Victory puts nine past Nunawading City
By BILLY GREEN
Photo SIMON DUNSTER / The Spoting Wall
Melbourne Victory remains at the top of the NPL1 East ladder after cruising to a 9-1 defeat of Nunawading City.
Striker Joey Katebian featured with an impressive five goals, while George Howard starred with three of his own.
The first goal came at the five-minute mark, as Nuna defender Ivan Skorich slid in for a late tackle and awarded Katebian with a penalty, which he put finished with ease.
At 10 minutes, Nunawading’s Anthony Giannopoulos hammered a shot through, but Victory captain Thomas Deng lunged to make a desperate block.
Nunawading continued to be competitive early to the delight of the home-ground crowd, missing their opportunities to equalise.
Late in the first half, midfielder David Morovic had two consecutive attempts with both just missing to the outside of the goals.
Howard then ruined their glimmer of hope, getting a quick break through the middle and casually finishing to put Victory up 2-0 before the half-time break.
As play resumed, Howard struck again, side-stepping the keeper in the 51st minute to claim his second.
Nunawading continued to press, David Antequerra booting it from outside the square into the top corner of the goals before Victory keeper Stephen Hatzikountis came in with a sturdy save.
Howard was punishing on the wing, and in the 56th minute perfectly crossed it to Lucas Derrick for an easy goal to give them a 4-0 lead.
Nunawading was rewarded for its effort soon after, with striker Emile Damey relentlessly bustling through the Victory defence to eventually put one through.
Victory responded, and Katebian followed up on a deflected save from the keeper to put through his second in the 70th minute.
He only waited seven minutes to get his hat-trick, finding space and beating the keeper easily.
Soon after he mirrored his last goal, again beating the keeper and taking his team to a 6-1 lead.
While Howard was quiet late, he surged and crossed it into Katebian between a few defenders to tap through his fifth on 89 minutes.
In injury time, Howard single-handedly took on the defence and claimed his own hat-trick, giving Victory a 9-1 win.
Match details:
Melbourne Victory 9 (Katebian 5’ 70’ 77’ 87’ 89’, Howard 42’ 51’ 90+2’, Derrick 56’) defeated Nunawading City (Damey 64’)
Nunawading City: 1. Keegan COULTER, 10. Ivan SKORICH, 7. Anthony GIANNOPOULOS (20. Stefan PAPAGEORGIOU 57’), 9. David ANTEQUERA, 5. Peter EVANGELAKOS, 17. David MOROVIC, 21. Felix DIMITRAKIS (19. John-Luc SILVESTRI 78’), 44. Samuel ANTONIADIS (6. Jack LOUZIOTIS 67’), 31. Dylan FACCI, 11. Daniel PATTERSON, 41. Emile DAMEY
Unused Sub(s): 22. Dylan TERVIT
Yellow Card(s): 10. Skorich 57’
Red Card(s): Nil
Melbourne Victory: 1. Stephen HATZIKOURTIS, 18. Christian CAVALLO, 4. Thomas Deng, 2. Reece CALDECOURT, 19. Nick GLAVON (Damien MISKULIN 84’), 8. Anthony DAZEL (16. Patrick AVICE 70’), 6. Stefan NIGRO, 10. Kieran DOVER, 17. George HOWARD, 9. Joey KATEBIAN, 13. Lucas DERRICK (11. John MACLEAN 61’)
Unused Sub(s): 20. Wyatt CHANT, 3. Milos RIDESIC
Yellow Card(s): 6. Nigro 28’
Red Card(s): Nil
Last Modified on 08/06/2015 12:03
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