Toumanidis stunner leads Lions to victory
By Marc Sudholz (@marc014)
Eastern Lions has continued its perfect start to the NPL 1 East, convincingly beating Kingston City 4-2 at Gardiners Creek Reserve on a beautiful Sunday afternoon for football.
Goals from Yianni Toumanidis, William Ellis, and a Ziggy Razuki brace were enough for the Lions to secure the three points.
Despite starting the stronger of the two sides, Eastern found itself behind after only seven minutes. Damian Iaconis rose highest from a corner to give Kingston the lead.
The Lions responded to the goal in the best way possible.
On 20 minutes, the ball deflected to Toumanidis, who shot from 40 yards. His left-footed rocket soared in via the crossbar, leaving Fraser McLaren in the goal with no chance.
Both teams then tried to retake the lead, but it would be the home side that broke the deadlock.
A goalmouth scramble was unable to be cleared by Kingston, and the ball finally fell to wing back Ellis, who tucked home from close range.
Kingston then had two good chances to equalise, denied twice by brilliant keeping from Robert Havercroft, first denying Iaconis, then thwarting a Sean McIlroy effort.
On the stroke of half time, Kingston was made to pay for its wastefulness.
A stunning one-two between Razuki and livewire Munyaradzi Nyadzayo saw the former played in on goal, and he made no mistake, calmly slotting past McLaren with his left foot to put the home side two up.
The game was more subdued in the second half, neither side able to keep up the intensity of the first.
On 65 minutes, there was a glimmer of hope for Kingston, as Iaconis headed home from a Deniz Sabanovski corner to half the deficit.
However, just five minutes later, Razuki scored his second of the game to put the contest beyond doubt.
The winger was found in acres of space by Mitch Beamish, before calmly taking the chance on his left, firing across McLaren into the bottom right corner.
Kingston nearly got a third with 15 minutes to play, but Iaconis was denied brilliantly by Havercroft.
The home side saw it out, to remain top of the NPL 1 East.
Match Details
Eastern Lions 4 (Toumanidis 20’, Ellis 32’ Razuki 45’, 70’) Defeated Kingston City 2 (Iaconis 7', 65’) at Gardiners Creek Reserve
Eastern Lions XI: 1: Robert HAVERCROFT (GK), 2: William ELLIS, 3: Matthew PARRY, 4: Chris PAGE, 5: Thomas FALCONER, 6: Andrew WILLIAMS, 7: Ziggy RAZUKI (12: David MCKESSY 84’), 8: Mitch BEAMISH, 10: Philip AJAO, 11: Munyaradzi NYADZAYO, 15: Yianni Toumanidis (16: Shaun KENNY 75’)
Unused Subs: 9: Daniel RODRIGUES, 21: Andrew LIGHTFOOT
Yellow Cards: Razuki 87’
Red Cards: None.
Kingston City XI: 1: Fraser MCLAREN (GK), 17: Laurent CORALIE (6: Nicholas MODAFFARI 46’), 3: Kenal CURRAN, 4: James KARVELIS, 5: Nicholas TEICHMAN, 14: Damian IACONIS, 8: Deniz SABANOVSKI (19: Andrew DOIG 78), 16: Nicholas STANTINOU, 10: Jamie DE SMIT(7: Benjamin OSEI-SAFU 71’), 11: Stelios KONSTANTINIDIS , 22: Sean MCILROY
Unused Subs: 13: Douglas LINDBERG (GK), 15: Gino DEFEO
Yellow Cards: Doig 87’
Red Cards: None.
Comments
Comment Guidelines: The SportsTG Network is made up of players, families and passionate sports followers like you who have a strong opinion about sport. That's great - we want you to have your say and share your thoughts with the world. However, we have a few rules that you must follow to keep it fun for all. Please don't be rude, abusive, swear or vilify others. Apart from some pretty serious sport sanctions, we also can ban you and report you if things get out of hand. So play fair and have fun, and thanks for your contribution.