By Marc Sudholz (@marc014)

Box Hill United ensured it ended the NPL 1 season in third position, defeating St Albans Saints 3-1 at a warm and windy Wembley Park on Sunday afternoon.

The home side led early through Alex Schroen, before Yusuf Yusuf’s second-half penalty levelled proceedings. A late brace from Box Hill’s Kenjok Athiu secured the three points for the home side.

The best early chance fell to Box Hill’s Rinor Muriqi. After a wonderful dribble from Schroen, he played a through ball to Muriqi, but his left-footed shot hit the outside of the far post with Tonio Baresic beaten in the St Albans goal.

Twelve minutes in, Box Hill took a deserved lead. Chris Irwin robbed St Albans of possession in its own half, before an inch-perfect pass found Schroen in space, and his first-time shot flew into the top corner from just inside the box. Baresic had no chance as Box Hill grabbed an opener.

Box Hill remained on the attack for the rest of the half, with St Albans unable to put any real attacking pressure on.

On 20 minutes, a good move from Athiu found Irwin, but he fired a shot straight at Baresic.

Four minutes later, it was Athiu’s turn to trouble the ‘keeper, but the shot hardly troubled Baresic.

With seven minutes remaining in the half, Box Hill should have doubled its lead.

Athiu won the ball off Ross Harvey and played a wonderful ball into Irwin, who somehow put a sliding tap-in over the bar when it seemed easier to score.

The halftime score was 1-0, but in reality Box Hill should have been ahead by much more.

Box Hill came out with the same attacking intent, and had an early free kick from Muriqi comfortably saved by Baresic.

St Albans then created its best chance. A great cross from Yusuf was met by the head of Barry Delvin, but his header was tipped over by Alexander Pavlidis.

Despite being outplayed, St Albans found an equaliser.

The referee deemed that Josh Valadon was holding Yusuf in the box, and the St Albans man sent the resulting spot kick straight down the middle to level the game.

This goal acted as a catalyst for Box Hill to lift their game to the next level, eager to get a final-day victory.
With 15 minutes to play, Box Hill re-took the lead. A corner from Matt Collier was not dealt with by St Albans as the ball eventually fell to Athiu, who scrambled it over the line.

Seven minutes later, Athiu put the result beyond doubt. A speculative long ball from left-back Matt Waters was misjudged by Baresic, who had come well outside of his area. Athiu was there to pounce, finishing easily into the empty net.

Box Hill assistant Greg Kassidas was happy with the result, but was disappointed at his team’s inability to put the game away in the first half.

“We should’ve been up 3-0 I think at halftime to be fair; it’s just a different ball game in the second half if you take your opportunities,” Kassidas said.

“I’m just proud of all of them, for just sticking it out, and getting that second goal, and obviously the sealer with that third one.”

St Albans defender Ross Harvey was disappointed at his team’s inability to create chances.

“We never created too many chances. We had to get a goal through a penalty. To be honest it wasn’t a good performance from us at all. It was one of our worst performances,” Harvey said.

Harvey noted that fatigue was also a factor after a game last Sunday, and the FFA Cup game against Perth Glory on Tuesday.

“To come back out here again and play another 90 minutes - it was pretty warm as well - was hard. The whole occasion was pretty hard to be honest,” he said.

MATCH DETAILS

Box Hill United 3 (Schroen 12’, Athiu 75’, 82’) defeated St Albans Saints 1 (Yusuf 61’ pen.) at Wembley Park.

Box Hill United: 35: Alexander PAVLIDIS (GK), 23: Josh VALADON, 22: Nick KOKOLAKIS, 14: Kenjok ATHIU, 12: Adrian DEL MONACO, 10: Rinor MURIQI (2: Nikola SORDOSKI 90+1’), 11: Matt WATERS, 7: Damien PETERS, 5: Alex SCHROEN (8: Amjad MARIEH 71’), 4: Chris IRWIN (26: Aaron PORCARO 80’), 3: Matt COLLIER

Unused substitutes: 30: Alex CONNELL (GK), 20: Jarrod DEL MONACO.

Yellow cards: ATHIU 53’

Red cards: None

St Albans Saints: 21: Tonio BARESIC (GK), 2: Ryan MCGUFFIE (11: Yusuf YUSUF 7’), 4: Barry DEVLIN, 8: Ross HARVEY, 14: Christopher ROSS, 15: Konrad DOBRASZKIEWICZ, 17: Adam NAKIC, 18: Tedros YABIO, 5: Felix ROSMAN, 9: Sean MCILROY (16: Ajak PANEK 58’), 13: Nicholas CULLEN (19: Ante KOZUL 77’).

Unused substitutes: 1: Stuart WEBSTER (GK), 3: Georgi NICESKI.

Yellow cards: MCILROY 32’, HARVEY 52’

Red cards: None.

Pictured: Box Hill's Damien Peters in action (Image credit: Mark Avellino)