By Teo Pellizzeri

Bulleen Lions are just a point away from securing the PS4 NPL Victoria NPL 1 West league title after a last-gasp winner against Goulburn Valley Suns at McEwen Reserve on Saturday.

Eli Luttmer ran onto Reza Hussaini's through ball in the 91st minute and steered a shot into the top left corner to spark an outpouring of relief from his Bulleen teammates on the pitch and the bench.

The Lions (54 points) face second-placed Ballarat Red Devils (48) next Saturday knowing a draw would be good enough to seal both the title and promotion.

But for long stages of Saturday's match it looked like Bulleen would be dropping points as they struggled to find a way past a determined Goulburn Valley Suns defence.

The Suns looked to more likely to win for much of the second half as a series of Bulleen fouls gave Craig Carley and Sean Ellis the chance to try their luck with direct free kicks.

Ellis came the closest to scoring for Goulburn Valley as his free kick in the 80th minute took a nick off the wall and went just wide of the left post.

Bulleen had started the match brightly enough, with Felix Rosman's diving header to connect with a Matteo Ballan free kick the best chance of the first half hour.

Ellis nearly opened the scoring on 38 minutes when Carley's flick header into his path sat up for a volley, which skimmed off the bar as it went high of the target.

Bulleen's three best chances prior to scoring all came in the same passage of play in the 74th minute. Dean Lorezni was denied by a Phillip Petrovski save, Jamie England blocked Takanori Nishimoto's follow-up shot off the line, then with the ball coming back in from the right, Hussaini put a header into the base of the post.

But with the tension at its highest in stoppage time, Luttmer kept his composure when presented with a chance to shoot, steering his attempt from the top of the area well beyond Petrovski's reach.

"They just didn't stop, given the pressure of the game and the time of the season it was inspirational," Bulleen coach Dom Barba said.

"If I've got a criticism (of my team) it's the free kicks in dangerous areas, especially with the Goulburn boys who are good on set pieces. My defence is the best in both leagues so I've got to be proud of that and they're not going to be perfect all the time. Today a clean sheet under those circumstances, I'll take that every day.

"Next week (against Ballarat) being a Saturday night home game and not a Monday the routine changes and everything is different. We have to go for the win but a draw will do us."

Goulburn Valley Suns would have jumped to third in NPL 1 West with a win but sit sixth (41 points) as a result of the defeat.

MATCH DETAILS

Goulburn Valley Suns 0 FC Bulleen Lions 1 (Luttmer 90+1")

GOULBURN VALLEY SUNS: 1. PETROVSKI Phillip, 2. SELLWOOD Cody, 3. NASH Greg, 4. SEKULOVSKI Naum, 7. WALLACE Todd, 8. ENGLAND Jamie, 9. CARLEY Craig, 11. KANE Shaun (12. LELLIOTT James 87"), 16. LELLIOTT Matthew, 19. ELLIS Sean, 21. SHAMOON Vani (21. BISH Daniel 82")

Unused subs: 5. MONTAGNER Jordan, 17. CORBO Adrian, 22. KEATING Jake

FC BULLEEN LIONS: 21. SARDELIC Stefaan, 3. ABBOTT Will, 6. HYSOLI Bardhi, 8. BALLAN Matteo, 9. HUSSAINI Saveed Reza, 10. NISHIMOTO Takanori (33. CARDAMONE Davide 77"), 11. DE NITTIS Gianni (13. LORENZI Dean 67"), 12. LUTTMER Eli, 14. NOUR Sami, 16. DIMECH Matt, 18. ROSMAN Felix

Unused subs: 5. WADDELL Lewis, 31. BRESOLIN Dylan, 41. GALLO Luke

Yellow Cards: Rosman 80"