By David Manuca @davidmanuca

Green Gully has held off a late Ballarat Red Devils surge to hold on for a 2-1 win at Green Gully Reserve on Saturday afternoon.

The home side took the lead early through Brent Fisher, before a Jason Hayne strike early in the second-half doubled their advantage.

Ballarat pulled one back just minutes later through a Shaun Romein spot-kick, but failed to find an equaliser despite its best efforts late in the game. 

Fisher opened the scoring after 12 minutes when he was in the right place to tap home Hayne’s perfect low cross. 

Ballarat had a good chance to equalise just two minutes later when Sean Harding played in Deang Aguek, but the striker’s shot was well saved by Gully goalkeeper Kieran Gonzalez.

Then a brilliant ball over the top of the defence by Peter Deng played Hayne in one on one with Ballarat custodian Aaron Romein but the keeper stood firm to save his shot. 

It was almost 1-1 heading into the break, but a fine save from Gonzalez denied a Liam Harding strike from 20 yards.  

Green Gully came out firing in the second-half and almost made it 2-0 inside the first 30 seconds but somehow Ratip Cileli missed in front of goal after Fisher’s effort was blocked.

He made up for his miss minutes later when he played a perfect through-ball to Hayne for the winger to slot home and double Gully’s lead.

It was all Green Gully until an error from Thomas Deng in the box, handling the ball just after winning it, gifted Shaun Romein the chance to pull one back from the spot and he made no mistake.

Liam Harding came close to finding that equaliser just two minutes later but hit a volley from Nelson Salvatore’s cross over the bar.

Harding had another shot on goal just moments later but Gonzalez was able to tap it over the bar for a corner.

Ballarat increased the pressure on Green Gully with wave after wave of attacks but none of them resulted in shots on goal.

The last chance of the game came in the 88th minute when the ball fell to Michael Trigger to run towards Gonzalez, but the goalkeeper made a fantastic stop to ensure the three points were Gully’s.

Green Gully coach Bob Stojcevski was happy with his side’s first win in their last seven games.

“Obviously it’s a very tight situation on the ladder so we knew they were gonna come at us, they were fired up,” Stojcevski said.

“It was important for us we got a good start and I thought we did that.”

Ballarat Red Devils boss James Robinson was disappointed with his side’s accuracy as they battle to stay up.

“Dissapointed for the players. Green Gully turned up today and took the three points,” Robinson said.

“You don’t take the opportunities, you’re going to get punished.”

MATCH DETAILS:

Green Gully 2 (Fisher 12’, Hayne 52’) defeated Ballarat Red Devils 1 (S. Romein 56’) at Green Gully Reserve. [HT:1-0]

Green Gully XI: 1. Kieran GONZALEZ, 5. Rodrigo VARGAS, 6. Stephen DOWNES (11. Jem BERKANT 66’), 7. Jeffrey FLEMING, 8. Jason HAYNE, 9. Brent FISHER, 10. Ratip CILELI (22. Habib FLEIFEL 77’), 16. Thomas DENG, 19. Peter DENG, 20. Osagie EDERARO, 21. Adam PETKO.

Un-used substitutes: 23. Christopher AILAKIS, 4. Mathew REID, 18. Cameron DAVIES.

Yellow cards: Hayne 70’, Fleming 75’

Red cards: Nil

Ballarat Red Devils XI: 1. Arron ROMEIN, 19. Daniel FIRTH, 18. Daniel O’DONNELL, 11. Nelson SALVATORE, 6. Liam HARDING, 17. Shaun ROMEIN, 28. Sean HARDING (13. Michael TRIGGER 73’), 4. David KING, 32. James KING (31. Simon MURPHY 50’), 7. Deang AGUEK, 10. Paul HARVEY.

Un-used substitutes: 40. Jordan FRANKEN, 16. Charles KING, 29. Steven THURSTON.

Yellow cards: D. King 31’, S. Romein 72’

Red cards: Nil