Mark Gojszyk (@hahahamark)

St Albans Saints flexed its muscle and made amends for last week’s disappointing home loss, overcoming Whittlesea Ranges 3-1 away at Epping Stadium on Friday night.
 
Having gone behind in just the third minute of the game to a Kliment Dimitrieski strike, the Saints bounced back almost immediately to equalize through Sean McIlroy.
 
Stronger and more composed than its less experienced opponents, the visitors struck twice in the second half, with long-range goals to Martin Mason and Jake Nakic sealing a convincing victory.
 
The match started in a flurry with St. Albans pressing high and getting through on goal in the first minute, but Whittlesea ‘keeper Ante Raspudic was up to the task, parrying the ball to safety.
 
Just minutes later, the ball was in the back of the net at the other end, as Daniel Peluso’s through ball beat defender Barry Devlin and found Dimitrieski, who coolly slotted home the first goal of the game.
 
St. Albans kept attacking and equalised soon after. Nicholas Sarbin was caught dribbling in defence and was stripped of the ball, which landed at the feet of Sean McIlroy, who tucked it past Raspudic.
 
The teams went tit for tat for the rest of the half, but neither could make the decisive breakthrough.
 
Whittlesea spurned two chances to take the lead when Matthew Iuliano shot wide and Mark Vangeli headed high.
 
McIlroy and Juso Julardzija were constant threats for the visitors, with the latter shooting agonisingly wide just before the half hour mark.
 
Daniel Gioghia had the best chance to put Whittlesea in front, with his twinkle toes getting him past two defenders and into the box, but his resulting shot was tipped wide by Stjepan Gal.
 
Not to be outdone, Ryan McGuffie then had St Albans’ best chance to take the lead just before the break, but his header from a corner was desperately cleared on the line.
 
The second half started the same way the first one ended, with a McIlroy header from a corner also blocked on the line, this time by John Reale.
 
St Albans took the lead in the 60th minute when Mason took a chance from range and scored a goal. Raspudic got a fingertip on the shot, but couldn’t prevent the ball from going into the net.
 
Just after the restart Whittlesea thought it had the chance to equalise from the spot, but a foul seemingly inside the box was deemed by the referee to have occurred outside of it, and the resulting set piece was cleared by the Saints.
 
A set piece at the other ended up being the home side’s undoing, as Nakic fired in a curling free kick that again brushed the fingers of Raspudic and bounced into the net.
 
Craig Sweeney had a chance to make it four for the visitors, dribbling into the box and shooting, but this time Raspudic managed to palm the ball to safety.
 
The last 20 minutes were a formality for St Albans, happy to knock the ball around and suffocate Whittlesea’s supply.
 
Danek had the last chance to put the finishing touches on the game, but missed just wide.

Whittlesea coach Vinko Buljubasic believed St Albans made his youthful side pay for critical errors.

"St Albans are a good side, a very experienced side, and we got punished," Buljubasic said.

"There were a few mistakes we made and it was hard to come back from."

St Albans coach Toby Paterson was pleased with the way his team bounced back from last week's loss to Avondale Heights.

"It was disappointing to lose last week, I thought we should've won that game, but this week I thought we responded terrifically," Paterson said.

"We said we'd attack here tonight from the start. We changed the formation after we went down a goal and again the boys responded well."

MATCH DETAILS

Whittlesea Ranges 1 (Dimitrieski 3’) defeated by St Albans Saints 3 (McIlroy 11’, Mason 60’, Nakic 65’) at Epping Stadium [HT 1:1]
 
Whittlesea Ranges: 1. Ante RASPUDIC [GK], 3. Berkam YURKADUL (20. Christopher STOJCEVSKI 44’), 4. Mark VANGELI, 23. Daniel SOTIROPOULIS, 15. John REALE, 14. Daniel PELUSO, 18. Nicholas SARBIN, 25. Danel GIOGHA (7. Jarrod DEL MONACO 66’), 10. Matthew IULIANO, 9. Kliment DIMITRIESKI, 5. Ahmet TURER (16. Mile RISTOV 66’)
 
Unused Subs: 2. Lachlan STAGG [GK], 24. Rami MUSTAFOSKI
 
Yellow Cards: GIOGHA 63’
 
Red Cards: None
 
St Albans Saints: 1. Stjepan GAL [GK], 4. Barry DEVLIN, 2. Ryan McGUFFIE, 17. Adam NAKIC, 13. Nicholas CULLEN (11. Ryan BALDACCHINO 55’), 15. Konrad DOBRASZKIEWICZ, 8. Craig SWEENEY (12. Liam FRANCI 90+1’), 6. Martin MASON, 10. Brodie PATERSON, Sean McILROY, 7. Juso JULARDZIJA (16. Ajak PANEK 59’)
 
Unused Subs: 21. Tonio BARESIC [GK], 14. Christopher ROSS
 
Yellow Cards: CULLEN 33’, DOBRASZKIEWICZ 46’, DEVLIN 54’