By Lucas Pavlidis (@LucasPavlidis)

Sunshine George Cross last night surged to the top of the NPL 1 table with a last-gasp 4-3 win over Richmond at Kevin Bartlett Reserve.

Only two goals came in the first half – both from set pieces – until a five-goal second half saw Sunshine emerge on top thanks to a goal in injury time to Delfin Mosibe.

Sunshine began strongly, generating chances through its wide wingers and heaping pressure on Richmond’s full-backs and was nearly rewarded for its efforts.

Adrian Logozzo pounced on a poorly controlled pass from Richmond left-back Liam Flynn, unselfishly looking for teammate Mosibe who couldn’t finish.

Halfway through the first half, Eddie Cetkin rose high above the Richmond defence from a corner and nodded the ball down and in off the post to give Sunshine a 1-0 lead.

The lead didn’t last long with Josh Knight showing Sunshine’s Nejdet Sahin a clean pair of heels on the edge of the box, and was deemed to be fouled just outside the area amid penalty claims from many of the Richmond players.

A powerful free-kick straight at Sunshine’s goal left the keeper unable to hold on to the ball, as Ryan Oppermann tapped in the equaliser with the last kick of the half.

Richmond was lucky not to concede early in the second half after more poor defending cost it possession while attempting to play the ball out from the back.

Logozzo was first to react from Petrovic’s poor control, sliding the ball through to Anthony Cassar whose shot flew over the bar in a one-on-one position.

Richmond then took the lead against the run of play. Hamlet Armenian’s cross into the box from the left wing was cleared and then fell to Flynn, whose cross to the back post was met by Tim Purcell who finished with a stunning volley.

Minutes later Sunshine restored parity, with substitute Manuel Sadik only having to calmly tap the ball over the top of oncoming goalkeeper Edward Chadwick, who came out and failed to clear a bouncing ball.

With just over 15 minutes left to play an unbelievable game had more goals to come. Richmond took the lead courtesy of Tom Cahill’s free header at the back post after a Purcell corner found him unmarked.

Sunshine again equalised through Sahin after a corner was cleared, but was expertly hit first time on the volley from the defender to make it 3-3.

Both teams pushed for the win. A frantic final 10 minutes of end-to-end football resulted in substitutions from both benches in order to push the ledger.


Sunshine’s persistence through set pieces was enough to gain a penalty from a corner in injury time. The referee deemed the ball to be handled, and the resulting spot kick by Mosibe was passed down the middle of the goal to win the game for George Cross.

Following the final whistle, passions overflowed which saw Sunshine defender Serdar Pir sent off for use of foul language against the referee.

George Cross manager Tony Ciantar was happy with how his side responded to the changes he’s trying to instill at the club.

“Being top doesn’t matter at the moment. What is important is trying to play the brand of football we want to play,” Ciantar said.

“We’d like to finish strongly and as high as possible. If we do go up it will be premature… Right now it’s about building a football club from juniors up. That’s what we want around the club, a great culture and atmosphere.”

After taking over from departed manager Grant Brebner, Richard Mensink was happy with how his side played but was disappointed with the result.

“I thought we played some really nice football. Once we settled the ball down on to the floor and played our football I thought we deserved the win. You can’t score three goals at home and not win a football match,” Mensink said.

“We’re trying to be a lot more patient with the ball, use the ball a lot more. When we put seven or eight passes together it ended up with a strike on goal which is what we want to do. We’ll keep fighting and stick to our game plan… We want to finish as high as we possibly can.”

MATCH DETAILS

Richmond Soccer Club 3 (Oppermann 45’, Purcell 63’, Cahill 77’) lost to Sunshine George Cross 4 (Cetkin 25’, Sadik 53’, Sahin 83’, Mosibe 90+2’) at Kevin Bartlett Reserve [HT 1-1]

Richmond: 1. Chadwick, 3. Milborrow (6. Kustura 55’), 14. Petrovic, 5. Sadler, 11. Flynn, 16. Beamish (18. Tsiakalakis 61’), 10. Purcell, 8. Knight, 7. Armenian, 12. Oppermann (13. Ricciuti 83’), 9. Cahill

Unused subs: 20. Banfield, 2. Goff

Yellow cards: Milborrow 37’, Flynn 45’, Armenian 46’, Petrovic 60’, Knight 62’.

Red cards: None

Sunshine George Cross: 21. Tuna, 5. Dib, 2. Cetkin, 6. Pir, 3. Sahin, 4. Walliss (12. Mohamed 83’), 8. Mosibe, 10. Logozzo, 17. Attard (19. Sadik 55’), 11. Chawk, 14. Cassar (7. Zaffina 65’)

Unused subs: 15. Ahmed

Yellow cards: Cassar 48’, Cetkin 65’, Zaffina 85’.

Red cards: Pir 90+3’