By Andrew Bishara (@_andrewb21)

Three goals in the final 12 minutes saw Box Hill United complete an amazing comeback to beat NPL 1 West table-toppers Moreland Zebras 4-3 at Wembley Park on Saturday. 

Travis Chalk-Hatton scored a hattrick with Nikola Surdoski getting the winner into injury time after Moreland raced out to a 3-1 lead thanks to a double from James Papidimitriou and Joshua Sabidussi.

The visitors were all over United in the opening 15 minutes and had two goals to thank for it.

During a corner scramble, Joshua McMonagle-Ihasz managed to cleanly drive a low ball to the backpost for Papadimitriou to tap in.

The striker got his second from another tap-in several minutes later when Sabidussi's strike smashed off both posts before Papadimitriou knocked in the rebound.

United kept itself in the game when Patrick Thiakane delivered the perfect cross for Chalk-Hatton to head in past Zebras goalkeeper Nikola Kostadinovski's near post.

There was a heart-in-the-mouth moment when United custodian Alex Connell gave the ball straight to Papadimitriou in his own box.

But he recovered quickly by making a lovely diving save.

The Zebras took their chances as the tide was going against them in the second period when Sabidussi pounced on Michael Godfrey's poor back pass header to nudge it past Connell. 

It seemed the game was over as United lost its structure and fluency.

Yet the comeback was back on when Box Hill scored a goal that was reminiscence of its first. 

A quick throw in saw Thiakane burst down the wing and give another lovely cross for Chalk-Hatton to header in. 

United was galvanised and continued to bomb forwards in the hopes to snatch a point.

It was rewarded when Michael Kariuki beat his marker to laid the ball off to the running Chalk-Hatton, who pushed off his defender and rolled the ball into the net.

Moreland was shell-shocked with the late goals and couldn't contain United, who sense that the Zebras had lost their composure.

The extraordinary comeback was complete when Surdoski blasted a strike from the edge of the box right into the top corner to the euphoria and delirium of the United crowd. 

 

Match details:

Box Hill United 4 (Travis Chalk-Hatton 24’, 81’, 85’, Nikola Surdoski 91’) defeated Moreland Zebras 3 (James Papidimitriou 8’, 15’, Joshua Sabidussi 60’) at Wembley Park

Box Hill United: 1: Alex CONNELL (GK), 2. Nikola SURDOSKI, 18: Joey CALDERONE, 25: Michael GODFREY, 15. Chris PAGE, 17: Aaron PORCARO, 21: Travis CHALK-HATTON, 8. Caleb LUDLOW (12. Imran SANKOH 93’), 23: Dillon JAKUPI (30. Ollie PATERNO 60’), 14. John LUCAS (7. Patrick THIAKANE 13’), 19. Michael KARIUKI

Unused Subs: 35. Sam GRIGGS, 6. Luca PRESUM

Yellow Cards: CHALK-HATTON 85’, SURDOSKI 91’

Moreland Zebras: 1. Nikola KOSTADINOSKI, 2. Simon SYMEOY, 3. Johnny CRIVELLI (15. William NYTTAL 65’), 6. Adam CENTOFANTI, 8. Joshua MCMUNGLE-IHASZ, 14. James PAPADIMITRIOU, 16. Mile MEDJEDEVIC, 20. Baggio YOUSIF, 22. Ryan MURRAY, 23. Joshua BERRIOS, 24. Joshua SABIDUSSI (11. Bale MICOVSKI 75’)

Unused Subs: 21. Aleksandar STOZANJOVSKI, 17. Christopher TRYANTAFILOPOULOUS, 19. Adam TUSCAN

Yellow Cards: SABIDUSSI 51’