By Christopher Hearn (@_chrishearn)

Barry Devlin and Sean McIlroy did the damage for St Albans Saints in a 2-1 triumph over a resilient Brunswick City at Dunstan Reserve.



Michael Varkopoulos's consolation penalty proved to be too little too late as the Saints consolidated its push for a promotion to the NPL.

Toby Paterson's side controlled possession in the early stages with Devlin creating an extra man in midfield with intelligent link play.

NPL1 Player of the month, Brodie Paterson continued his good form as he tested Mason Interlandi from 25 yards, but the visitors struggled to create anything substantial.



Most of the Saints' play was running through Devlin, and the striker was rewarded in the 32nd minute as the impressive Ryan McGuffie's pinpoint cross found Devlin's glancing side-foot, and the ball found its way past Interlandi.

Brunswick coach Joe De Martino was visibly disappointed after conceding such a relatively simple goal, and his troops rallied before half time but struggled to release the pacy Sam Mazzolini or Amara Kromah to properly ease the pressure.

The Saints bench called upon McIlroy shortly after half-time in place of Nicholas Cullen, and the move paid dividends on 57 minutes.

The burly striker capitalised on a defensive mix-up and charged into the vacant space straight from a Stuart Webster goal kick, and completed a relatively easy finish past the onrushing Interlandi.

The classy ball retention shown by the hosts helped run down the clock, but De Martino called upon the services of Varkopoulos and Baggio Yusuf which opened up the contest at both ends.

The young side has been criticised for its naivety in defending, but few could begrudge the positive approach.

After the 8-0 thrashing at the hands of Bulleen last week, this was a commendable and brave move by the Brunswick manager.


Kromah's determined run and cross fed Mazzolini, whose first-time effort was blocked by Ross Harvey six yards from goal.

The referee then pointed to the spot with four minutes remaining after a fairly innocuous looking shirt-tug in the area.

Substitute Varkopoulos was given the task of beating Webster from 12 yards and he did so to give the bottom-placed side hope leading into the final stages, but the Saints held on to keep its promotion hopes alive.

Paterson was pleased with the way his side controlled the match.

"We kept the ball well, and even if we didn't get three or four goals, well, I can only praise their goalkeeper," Paterson said.

"I've asked the boys to give me nine points out of nine to keep us in the hunt, and they've done that."



Joe De Martino praised his side after finding themselves 2-0 down.

"I'm glad the boys showed the guts to get back into the game, and if we found the goal 10 minutes earlier, maybe we could have got a shock result," De Martino said.

"Today, we needed to play for pride. On Monday we were embarrassed and we're better than that."

MATCH DETAILS

Brunswick City 1 (Varkopoulos 86') defeated by St Albans Saints (Devlin 32', Mcilroy 57') at Dunstan Reserve [HT 1-0]

Brunswick City: 1. Mason INTERLANDI, 24. Sam MAZZOLINI, 99. Dimitri VITHOULKAS, 16. Rikiya KITAMI, 2. Seamus CARR, 8. Nick TEREZAKIS, 45. George MARKELIS (9. Baggio YOUSIF 66'), 14. Denis SADIK (11. Admir KOVAKOVIC 87'), 31. Simon STANKOVSKI, 55. Lachlan SMALE, 29. Amara KROMAH (3. Michael VARKOPOULOS 76')

Unused subs: 25. Alex GIANNETTA

Yellow Cards: Nick TEREZAKIS 10', Amarah KROMAH 73'

Red Cards: None

St Albans Saints: 1. Stuart WEBSTER (GK), 2. Ryan MCGUFFIE, 4. Barry DEVLIN (16. Ajak PANEK 76’), 5. Felix ROSMAN, 18. Tedros YABIO, 8. Ross HARVEY, 10. Brodie PATERSON, 14. Christopher ROSS, 17. Adam NAKIC, 15. Konrad DOBRASZKIEWICZ (11. Yusef YUSEF 54’), 13. Nicholas CULLEN (9. Sean MCILROY 57’)

Unused subs: 12. Chol NYOK, 21. Tonio BARESIC

Yellow Cards: Tedros YABIO 43'

Red Cards: None

Image credit: Roberto Filitti