By Kristian Stojanov (@kikocez)

Whittlesea Ranges claimed its second win of the season on Monday night, defeating a wasteful Kingston City 4-2 at The Grange Reserve.

A Tomislav Trbuhovich brace and goals to Matthew Iuliano and Kliment Dimitrieski cancelled out Gino Defeo’s brace, as the Ranges broke their seven-game winless streak.

As the wet and windy conditions started to take their toll, it didn’t take long for Kingston to create the first chance when Max Etheridge fired just wide of the post three minutes in.

Kingston was dominating the opening affairs and had another glorious opportunity after eight minutes when Nicholas Stamatiou fired his rocket shot straight into the arms of Ranges ‘keeper Lascaris.

Ten minutes in however, Kingston thought it finally had broken the deadlock when a cross from the right-hand side by Velibor Mitrovic found an unmarked Etheridge in the six-yard box, only for him to blaze his tap in over the bar.

The deadlock was finally broken after 22 minutes but it was the visiting Ranges who took the lead after a poor clearance from James Karvelis landed straight into the path of Trbuhovich, who calmly slotted the ball past Sadikovski.

Kingston was back on level terms a minute later when a free kick just outside the box was delivered to the head of Stamatiou, who then flicked it on in the path of Defeo to tap in the equaliser.

With halftime approaching, the Ranges started to find their feet and took the lead once again when a superb run from Daniel Peluso down the right-hand side found an unmarked Trbuhovich in the box, who fired the ball home into an empty net.

Whittlesea came out firing after the break and with just three minutes into the second half, a blistering shot from Iuliano found the bottom left-hand corner to give the visitors hope of securing that all important victory.

Just five minutes later, the Ranges secured all three points when Dimitrieski turned his defender and curled the ball around the helpless Sadikovski into the net, much to the delight of the travelling supporters.

Whittlesea continued to control the second half and thought it had a fifth when a cross-cum-shot from Dimitrieski just outside the box grazed the bar and then smacked the post, much to the relief of the Kingston team.

A defensive lapse in concentration brought Kingston back into the game with 15 minutes left when ‘keeper Sadikovski cleared the ball all the way through to Stelios Konstandinidis, who then cut back it back to an unmarked Defeo, who calmly slotted it home to restore the faith.

With 10 minutes left, Whittlesea finally thought it had the all-important fifth goal when a through ball by Iuliano found the fast paced Peluso, who then rounded the Kingston ‘keeper only to have his shot hit the side netting.

The win sees Whittlesea move within four points of 12th-placed Dandenong City, as it prepares for a long road trip to face the in-form FC Bendigo on Saturday night.

Kingston will host Moreland Zebras on Monday night.

MATCH DETAILS

Kingston City 2 (Defeo 23’, 74’) lost to Whittlesea Ranges 4 (Trbuhovich 22’, 39’, Iuliano 48’, Dimitrieski 53’) at The Grange Reserve [HT:1-2]

Kingston City: 26. Sermin SADIKOVSKI (GK), 2. Peter LORD, 4. James KARVELIS, 5. Kemal CURAN, 19. Andrew DOIG (8. Lukas PEDDER 62'), 7. Velibor MITROVIC, 9. Max ETHERIDGE, 14. Arthur PAPADOPOULOS (12. Stelios KONSTANTINIDIS 55’), 15. Gino DEFEO, 16. Nick STAMATIOU, 17. Deniz SABANOVSKI

Unused substitutes: 10. John MACLEAN, 13. Nicholas WOODARD (GK), 11. George STAVRIDIS

Yellow card(s): Stelios KONSTANTINIDIS (82’)

Red card(s): None

Whittlesea Ranges: 1. Gregory LASCARIS (GK), 6. Andrew TAYLOR, 9. Kliment DIMITRIESKI, 3. Berkam YURBAKUL, 10. Matthew IULIANO, 13. Adem MUSTEDANAGIC (25. Daniel GIOGHA 59’), 14. Daniel PELUSO (17.Giordano COSTANZA 86’), 18. Nicholas SARBIN, 15. John REALE, 23. Daniel SOTIROPOULOS, 12. Tomislav TRBUHOVICH (24. Rami MUSTAFOVSKI 91’)

Unused subs: 20. Chris STOJCEVSKI, 2. Dianoush RASOULZADEN- SEYSAN (GK)

Yellow card(s): 10. Matthew IULIANO (60’), 25. Daniel GIOGHA (72’)

Red card(s): None