By Julian Trantino (@jtrantino16)

A 10-minute blitz has seen Springvale White Eagles record a comeback victory over Kingston City on Saturday.

After a scoreless first half, the match sparked into life in a five-goal second half.

Max Etheridge and Gino Defeo gave Kingston a two-goal buffer midway through the second period, but their efforts would prove futile as Springvale overran the visitors with a scorcher from Jamie De Smit, a penalty converted by Abel Fesseha and a Vojo Milojevic winner in the 86th minute.

Few would have expected such a pulsating finish to an otherwise dull opening hour, but Milojevic’s ability to prove the matchwinner would come as no surprise.

Springvale’s lightning-quick winger was a constant menace and created the first genuine chance in the 21st minute.

Milojevic dispossessed Kingston defender James Karvelis to find himself one-on-one with ‘keeper Sermin Sadikovski, who saved brilliantly and then immediately blocked Fesseha’s rebound effort.

Five minutes later, Milojevic had genuine shouts for a penalty turned down by referee Perry Muir when his shot appeared to catch the hand of one of the men in white.

Kingston had some nice passages of intricate passing in its attacking third and created several corners, with one taken by Velibor Mitrovic almost floating in at the back post.

Its best chance in the first half came via Andrew Doig, who latched on to a Defeo pass but saw his effort from outside the area cleared off the line by Scott Millar.

Springvale created the first meaningful chance of the second half when Fesseha beat the offside trap, rounded Sadinovski in a one-on-one but dribbled too wide, allowing Sadinovski to track back and easily catch his shot.

He was made to pay when Kingston broke the deadlock in the 60th minute.

Deniz Sabanovski, who was one of the standout performers for Kingston, whipped in a perfectly weighted cross to Defeo, whose header was blocked on the line by ‘keeper Anthony Casset but tapped in off the rebound by Etheridge.

Crowd favourite Defeo would soon get his chance to soak up the attention with a stunner in the 68th minute.

Receiving a pass from Etheridge with his back turned to goal, the stocky striker turned sharply and smashed a left-foot drive into the back of the net, leaving Casset rooted to the spot.

Not to be outdone, Springvale’s De Smit put his hand up for a goal of the year contender in the 75th minute.

The midfielder sparked the White Eagles’ comeback with a 25-yard cracker which came out of nowhere and flew into Sadikovski’s top left-hand corner.

Four minutes later, Milojevic was brought down in the penalty area by Doig with an unnecessary tackle.

Fesseha took the responsibility from the spot and made no mistake, sending Sadikovski the wrong way with a low, neat finish to level the scores.

Springvale was coming home like a steam train and when the match needed a hero, up stepped Milojevic.

Receiving the ball on the edge of the 18-yard box, Milojevic volleyed and bounced in his strike at the near post, sending his side into euphoric celebrations.

Kingston threw everything at an under-siege Springvale which was holding on for dear life in the dying stages, and the Kingston fans thought their side had stolen a point when a George Stavridis strike hit the side-netting deep in injury time.

But it wasn’t to be for Kingston, which had its four-game undefeated streak ended in stunning fashion.

Springvale coach Zlatko Mihajlovic said his side’s win was a welcome relief after doing it tough in recent weeks.

“It (the win) might shut up a few supporters. Four losses in a row is easy to criticise, but we need a little bit of help from everyone at the club because we’re doing it hard and the boys don’t even have a physio,” Mihajlovic said.

“We’ve still got three players to come back into the team and the bench had two boys from the reserves, two 16-year-old kids...but the drive to try and win the game was clear and I praise the players.”

Mihajlovic said debut goalkeeper Casset “did well between the sticks”, while also reserving praise for Milojevic and the pace he brings to the team.

“He (Milojevic) knows that if he plays direct, they (opposition ) can either stop him and get booked or let him go and here’s a chance on goal. It has worked every time and he’s starting to exploit the fact that he has confidence to take on players,” he said.

“When you’ve got speed, speed kills. There’s a massive commercial on it, we’ve got it, and we just need to know when to use it.”

Kingston coach Nick Tolios said the result was another example of the parity between the NPL 1 teams.

“My team message all week was to not get complacent against the teams we were coming up against,” Tolios said.

“Everyone in this team can beat anyone. There are a lot of young boys in the team that don’t know about confidence, don’t know about form...and that goes out the window when you’re playing in such an even league.

“Today was a prime example. We’re two-nil up, we’ve got loads of confidence and then all of a sudden everything can change in less than 20 minutes. Now you’ve got a whole bunch of players in our 20-man squad who are down in confidence coming off a four-week unbeaten run.

“Things can change pretty quickly and our guys have got to learn from this. It’s disappointing, it hurts.”

Kingston will look to bounce back at home to FC Bulleen Lions in Round 9, while Springvale will make the trip to Bendigo.

MATCH DETAILS

Springvale White Eagles 3 (De Smit 75’, Fesseha 80’ pen., Milojevic 86’) defeated Kingston City 2 (Etheridge 60’, Defeo 68’) at Serbian Sports Centre [HT: 0-0]

Springvale White Eagles: 30. Anthony CASSET (GK), 3. Joey CALDERONE, 4. Simo JOVANOVIC, 5. Scott MILLAR, 6. Slavisa SARIC, 8. Marcus HOLMES, 13. Hamish MILLAR (7. Keletso MTHEMBU 73’), 9. Abel FESSEHA (40. Michael MILLAR 90’+4), 16. Jamie DE SMIT (33. Zarko MILOSEVIC 90’+2),  19. Vojo MILOJEVIC, 21. Dejan ERAKOVIC

Unused substitutes: 1. Bojan TOMIC (GK), 26. Esmael ZAHERI

Cautions: Nil

Kingston City: 1. Sermin SADIKOVSKI, 4. James KARVELIS (10. John MACLEAN 52’), 5. Kemal CURAN, 16. Nick STAMATIOU, 19. Andrew DOIG, 20. Michael GERACE, 17. Deniz SABANOVSKI, 11. George STAVRIDIS, 7. Velibor MITROVIC, 15. Gino DEFEO (12. Stefan SOLER 76’), 9. Max ETHERIDGE (21. Tas AGAPITOS 85’)

Unused substitutes: 13. George MALLIARIS (GK), 6. Josh COLOSIMO

Cautions: Nil

Pictured: Springvale's Abel Fesseha dispossesses Andrew Doig (Image credit: John Punshon/Goal! Weekly)