By Eva Worden

St Alban’s Saints has added to its unbeaten run with a 1-0 win over Sunshine George Cross at Churchill Reserve on Sunday in Round 18 of NPL1.

The one and only goal of the match came after the halftime break thanks to St Albans Saints’ Yusuf Yusuf.  

The hosts started the nail-biting first half strongly, having a few efforts on goal in the first few minutes and it gave them the confidence that ended up carrying the team to victory. 

While both sides created scoring opportunities, their defences were solid, and both goalkeepers were also in fine form.

Damian Rastocic tried with no luck to score for Sunshine after a free kick and the Saints fared no better with Sean McIlroy just missing with a shot of his own.

Sunshine was playing extremely well against a very strong Saints line-up on their own turf. 

Despite both sides creating chances, the score at the break was deadlocked at 0-0.

Only a few minutes into the second half though, a ball headed by Yusuf went into the back of the net, and proved to be the match winner.

The goal increased the Saints’ belief and they began to press Sunshine with more intent, but this only made the visitors rise to the occasion and prevent the Saints from scoring any further goals, and the game ended 1-0 in the hosts favour.

St Albans Saints’ coach Toby Paterson was proud of his team’s accomplishment.

“The boys were terrific, I’m delighted with the performance,” Paterson said.

“Unbeaten in 7 games, that’s a good thing.”

Sunshine George Cross SC coach Tony Ciantar was happy with his team’s play.

“I thought the boys played reasonably well,” Ciantar said.

“All our hard work was there, all our play is good, we just couldn’t score a goal.”

Next week St Albans Saints will try to continue their winning streak against Avondale Heights while Sunshine George Cross will take on Richmond.

MATCH DETAILS

St Albans Saints SC 1 (Yusef 51’) defeated Sunshine George Cross SC 0 at Churchill Reserve, St Albans.

St Albans Saints: 1. Stuart WEBSTER (GK), 2. Ryan MCGUFFIE, 4. Barry DEVLIN, 5. Felix ROSMAN, 8. Ross HARVEY, 9. Sean MCILROY, 10. Brodie PATERSON, 11. Yusuf YUSUF, 14. Christopher ROSS, 16. Ajak PANEK 18. Tedros YABIO

Subs: 3. Georgi NICESKI, 12. Chol NYOK, 15. Konrad DOBRASZKIEWICZ, 17. Adam NAKIC, 21. Tonio BARESIC

Yellow cards: None

Red cards: None

Sunshine George Cross SC: 2. Eddie CETKIN, 5. Christopher DIB, 6. Damian RASTOCIC, 8. Chris OGHANNA, 10. Adrian LOGOZZO, 14. Anthony CASSAR, 16. Matthew OGHANNA, 17. Jacob ATTARD, 18. Lewis SHANNON, 19. Manuell SADIK, 21. Nabi TUNA

Subs: 1. Anthony MURANA, 11. Muhamad CHAWK, 13. Kojo BROWN, 15. Justin CUTAJAR

Yellow cards: None

Red cards: None