By Lucas Pavlidis (@LucasPavlidis)

Bulleen recovered from an early deficit to record a 3-1 win over a struggling FC Bendigo at David Barro Stadium on Saturday evening.

The home fans were silenced early when Bulleen conceded after a mistake was punished with a great strike from 25 yards.

Bedigo’s George Slefendorfas controlled the ball after it was given away by Bulleen captain Matteo Ballan, and an unaware Jamie Maclaren could do nothing to stop the strike which dipped over his head and into the net.

After going behind, chances began to come thick and fast for Bulleen, which for 10 minutes pressed Bendigo and was eventually rewarded for its efforts through midfielder Alex Dao.

Dao was quickest to react to a blocked shot from striker Paul Harvey, tucking the ball home from close range to restore parity.

Bendigo continued to threaten the Bulleen goal, soaking up the home side’s pressure and breaking at the opportune moment, and could have hit the lead if it wasn’t for some excellent goalkeeping from Maclaren.

Immediately after the break, Bulleen wasted no time making its intent known.

Davide Cardamone’s clever cross from the left was almost turned in by a Bendigo defender, who was unable to deal with the pace and difficult bounce of the ball across goal.

Paul Harvey again looked to trouble Bendigo, but it was a penalty which broke the deadlock in what was a very open encounter.

Joseph Katebian’s corner was adjudged to be handled on the line by a Bendigo defender, with the linesman on the far side flagging for a penalty. After deliberation with the referee the spot kick was given, and Harvey’s low drive found the bottom-left hand corner with ease to make it 2-1 in the 65th minute.

With the game nearing it’s completion, Bendigo almost got one back.

A corner whipped in found the head of Amara Kromah, whose free header cannoned off the crossbar.

Both Kromah and Slefendorfas troubled Bulleen throughout the evening, with their pace and strength major positives for Bendigo on the counter attack.

Katebian then sealed the deal for Bulleen with a well-taken strike with less than 10 minutes to go, adding to his impressive tally for the season.

Despite the win, Bulleen coach Fabrizio Soncin believed his side made the night more difficult than it should have been.

“We knew what we had to do, we knew how we had to do it, but it was difficult to get in the right headspace to do that. I think that was part of our problem,” Soncin said.

“We wanted to play the ball quicker, but ended up turning over possession. We got caught on the counter attack and just made life a bit more difficult for ourselves.”
Bendigo’s Matthew Breeze was left dejected.

“We knew Bulleen were a good side and we gave them respect. I thought in the first 15 minutes we kind of contained their pressure, but it’s a 90-minute game,” Breeze said.

“You can say unlucky. If hitting the crossbar is unlucky, then we’ve been unlucky a lot. You can’t put our record down to ‘unlucky’, we need to take and score our chances and until then we’ll be in the same position.”

Match Details

FC Bulleen Lions 3 (Dao 23’, Harvey 65’, Katebian 83’) defeated FC Bendigo 1 (Slefendorfas 6’) at David Barro Stadium [HT:1-1]

FC Bulleen Lions: 43. Fraser MACLAREN, 2. Dean ROMAS, 4. Sam BORGHESI, 5. Lewis WADDELL, 6. Alex DAO, 8. Matteo BALLAN (19. Joshua SABIDUSSI 66’), 10. Takanori NISHIMOTO, 12. Matt DIMECH (9. Bardhi HYSOLI 60’), 20. Davide CARDAMONE, 21. Paul HARVEY (13. Dean LORENZI 89’), 33. Joseph KATEBIAN

Unused Subs: 42. Gian TAPIA

Yellow Cards: 5. Lewis WADDELL 40’

Red Cards: None.

FC Bendigo: 1. Sebastian MATTEI, 2. Tom SHAPER, 4. Aaron COHEN, 5. Josh ROMEIN, 6. Alon BLUMGART, 7. Trent WATERSON, 8. Viktor RODRIGUEZ (22. Chris XERRI 79’), 9. George SLEFENDORFAS, 10. Matthew BREEZE, 11. Amara KROMAH (15. Zack KINSMAN 87’), 16. Steve MARTIN

Unused Subs: 3. Daniel REES, 12. Josh NAUNTON, 17. Jonathan RYAN

Yellow Cards: None

Red Cards: None