By Lucas Pavlidis (@LucasPavlidis)

Melbourne City has been condemned to its first loss of the 2015 NPL season after a difficult loss to FC Bulleen Lions at the Veneto Club.

Goals to Billy Romas and Bardhi Hyssoli saw Bulleen win at home to the delight of a strong crowd in Melbourne’s east.
Despite not producing the goals - the opening 45 minutes between Melbourne City and Bulleen had plenty of fans on notice, as a free flowing tempo was set early by both sides.

The home side, buoyed by a packed David Barro Stadium, were to go close a number of times within the first ten minutes.

Takanori Nishimoto could have opened the scoring himself, after being played through by Billy Romas, but Melbourne City goalkeeper Yaren Sozer did enough to foil the winger, with a big save proving crucial in the early stages.

Nishimoto and Romas continued to trouble the visitors, and combined again in the minutes following.

This time, Nishimoto was adjudged to be offside, City walking a fine line with a high defensive structure that could have caused an early headache for Joe Montemurro’s men.

For City, it was Stefan Zinni’s pace that would hurt Bulleen.

A cheeky nutmeg before a surging run forward from the midfield had the home side on full alert, as runs in behind from the strikers were the order of the evening.

Whilst no clear cut chances fell to City, a final chance from the corner is all the visitors could muster in the latter stages of the opening stanza, as the half finished as it started at 0-0.
The second half began with the same intensity as the first, with Nishimoto again in the thick of the action.
His pace saw him evade Melbourne City, only to be brought down to the dismay of the home support.
Cries for a penalty were quickly waved away by the referee, as City countered, and should have gone ahead themselves.
A delightful lofted cross found Hernan Espindola alone at the back post, with his header missing from point blank range.
Moments later, it was to be the home side who would strike first.
Against the run of play, Romas broke free of his pursuer despite being held back.

The striker was able to settle himself and calmly finish past Yaren Sozer in the City goal to make it 1-0.

Assisted by Anton Nardella, the ball through was calculated and perfectly weighted.

It took only ten minutes for Bulleen to double their lead, this time through Hysoli.

Nardella again found space for himself down the left.

His cross to the middle of the box from a wide area was looking for the run of Romas, yet was cut out from a City defender, whose touch only found its way to Hysoli.

The resulting first touch from Hysoli took two City defenders out of the equation, and with a thumping strike found the front post to make it 2-0.

The home side saw out the match, with the added bonus of a clean sheet against a dynamic Melbourne City side.

Match Details:

FC Bulleen Lions 2 (Romas 53’, Hysoli 63’) def. Melbourne City FC 0 at Veneto Club, Bulleen

BL: 21. Luke GALLO, 3. Will ABBOTT, 4. Samual BORGHESI, 6. Bardhi HYSOLI, 8. Matteo BALLAN, 10. Takanori NISHIMOTO (7’ Joshua SABIDUSSI 87’), 11. Gianni DE NITTIS, 12. Eli LUTTMER, 15. Billy ROMAS (31’ Dylan BRESOLIN 70’), 17. Anton NARDELLA (13. Dean LORENZI 79’), 20. Andrew MULLETT

Unused subs: 1. Matt BANOVIC, 5. Lewis WADDELL

Yellows: None

Reds: None

MCY: 1. Yaren SOZER, 2. James TYLER, 3. Nicholas SYMEOY, 6. Phil PETRESKI, 7. Hernan ESPINDOLA (12. Anthony RIZK 81’), 8.Ratip CILELI (13. Nick MORTON 67’), 11. Stefan ZINNI, 16. Matthew MILLAR, 19. Anthony TARANTO, 21. Stefan MAUK (5. Leo ATHANASIOU 56’), 22.Marc MARINO

Unused Subs: 9. Wade DEKKER, 20. Yianni SKILIRIOS

Yellows: Petreski 75’

Reds: None