By Shaun Moran (@moranshaun)

 

A well-oiled Whittlesea Ranges side has inflicted another loss on Sunshine George Cross, running out 4-0 victors at Epping Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Vinko Buljubasic’s charges wasted no time putting daylight between themselves and the visiting Georgeys and continued to inflict more misery on the visitors to end up comfortable winners.

It didn’t take long for the first goal to settle the nerves and its preparation resembled something straight from the training track.

Atila Ofli’s lateral pass out to Matthew Iuliano set the youngster on his way, before he squared a ball to the foot of new boy Danny Barakat, who made no mistake stabbing the ball into the net with aplomb.

The game’s turning point came just prior to the interval when Sunshine keeper Robert Santilli had a brain meltdown and took down Giosue Tolomeo from behind with a tackle that wouldn’t be out of place on a rugby pitch after the ball had already gone dead.

Santilli’s dismissal paved the way for the Ranges to notch up their second just prior to the break. It was the Tolomeo/Ofli combination on this occasion, which gave rise to goal number two after the former fed the latter before drilling the ball home.

The hosts started the second half as they ended it, getting on the front foot from the get-go. Ofli almost added what would have been the sealer with a strike that sailed marginally past the right upright after holding his man at bay.

Ofli wasn’t to be denied shortly after though when he was sharp enough to get onto the end of a perfectly weighted pass from defence.

The diminutive forwrard’s first touch was heavy but he soon steadied himself to lavishly lob the ball with the outside of his right boot into the back of the net.

Tolomeo wrapped up proceedings five minutes later after dispatching the ball into the top corner from outside the 18-yard area to round out a successful day for the hosts.

They now take on GVS in Shepparton on Sunday afternoon, while the Georgies will hope to relaunch their season against the Eastern Lions on Saturday.

 

MATCH DETAILS

Whittlesea Ranges 4 (Barakat 6’, Ofli 45’, 64’, Tolomeo 75’) defeated Sunshine George Cross 0 at Epping Stadium.

Whittlesea Ranges: 1. Gian TAPIA, 19. Adem MUSTADANAGIC, 6. Andrew TAYLOR, 20. Tobias HAGELE, 13. Ilhan ALTUNTAS, 4. Mario PIRAINO (2. Pavle DURKIC 80’), 17. Stefan BARICEVIC, 8. Danny BARAKAT (15. Matthew KUNDEVSKI 73’), 10. Matthew IULIANO, 25. Attila OFLI, 23. Giosue TOLOMEO (9. Daniel PELUSO).

Unused subs: 27. Jarrod HILL, 5. Daniel SOTIROPOULOS.

Yellow Card: Nil

Red Card (s): Nil

 

Sunshine George Cross: 1. Robert SANTILLI, 3. Martin MASON, 5. Christopher DIB, 13. Liam O’CONNELL (21. James KAPURANOVSKI 44’), 4. Brandon SCERRI, 8. Slaven VRANESEVIC (7. Daniel HUTCHINSON 55’), 18. Denis DASOUL, 12. Chris OGHANNA, 19. Ayodeji OMOBOYE, 10. Adrian LOGOZZO, 9. Bozidar LOJANICA (80’).

Unused subs: 16. Adrian BOGLIS, 14. Samuel McCALL.

Yellow Card: Omoboye (28’)

Red Card: Santilli (43’)