By Brandon Galgano (@bgalgano94)

Avondale Heights has all but secured the NPL 1 title with a dominant 3-0 victory over Springvale White Eagles on Saturday afternoon at the Serbian Sports Centre.

After taking an early lead though Daniel Slovacek, the league leader piled on two more goals in a dominant display, with the result meaning it needs just one point from its remaining two matches to secure the title.

It only took eight minutes for the visitors to take the lead with a fantastic strike from Slovacek taking a deflection on its way over White Eagles goalkeeper Faraz Zenoozi and into the back of the net.

In a first half of relatively few chances, it was Avondale which struck home a second in the 32nd minute with centre-half Zoran Pajic getting on the end of a fantastic Andrew Le Page free kick.

And just minutes later, Avondale added a third with fellow centre-back Michele Crazia finding himself in the right place at the right time to head home, following a fumble onto the cross bar from Zenoozi.

With the game effectively over as a contest at half-time, the hosts began to show some fight after the break with a Slaven Vranesevic free kick fumbled back into the six-yard box by Anthony Saric before being cleared away by the Avondale defence.

A lengthy injury stoppage saw play halted for five minutes following a strong challenge on young midfielder Milan Jovanovic. The break stalled Avondale’s momentum as Springvale began to threaten up front after the restart.

And it was Vranesevic who should have pegged back the margin after being picked out by a fantastic cross at the back post, but his effort was straight at Saric, who made a good save on the line to deny the former South Melbourne midfielder.

With just seconds remaining, Avondale had a great chance to grab a fourth through Chris Galea.

The substitute was played clean through on goal but his tame effort was hit straight at Zenoozi, who parried the ball away with the full-time whistle sounding immediately after the ball was cleared.

Avondale Heights coach Anthony Barbieri was very pleased with his side’s performance, despite having five first-team players out.

"Obviously I’m very pleased for the boys and the club, it’s been a fantastic season for us and we have had a lot of changes over the second half of the year in terms of players leaving overseas so to continue getting results has been fantastic,” Barbieri said.

"We have never felt under pressure at all this season and all credit goes to the hard work the boys have put in. Hopefully we can produce another good performance next weekend to seal the title.’’

Springvale coach Zlatko Mihajlovic lamented the key defensive errors made at the back which resulted in the goals scored, but felt his side lifted in the second half and deserved to at least score a goal.

"The game was over at half-time and it was only over because of sloppy goals,” Mihajlovic said.

"We made some key errors at the back and we had our third-choice ‘keeper in today, so it was always going to be difficult against the top side in the league.

"I did feel that we lifted in the second half and I felt we deserved at least a goal so to come away without scoring is disappointing.’’

MATCH DETAILS

Avondale Heights 3 (Slovacek 8’, Pajic 32’, Crazia 40’) defeated Springvale White Eagles 0 at the Serbian Sports Centre [HT: 3-0]

Springvale White Eagles XI: 30 Faraz ZENOOZI (GK), 3 Joey CALDERONE, 5 Scott MILLAR, 8 Marcus HOLMES, 14 Josh BOWEN, 6 Slavisa SARIC, 7 Keletso MTHEMBU (18 Ryan DON PAUL 64’), 22 Milan JOVANOVIC (9 Joel BOWEN 64’), 17 Slaven Vranesevic, 19 Vojislav MILOJEVIC, 21 Dejan ERAKOVIC (C) (13 Hamish MILLAR 64’)

Unused substitutes: 1 Bojan TOMIC, 33 Zarko MILOJEVIC

Yellow cards: Nil

Red cards: Nil

Avondale Heights XI: 20 Anthony SARIC (GK), 6 Anthony STRANO (C), 7 Andrew LE PAGE, 8 Bosin GEORGEVSKI (Chris GALEA 78’), 9 Anthony FALLONE, 11 Arturo YMERI (4 Chris VARTACHI 86’), 14 Daniel SLOVACEK (Andrew SACCHETTA 82’), 15 Zoran PAJIC, 24 Resit CULCULOGLU, 31 Michele CRAZIA, 3 Fabian GUGLIANDOLO

Unused substitute: 1 John SCOLLO

Yellow cards: Nil

Red cards: Nil