By David Manuca

Dominic Swinton’s goal early in the second-half was enough to seal the three points for Ballarat Red Devils against Melbourne City at Morshead Park on Saturday afternoon.

Ballarat were the better side throughout the contest but had to withstand some late pressure from City to hold on to a crucial victory.

The win means Ballarat close the gap to Bulleen Lions at the top of the NPL1 West ladder, with the table-toppers facing St. Albans Saints on Monday night.

Ballarat’s clash with City began at a fast pace and the home side almost had an opener inside the first 30 seconds of the game.

City goalkeeper Thomas Howard-Belle was caught outside his box but DechlanPicken’s attempted lob was cleared off the line by a desperate City defence.

Tom Barforosh had a chip saved by Aaron Romein at the other end of the ground a few minutes later, before Michael Trigger dragged a shot just wide of the goal for the Red Devils.

The chances kept on coming and on ten minutes Luka Prevelic found himself one-on-one with Romein but the goalkeeper produced another great save to keep the scores level.

The game calmed down a bit after that and the two best chances of the rest of the half fell to Swinton but on both occasions he failed to find the back of the net.

Ballarat knew they had to score with the momentum in their favour and they finally found the break-through eight minutes into the second-half.

The ball found its way to Picken in the box and he selflessly set up his teammate Swinton to put Ballarat into a deserved lead.

The contest turned a bit sour after the hour mark with a number of yellow cards being shown, with City finding a bit of rhythm to start and to threaten the Ballarat goal.

Despite a free-kick that was tapped over for a corner-kick, City failed to make their pressure count with Ballarat holding on for a vital three points in their push for promotion.

MATCH DETAILS

Ballarat Red Devils 1 (Swinton 53’) Melbourne City 0 at Morshead Park, Ballarat

Ballarat Red Devils: 1. Aaron ROMEIN, 8. Joshua ROMEIN, 21. Charles KING, 25. David KING, 22. Patrick KARRAS, 6. Liam HARDING, 17. Shaun ROMEIN, 23. Daniel TINKER, 13. Dechlan PICKEN (31. Simon MURPHY 69’), 15. Dominic SWINTON, 10. Michael TRIGGER.
Un-used substitutes: 19. Miles BAKER, 35. Jake FRANCIS, 12. Michael MULLINS, 40. Ryan SCHORBACK.

Yellow cards: Picken 59’, Harding 67’, A. Romein 74’

Red cards: Nil

Melbourne City XI: 1. Thomas HOWARD-BELLE, 5. Leo ATHANASIOU, 8. Ratip CILELI, 9. Tom BARFOROSH, 10. Luka PRELEVIC, 11. Marcus DIMANCHE, 12. Anthony RIZK, 15. Denis GENREAU, 14. Baki EFE, 16. Baley ROW (4. Darby DEXTER 78’), 22. Mehdi SARWARI (15. Nicolas GONZALEZ 73’).

Un-used substitutes: 18. Trey O’SULLIVAN, 20.Yianni SKLIROS, 21. Michael YOSESKI.

Yellow cards: Efe 74’, Barforosh 76’,  Rizik 86’

Red cards: Nil