By Andrew Bishara (@_andrewbishara)

Pascoe Vale recorded its third consecutive victory with a 2-0 win over Port Melbourne Sharks at JL Murphy Reserve on Friday night.

An effective performance by the visitors saw them take a stranglehold of the game, thanks to first half goals by Davey Van't Schip and Joseph Youssef.

The match followed the same pattern throughout with Port dominating possession and Pascoe Vale defending deep and playing on the counter.

It proved efficient as the visitors took the lead in the sixth minute when Van't Schip broke behind the Port defence to collect a long ball.

With Port 'keeper Adam Hrehoresin running out of his box, the striker calmly lobbed a lovely ball to make it 1-0.

The hosts responded with Lambros Honos missing a free header in the box and Kamal Ibrahim having his tight-angle shot saved by Pascoe Vale 'keeper Stefaan Sardelic.

But despite dominating possession, it was Pascoe Vale which produced a magnificent team move to score its second.

With two defenders on him, Van't Schip put a through ball out to winger Matthew Lazarides who dashed into the box before squaring it to the unmarked Yousseff.

The midfielder smashed the ball first time and despite Hrehoresin getting a hand to it, the ball bundled into the net.

As the second half commenced, Port came out strong with Amadu Koroma seeing his cross ricochet off the bar and Ibrahim dodging several players before firing wide.

However, Pascoe Vale regained its composure and should have buried the game when Van't Schip skipped past Hrehoresin only to see his rolling shot saved off the line by Christopher Grossman.

Try as it might Port could not break through a rock solid Pascoe Vale defence as the visitors took the points.

Port Melbourne boss Eric Vassiliadis praised his side, despite his charges failing to overcome Pascoe Vale’s game plan.

“For the bulk (of the contest), outstanding. [But] there was only one football team out there,” Vassiliadis said.

“It was embarrassing at one point. The possession and the rotations we were trying to do. They maybe came here with a game plan to score two cheap goals, park the bus and get the result.”

Pascoe Vale coach Vitale Ferrante was ecstatic about his side’s gutsy performance.

“It was a very effective performance,” Ferrante said.

“We were a little bit flat after the last three weeks, so we had to be effective. The boys stuck to the game plan well.”

Ferrante said his team didn’t come out to play negative football, but had to change its style to accommodate for the occasion.

“We weren’t trying to be negative, but we are playing away and trying to back up some really big performances,” he said.

“We had to make sure we were compact and organised and to play on the break. We don’t usually do it, but it worked well tonight.”

MATCH DETAILS

Port Melbourne Sharks 0 lost to Pascoe Vale 2 (Davey Van’t Schip 6’, Joseph Youssef 37’)

Port Melbourne: 1. Adam HREHORESIN (GK), 6. Christopher GROSSMAN, 17. Phillip RICCOBENE, 3. James RICCOBENE, 14. Kamal IBRAHIM, 7. Amadu KOROMA, 8. Alessandro VENEZIA, 4. John LAZARIDIS (10. Luka PRELEVIC 62’), 26. Lambros HONOS, 11. Nicholas KROUSORATIS (18. Joshua KWEIFIO-OKAI 81’), 27. Andrew MILICEVIC
Unused subs: 22. Alexander CONNELL, 15. Stefan NIGRO, 5. Nick TZOULIS
Yellow Cards: IBRAHIM ‘86

Red Cards: Nil.

Pascoe Vale: 1. Stefaan SARDELIC (GK) 2. Adrian TALARICO, 3. Nathan MEGIC, 4. Tomislav MILARDOVIC, 8. Joseph YOUSSEF, 10. Davey VAN’T SCHIP, 11. Jonathan VOULGARIS (18. Vladimir KHAMEES 83’), 13. Matthew LAZARIDES (7. Luca SANTILLI 51’), 14. Alvaro CARILLO, 15. Mark PISTININZI, 16. Marco SANTILLI (12. Eli LUTTMER 75’)

Unused subs: 19. Daniel HUTCHISON, 25. Yaren SOZER

Yellow Cards: MILARDOVIC ‘47

Red Cards: Nil.

Image credit: Jason Heidrich Photography