reserve on Saturday afternoon.

A first-half goal from Dejan Erakovic was cancelled out by a Vojo Milojevic own goal, before Springvale’s Jamie De Smit scored a brace to hand all three points to the visitors.

With both sides coming into the match on the back of their first wins last week, it was Brunswick which enjoyed a strong start as Nicholas Terezakis picked out Oktay Oztekin, but he was unable to keep his header on target.

Springvale responded and it looked promising for the visitors when Joey Calderone teed up Hamish Millar in the 13th minute, yet he blazed the resultant effort over.

The White Eagles went even closer a minute later when Abel Fesseha's whipped free-kick produced a reaction save from Mason Interlandi.

The hosts were still dangerous on the break and Dennis Sadic's blazing run in the 30th minute saw him feed Dimitri Vithoulkas, who took a good first touch before smashing the crossbar with Bojan Tomic stranded.

Yet it was Springvale which looked the brighter and after Erakovic almost converted a Fesseha cross in the 33rd minute, it found the lead through fortunate circumstances.

After the ball was played across goal, a flick back from Erakovic ricocheted off the leg of Brunswick's Admir Kolakovic and nestled in the back of the net to make it 1-0.

Brunswick looked to regroup at the break but started the early stages of the second half on the back foot as Fesseha tested Interlandi.

Springvale almost had a second when Fesseha's corner found Simo Jovanovic but he inexplicably missed the target. The number four almost made up for it in the 57th minute when his long-range bullet forced the Brunswick 'keeper into a diving save.

A goal-mouth scramble saw the visitors denied again, and Brunswick was barely surviving the Springvale barrage.

However, it was the hosts who would score against the run of play, courtesy of an own goal.

Vithoulkas' whipped corner looked unlikely to find a Brunswick player, but a stretching Milojevic pushed it into his own net to level the game.

De Smit, making his first start for Springvale, reacted positively for his side and had the White Eagles back in front when he benefited from great build-up play between Fesseha and Ryan Don Paul to tap the ball home in the 70th minute.

It sparked another period of dominance for the visitors, who were unlucky not to score another as they spurned two golden opportunities in quick succession, including one from yards out.

However, this was Springvale's day, as De Smit coolly finished in extra time to secure all three points.

Springvale coach Zlatko Mihajlovic was upbeat about his side's performance.

“Once we thought we could press quicker, the pressure came on and we kept on running down that right flank, and managed to get – obviously it was an own goal. But if you put the ball in the right areas, it confuses the ‘keeper and defenders," Mihajlovic said.

“Credit to the boys, they kept their heads up [after the equaliser] and we kept on playing in areas where we knew that we could obviously dominate possession and get in behind them, and we did with the two later goals.”

Brunswick City coach Joe De Martino was clearly unhappy about the team's abject display.

“This is probably the most disappointed I’ve felt about a performance this season," De Martino said.

“I felt it was there for the taking early but we allowed them too much space on the wings and we simply weren’t good enough.”

MATCH DETAILS

Brunswick City 1 (Milojevic OG '65) lost to Springvale White Eagles 3 (Erakovic 40', De Smit 70' 90+2') at Dunstan Reserve [HT: 0-1]

Brunswick City: 1. Mason INTERLANDI (GK), 3. Michael VARKOPOULOS, 6. Oktay OZTEKIN (19. Thomas BARFOROSH 75'), 8. Nicholas TEREZAKIS, 11. Admir KOLAKOVIC (9. Fatih TURER 85'), 14. Dennis SADIC, 18. Robert SCHIAFONE, 22. Costas THANOS, 27. Chris SUAVO (50. Xavier ALLEN 46'), 45. George MARKELIS, 99. Dimitri VITHOULKAS

Unused Subs: 16. Abdullah ABDULLAH, 44. Roojan ZENGIN (GK)

Yellow Cards: 3. Michael VARKOPOULOS (51'), 11. Admir KOLAKOVIC (57')

Red Cards: None

Springvale White Eagles: 3. Joey CALDERONE, 4. Simo JOVANOVIC, 8. Marcus HOLMES, 9. Abel FESSEHA (11. Paul MAGHIAR 78'), 10. Stojan MILOJEVIC, 12. Bojan TOMIC (GK), 13. Hamish MILLAR, 16. Jamie DE SMIT, 18. Ryan DON PAUL, 19. Vojislav MILOJEVIC, 21. Dejan ERAKOVIC (7. Keletso MTHEMBU 90')

Unused Subs: 5. Scott MILLAR, 31.Nikola POPETROV, 40. Michael MILLAR

Yellow Cards: 9. Abel FESSEHA (73')

Red Cards: None

Image credit: Mark Avellino