By Lucas Pavlidis (@LucasPavlidis)

A dominant Bulleen has taken all three points at home against Springvale White Eagles thanks to an inspired performance from in-form striker Joey Katebian.

The striker netted four of Bulleen’s five goals in the 5-2 win at David Barro Stadium.

The home side began the brightest and punished Springvale in the opening minutes to take the lead.

Katebian played the ball in to Takanori Nishimoto on the edge of the box, with the number ten doing well to roll his defender and give the ball back to the striker who finished with ease on his left foot.

An equaliser came shortly after though via a lively Dejan Erakovic, who was on hand to tap in a shot from teammate Jamie De Smit which was spilled to the ‘keeper and fell kindly for the forward to tie things up.

Springvale was unlucky to not take an early lead after it found momentum from the equaliser. Waves of attacks came down Bulleen’s left wing, with Vojislav Milojevic’s pace proving a great tool for the White Eagles.

Bulleen then made its opponents pay for some sloppy defending. A misguided pass fell to Nishimoto who reacted quickest to slide through Josh Sabidussi, whose shot rebounded off the inside of the post and into the back of the net to give the Lions the lead after 20 minutes.

Midway through the first half, Springvale had a chance to equalise again through Erakovic, who was played through by De Smit in a one-on-one opportunity, but his shot was dragged just wide.

The halftime whistle drew a frantic opening to a close, with Springvale creating and squandering numerous chances.

The early stages of the second half failed to ignite, but the high tempo soon returned in the 62nd minute, with Katebian netting a brace after some more fine work from Nishimoto.

Nishimoto left his pursuer with no chance on the left win, with his resulting cross finding Katebian, whose glancing header was perfectly placed to extend Bulleen’s lead to 3-1.

Bulleen’s lead was again pegged back by a determined Springvale.

Milojevic used his pace down the wing and cut inside, his pass expertly controlled by De Smit who improvised well by hitting the ball on the volley in full stride past Bulleen ‘keeper Fraser Maclaren.

At 3-2 the White Eagles looked straight back in it, until Katebian scored a magnificent volley from the outside of the box which looped over the goalkeeper’s head to complete his hat-trick.

A dejected Springvale threw everything at Bulleen but was unable to take the countless chances it created.

On the cusp of full time, Katebian capped off his man-of-the-match performance with his fourth and final goal, a perfectly placed effort from outside of the box finding the bottom right-hand corner to cap off a remarkable individual performance.

Springvale manager Zlatko Mihaljovic was dejected after being unsure that the end result was indicative of his side’s performance.

“I don’t think it was a reflection of the score. We gave them some Christmas presents today and they were fortunate that we were a little bit sloppy,” Mihaljovic said.

“On our behalf we have to take away the positives, we created a lot of chances but just weren’t clinical.”

An ecstatic Katebian was pleased with how and his teammates built on their 9-0 Dockerty Cup win over Westvale from last week.

“I think the boys worked well tonight. We played the ball around well and got some consistency from the Dockerty Cup win on Wednesday night,” Katebian said.

The striker wasn’t shy of announcing his goalscoring exploits.

“I’ve scored every week, but one. I’m proud of the lads, the coaching staff is awesome. We’ve been working hard, we knew it was a big game, we had to get up and we did.”

MATCH DETAILS

FC Bulleen Lions (Katebian 4’ 63’ 78’ 90’, Sabidussi 15’) defeated Springvale White Eagles (Erakovic 8’, De Smit 66’) (HT 2-1) at David Barro Stadium – Veneto Club [HT: 2-1]

FC Bulleen Lions: Fraser MACLAREN, Dean ROMAS, Lewis WADDEL,  Alex DAO, Matteo BALLAN (Sam Borghesi 78’), Bardhi HYSOLI, Taka NISHIMOTO, Matt DIMECH, Edison PONARI (Davide CARDAMONE 46’),  Joshua SABIDUSSI (Paul Harvey 54’, Joseph KATEBIAN

Unused Subs: Gian TAPIA

Yellow Cards: Dean ROMAS 42’, Lewis WADDELL 87’

Red Cards: None

Springvale White Eagles: Bojan TOMIC, Joey CALDERONE (Ryan DON PAUL 46’), Simo JOVANOVIC, Scott MILLAR,  Slavisa SARIC, Marcus HOLMES,  Abel FESSEHA, Paul MAGHIAR (Hamish MILLAR 55’), Jamie DE SMIT, Vojislav MILOJEVIC, Dejan ERAKOVIC

Unused Subs: Anthony CASSET, Keletso MTHEMBU, Michael MILLAR

Yellow Cards: None

Red Cards: None

Image credit: Aleksandar Jason Photography