By Lucas Pavlidis (@LucasPavlidis)

Bulleen have taken a massive three points against Box Hill United as the race for second heats up in NPL1.

Striker Joey Katebian grabbed both goals in a match of few chances, sealing the game late on with a strike in the 95th minute.

The race for second spot is still on for either side, with Avondale Heights leading the charge in first with an 11 point difference from second spot.

With North Geelong and Richmond both recording wins in the hunt for promotion this weekend, the win for Bulleen was imperative to keep up the pressure.

Box Hill began brightly through Kenjok Athiu finding space down Bulleen’s left hand side.

 His surging run within the first few minutes found the by-line where the attacker manufactured a delightful ball into the box, with no team-mates in support.

Similarly to Athiu, Bulleens Takanori Nishimoto was also creating havoc.

Athiu had Box Hill’s best chance of the game via a free-kick from the right hand side of midfield.

The striker dived forward to head the ball as it fell short, but the resulting effort flew slightly over the cross bar.

Nishimoto was finding space in behind United’s defence, and Bulleen were lucky to not have scored on numerous occasions after a handful of early goal-scoring opportunities.

Bulleen eventually broke the deadlock in the 40th minute mark.

A move engineered through the perseverance of Nishimoto, whose never-say-die attitude combined with Katebian’s classy glancing header to take their side into the break 1-0 to the good.

Nishimoto refused to give up a seemingly-dead ball on the left side of midfield, before breaking away with his pace and cutting back on his right foot to deliver a ball that Katebian met while running toward the front post, losing his marker and glancing the header into the back post past a diving Alexander Pavlidis.

Bulleen and Nishimoto began the second half as they finished the first.

The midfielder’s pace was proving too much for United who failed to deal with him on a number of occasions.

Box Hill did create a chance through Chris Irwin, and he would have been through on goal if it weren’t for the quick defending of Dylan Bresolin who quickly closed down the attack.

Athiu too looked to be clear on goal after evading two challenges smartly from a desperate Bulleen back four, only to finally be halted by Matt Dimech, whose tackle stopped another goal scoring opportunity for the away side.

A nervous final ten minutes for Bulleen followed, with Box Hill pressing high and looking for an equaliser.

With the final whistle beckoning and the game deep into time added on, Katebian popped up once again to put a final nail in the coffin for Box Hill, and consolidate all three points for his side.

The striker was played through by substitute Gianni De Nittis, and Katebian’s power proved too much for the final Box Hill defender.

Katebian powerfully struck home past Pavlidis with one of the last kicks of the game to increase his goal-scoring tally.

Bullen coach Fabrizio Soncin was delighted with his side’s efforts in what could prove to be a highly important match.

“We did what we had to do to win the game. We knew everything was on the line, we needed to find something extra and we did,” Soncin said.

Soncin reinforced that promotion is where he is aiming and he believes his side can get there.

“It’s where we want to be. That’s where we want to go, and im not afraid to say that. We just have to take it one game at a time and that’s all there is to it,” he said.

Conversely, Box Hill coach Arthur Georgiou could only define his side’s performance as “insipid.”

“The majority of players in the first half didn’t even come close in what we wanted to achieve. It wasn’t just because of us, I believe it may have been because of how effective Bulleen were,” Georgiou said.

Georgiou stressed the possibility of a weak mindset within his players with the race for second well and truly on.

“I think that’s the problem. I think some of them thought that tonight wasn’t critical enough. That because it is close, and they do the maths, a loss means we’re still there with seven or so games to go,” he said.

“A weak mindset definitely. If that’s how committed they are to try and achieve what we set out to how we want to play our football, then they’re a long way off.”

Match Details

FC Bulleen Lions 2 (Katebian 40’, 90+5’) defeated Box Hill United 0 at David Barro Stadium. [HT1-0]

FC Bulleen Lions: 43. Matthew BANOVIC, 2. Dean ROMAS, 4. Sam BORGHESI, 6. Alex DAO, 8. Matteo BALLAN, 9. Bardhi HYSOLI, 10. Takanori NISHIMOTO, 12. Matt DIMECH, 21. Kristian SARKIES (11. Gianni DE NITTIS 85’), 31. Dylan BRESOLIN (14. Edison PONARI 65’), 33. Joseph KATEBIAN

Unused Subs: 29. Matthew AUGELLO, 41. Carlo COSTA

Yellow Cards: Katebian 79’
Red Cards: None

Box Hill United: 35. Alexander PAVLIDIS, 42. Michael GERACE (8. Amgad MARIEH 51’), 23. Josh VALADON, 22. Nick KOKALAKIS, 14. Kenjok ATHIU, 12. Adrian DEL MONACO, 10. Rinor MURIQI (29. George HOWARD 61’), 26. Aaron PORCARO (3. Matt COLLIER 75’), 7. Damien PETERS, 5. Alex SCHROEN, 4. Chris IRWIN

Unused Subs: 1. Alexander CONNEL, 16. Christian LAR

Yellow Cards: None
Red Cards: None