By Lucas Pavlidis (@LucasPavlidis)

FC Bulleen Lions withstood a strong Kingston City outfit at David Barro Stadium on Monday night, prevailing 1-0 and keeping its promotion hopes alive.

The Lions went ahead via a Joey Katebian penalty in the 53rd minute and saw out the rest of the game to claim a crucial three points.

The home side applied the pressure early, attempting to catch Kingston on the back foot in the early stages of the first half.

Takanori Nishimoto was especially lively, earning a corner after his blistering pace almost had him through on goal. A last-ditch challenge from Kingston’s defence saw out the danger however.

The winger would prove to be dangerous for the remainder of the match, constantly getting in behind the defence with his trademark pace which has caused so many problems for opposition teams this season.

Kingston had its best chance of the opening half through Max Etheridge. The striker was played through on goal but couldn’t control the ball, with Bulleen goalkeeper Matt Banovic able to rush towards Etheridge and clear the danger.

Any hesitation from Banovic would have led to Etheridge having an open net to roll the ball into.

Gianni De Nittis almost gave his side the lead after a perfectly weighted through ball from Katebian found Nishimoto, who then linked up De Nittis to no avail.

Bulleen took the lead early in the second half through a penalty after a cross meant for Dao never reached him.

The young midfielder was adjudged to have been pushed in the back as he leapt to meet a cross from Katebian.

Katebian’s resulting penalty was hit straight into the side netting, leaving Kingston goalkeeper Nicholas Woolward with no chance.

Bulleen could have had more goals to add to its growing tally with two quick counter attacks before the final whistle.

Dao, who advanced on the last Kingston defender, played through Katebian. With options left and right the striker opted to go alone, taking on the final defender and seeing his effort saved.

Kingston broke on the counter, and had it not been for the quick thinking of makeshift centre-back Dylan Bresolin, the away side could have been in on goal.

Bardhi Hysoli had the chance to run at Kingston for a final time, but instead took the ball to the corner, where the final whistle was blown for Bulleen’s victory.

Kingston coach Nick Tolios was disappointed not only to lose, but to do so via a contentious penalty decision.

“I think we’re all still searching to find out what actually happened. It’s disappointing,” Tolios said.

“We deserved at least a point. We had our chances, but we have to take them.”

Bulleen coach Fabrizio Soncin was happy with his team’s performance.

“We did everything right. We should have had the ball in the net a couple more times based on the number of opportunities we had,” Soncin said.

A depleted Bulleen was without centre-back Lewis Waddell, and had to bring in Bresolin to cover, which made the clean sheet all the more important for a side which can mathematically finish in the top two and gain promotion into the NPL.

“I was happy with our back four. That’s it, that’s all the players we’ve got. All our defenders are injured, so the young boys did really well,” Soncin said.

Bulleen and Kingston City will have a bye this week before taking on FC Bendigo (away) and Brunswick City (home) in Round 23.

MATCH DETAILS

FC Bulleen Lions (Katebian 53’ pen.) defeated Kingston City FC 0 at David Barro Stadium

FC Bulleen Lions: 43. Matt BANOVIC (GK), 2. Dean ROMAS, 6. Alex DAO, 8. Matteo BALLAN, 9. Bardhi HYSOLI, 10. Takanori NISHIMOTO, 11. Gianni DE NITTIS, 12. Matt DIMECH, 14. Edison PONARI, 31. Dylan BRESOLIN, 33. Joseph KATEBIAN

Subs: 23. Billy ROMAS, 29. Matthew AUGELLO, 13. Dean LORENZI, 41. Carlo COSTA

Yellow cards: De Nittis 37’, Katebian 67’, Romas 83’

Red cards: None

Kingston City: 13. Nicholas WOOLWARD (GK), 2. Peter LORD, 5. Kemal CURAN, 4. James KARVELIS, 11. George STAVRIDIS, 19. Andrew DOIG, 16. Nick STAMATIOU, 20. Nick MILEARESIS (10. John MACLEAN 61’), 7. Velibor MITROVIC (14. Arthur PAPADOPOULOS 72’), 15. Gino DEFEO (12. Stelios KONSTANTINIDIS 63’), 9. Max ETHERIDGE

Unused Subs: 1. Sermin SADIKOVSKI, 18. Tas ACAPITOS

Yellow cards: None

Red cards: None