Kingston claim border win
By Brad Worrall
A 10-man Kingston City has held on to beat Murray United 2-1 in tough conditions on the Border.
With the mercury rising above 20 degrees for the last game of the year it was attacking midfielder Sean McIlroy who proved pivotal in the contest.
He opened the scoring against the run of play in the 35th minutes for the visitors before being dismissed from the field for an off the ball incident just 18 minutes into the second half.
Whether it was the heat or the effects of a long season on the sides that would finish 6th and 8th respectively, the contest never rose to any great heights.
The homeside dominated possession and chances in the first half – a well-worked corner falling to the feet of Zac Walker only to be cleared off the line by City after just six minutes, the striker had another chance inside the quarter hour only for Douglas Lindberg to parry the shot wide.
On 20 minutes a free-kick from James Coutts was also on target but again well handled by Lindberg.
But as the clock ticked past the half hour, City clicked into gear and when the United defenders were caught flat footed it was McIlroy who made no mistake from close range.
Just before the break it was Gino Defoe from a dead ball free kick who grazed the upright before McIlroy again found space only to hit his shot straight at United’s keeper Nathan Brown.
Both sides resorted to the long ball in search of the breakthrough throughout the game with little success – City’s James Karvelis and Jamal Clarke proving dominant at the back.
Even with the dismissal of McIlroy just past the hour United struggled to find a way to build an attack that posed any threat to the visitors.
And so when a goal-mouth scramble saw Jamie De Smit pick the ball off the line and make it 2-0 on 80 minutes the contest was dead and buried.
United’s hard working Melkie Woldemichael headed home with style at the end of regular time to offer a glimmer of hope for the local fans but it was to prove a consolation and nothing more.
MATCH DETAILS
MURRAY UNITED 1 (Woldemichael 90’) lost to KINGSTON CITY 2 (McIlroy 35, De Smit 80’)
La Trobe University Ground, Wodonga
CARDS
RED CARD
Sean McIlroy, Kingston City
YELLOW CARDS:
Ben Chaffey; Murray United
Stelios Konstantinidis, Jamal Clarke; Kingston City
TEAMS
KINGSTON CITY: 24. Douglas Lindberg (GK) 2. George Stavridis (45’ 19. Lucas Morrey) 3. Jamal Clarke 5. James Karvelis, 6. Nicholas Teichmann 11. Stelios Konstantinidis (65’ 10. Jamie De Smit) 16. Nicholas Stamatiou 7. Andrew Doig 18. Sean McIlroy 8. Deniz Sabanovski, 15. Gino Defeo (55’ 14. Damian Iaconis)
MURRAY UNITED: 1. Nathan Brown (GK) 11. Jayson Ferguson 33. Alex West 9. 16. Sean Pye 23. Ben Chaffey 5. Ash Dunn (73’ 12. Michael Jessup) 15. Ryan Giles 29. Darcy Pawlik (60’ 37 Alex Eggleston) 17. Melkie Woldemichael 7. Zac Walker 8. James Coutts
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