By Rory Flanagan (@Rory_Flanagan)

Box Hill United continued its charge towards promotion with a 5-0 demolition of Brunswick City at Wembley Park on Saturday afternoon.

Amgad Marieh and Rini Muriqi bagged doubles after Alex Schroen’s early strike as the home side proved far too strong for the bottom-placed visitors.

The impressive display comes at the right time with seven teams vying for promotion alongside likely champions Avondale Heights.

From the outset Brunswick were under the pump, and Alex Schroen opened the scoring with an accurate finish into the bottom corner after three minutes.

The ever-dangerous Kenny Athiu used his aerial prowess to set up Damien Peters in the tenth minute, but the central midfielder’s volley couldn't find a way past Rodjar Zengin.

Due to the Box Hill monopoly of possession, Brunswick’s chances came at a premium and Matthew Tancevski failed to capitalise on a close-range half-volley before striking wide from distance as City looked to rely on individual brilliance.

Nick Kokalakis and Peters were having a field day in the middle of the park, running - and passing - rings around the Brunswick midfield.

The former supplied Schroen with the chance for his second, but the winger failed to make the most of his skipper’s creativity and Zengin made a strong one-on-one save.

When Athiu’s 20th-minute run was crudely cut short on the edge of the area, Amgad Marieh stepped up to fire into the bottom corner from 20 yards and double the lead.

It would have been easy for Alex Pavlidis to switch off as his teammates carved open the away side, but when called into action the goalkeeper made an heroic double save to keep City scoreless.

After Athiu picked up an knock to the ankle, his usual partner in crime Rinor Muriqi replaced him at half time.

Prior to the game the pair had 20 goals and 13 assists between them and this increased when Muriqi flighted over a set piece into the path of Del Monaco and Marieh, the latter getting the decisive final touch to make it 3-0.

Chris Irwin was repeatedly afforded time and space to run at his opponents and after the livewire winger was felled by a clumsy challenge, the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.

Muriqi nonchalantly stroked the ball into the bottom corner for his tenth of the season and a deserved 4-0 lead.

At times, United’s unselfish play was its undoing with a number of chances squandered as players looked to pass rather than attempt a strike at goal.

Another unnecessary hold in the box was again penalised, giving Muriqi the chance to level Athiu’s tally of 11 goals and the number ten duly obliged.

His penalty was far less convincing than the first, blasting straight at Zengin who couldn’t keep the strike out.

The move of the game should have extended the margin to six, but Box Hill’s profligacy that has plagued them all season reared its ugly head as Irwin missed both teammates and the goal from inside the six-yard box.

Instead of a consolation, things got worse for Brunswick when captain Dimitri Vithoulkas was given his marching orders for a second yellow card.

Despite the extra man advantage and further opportunities, the score remained 5-0 as United moved into second place with third-placed Richmond still to play Kingston City on Monday night.

Box Hill boss Arthur Georgiou kept his players on their toes even after the convincing win.

“There are still players not facing forward, and not playing forward so there are indicators for us...It’s effort-performance orientated. It’s not so much for Saturday, it’s Tuesday & Thursday, that’s where they earn their places," Georgiou said.

The coach also pointed out one particular statistic.

“We created 13 one on ones. When you only score five, that’s a fail. That’s less than 50%.”

Brunswick unavailable for comment.

MATCH DETAILS:

Box Hill United 5 (Schroen 4’ Marieh 20’, 56’, Muriqi 58’P, 70’P) defeated Brunswick City 0 at Wembley Park. [HT: 2-0]

Box Hill United: Alex Pavlidis, Nikola Surdoski, Adrian Del Monaco (Christian Lar 72’), Josh Valadon, Aaron Porcaro, Nick Kokalakis, Damien Peters, Amgad Marieh (Michael Gerace 61’), Alex Schroen, Kenjok Athiu (Muriqi 46’), Chris Irwin.

Unused: Alex Connell, George Howard.

Yellow Cards: Nil

Red Cards: Nil

Brunswick City: Rodjar Zengin, Sam Mazzolini, Amara Kromah, Admir Kolakovic (Vani Shamoon 73’), Lachlan Smale, Dimitri Vithoulkas, Nikolaos Agyrakakis, Matthew Tancevski (Alex Gianetta 46’), George Markelis, Oktay Oztekin (Joao Camara de Lima 61’).

Yellow cards: Vithoulkas 45' Kolakovic 58' Kromah 71'

Red cards: Vithoulkas 84'