By Lucas Pavlidis (@LucasPavlidis)

Bulleen Lions suffered a 2-0 defeat at home to Sunshine George Cross at David Barro Stadium on Monday night.

The Lions failed to really get into the match, and paid the price for their early missed chances.

A cagey opening 10 minutes saw shots for both sides come close.

Sunshine’s Chris Oghanna was the first to hit the crossbar. After juggling the ball on the edge of the box, his looping volley evaded the ‘keeper but not the bar.

Gianni De Nittis had his first chance of many in the half claimed easily at the other end by Sunshine ‘keeper Robert Santilli.

The next attack would prove costly for Bulleen. Sunshine moved the ball quickly to find the chest of Damian Rastocic on the edge of the box, who brought the ball down and rounded his defender, only to be brought down with the referee pointing straight to the spot.

Sunshine’s Anthony Cassar duly stepped up and converted the penalty - going straight down the middle to give his side the advantage.

Bulleen was forced into a change as midfielder Alex Dao suffered a heavy challenge, which saw him unable to complete the game.

De Nittis had a chance to square the game up, with his shot being booted off the line desperately by Sunshine, and Joey Katebian too with his fair share of chances to punish a lacklustre defence.

Sunshine held on to its one-goal advantage heading into the break.

Bulleen began on the offensive, surging forward immediately from the restart.

Dylan Bresolin had a chance from a tight angle with his deflected volley from point-black range saved well by Santilli, with the ball blocked by the ‘keeper and falling to the feet of Kristian Sarkies, who shanked the ball wide.

Sarkies and Katebian both combined well through the half as Bulleen began to dominate proceedings once again.

Katebian’s pace proved too much for Sunshine as he was awarded a penalty after being pulled back inside the box.

The referee had no hesitation to award the second penalty of the match, which was a clear-cut foul from the Sunshine defender, who failed to deal with the threat of the Bulleen forward.

Santilli saved the resulting penalty with a strong diving save down to his right, which had been hit hard and low by Katebian.

Minutes after, Sunshine doubled its lead thanks to a stunning goal by Oghanna.

The ball was picked up outside the box, with the midfielder’s strike from distance looping over a hapless Gian Tapia in goal.

There could have nearly been a third for the away side, with Kojo Brown failing to control his powerful shot after doing the hard work to put himself in a goalscoring opportunity.

Sunshine coach Tony Ciantar was happy with his side’s performance over a Bulleen side which has been exceptional at home this season.

“They’re a very good opponent, especially on this ground. We took away their space and didn’t allow them to play,” Ciantar said

“I told the boys – the side that works the hardest out there tonight will get the points. It was proven. We worked tirelessly when we lost possession to get it back to re-group.”

Bulleen coach Fabrizio Soncin lamented his side’s inability to score in the past two games.

“That’s two games where we haven’t scored a goal. We’ve been scoring goals all year. Yes we’ve been conceding a lot and that’s been a problem for us, but unfortunately we were firing blanks (against Sunshine),” Soncin said.

“We don’t mind teams that come here and put numbers behind the ball, but we didn’t get in behind like we normally do. We had the chances and the possession but we just couldn’t finish tonight.”

MATCH DETAILS

FC Bulleen Lions 0 defeated by Sunshine George Cross 2 (Cassar 16’, Oghanna 70’) [HT 0-1] at David Barro Stadium

Bulleen Lions: 44. Gian TAPIA (GK), 4. Sam BORGHESI, 5. Lewis WADDELL, 6. Alex DAO (14. Edison PONARI 31’), 8. Matteo BALLAN, 9. Bardhi HYSOLI, 11. Gianni DE NITTIS, 12. Matt DIMECH, 21. Kristian SARKIES (23. Billy ROMAS 74’), 31. Dylan BRESOLIN, 33. Joseph KATEBIAN

Unused subs: 2. Dean ROMAS, 41. Carlo COSTA

Yellow cards: 11. De Nittis 23’

Red cards: None

Sunshine George Cross: 1. Robert SANTILLI (GK), 17. Jacob ATTARD (16. Samuel ANTONIADIS 74’), 5. Christopher DIB, 2. Eddie CETKIN, 12. Matthew OGHANNA, 4. Tom REILLY, 6. Damian RASTOCIC, 8. Chris OGHANNA (9. Bozidar LOJANICA 77’), 14. Anthony CASSAR, 7. Brandon ZAFFINA, 13. Kojo BROWN (11. Jason DOMAZETOVSKI 83’)

Unused subs: 21. Nabi TUNA, 15. James XYDIAS

Yellow cards: 6. Rastocic 90+6’, 16. Antoniadis 90+3’

Red cards: None