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PlayStation 4 NPL

By Mark Gojszyk

Pascoe Vale 3 (van’t Schip 2’ 30’, A. Nakic 51’) Northcote City 1 (Papadimitriou 73’)

Pascoe Vale made it two on the trot to distance themselves from relegation with a 3-1 win over 13th-placed Northcote.

It took just two minutes for Davey van’t Schip to slot the ball under Anthony Bouzanis for the lead.

Braedyn Crowley was coming off a five goal match against the Melbourne Knights, and Paco custodian Alex Pavlidis had to be on his guard to deny the front man from continuing his good form.

Yet it was van’t Schip who struck again after half an hour to double Pascoe Vale’s lead.

It was essentially game, set and match in the 51st when Adam Nakic rose to head Matt Lazarides’ corner into the goal to make it 3-1

While there was a glimmer of hope for Northcote after a James Papadimitriou goal in the 73rd minute, a second yellow card to Greg Lombardo minutes later dashed those hopes, and Pascoe Vale walked away 3-1 winners.

Bentleigh Greens 3 (Thurtell 25’, Lucas 47’, Paczkowski 71’) Avondale FC 1 (Germano 23’)

At Kingston Heath, the Greens looked to be struggling early from their midweek Westfield FFA Cup encounter against South Melbourne when Jonatan Germano struck in the 23rd minute.

However, going behind almost seemed to be the spark to light Bentleigh into life, with Matt Thurtell hitting back to equalise just moments later.

Lambros Honos was fresh from his break due to being cup tied, and he was a constant threat in attacking midfield playing in the likes of Ryan Paczkowski and Chris Lucas.

But it was Paczkowski who delivered to Lucas for a fantastic volleyed finish to then swing the pendulum in the hosts’ favour early in the second half.

Lucas then turned provider to Paczkowski, who finished home to seal the 3-1 victory.

Germano had the opportunity to give the hosts some late nerves, but his spot kick was saved and the follow up was missed.

Melbourne Victory 1 (Maclean [p] 42’) Richmond SC (Caniglia 2’, Msahli 14’, Barker-Daish 45’)

In a relegation six-pointer, Richmond got off to a flyer, with winger Alex Caniglia netting the opener for his side after just two minutes.

Sergio Msahli doubled the visitors’ advantage by poking home from close range – his first goal for his new club.

A reckless tackle from Bryan Bran – who was involved in Azagane’s goal – saw Victory go to the spot, with John Maclean making no mistake from the spot.

However, Jake Barker-Daish – captain on the day – was able to restore the two goal buffer with a curling free-kick on the stroke of half time.

Despite a few more opportunities at either end, the scores remained locked at 3-1, seeing Richmond consolidate the half-safety spot, while keeping Victory anchored to the bottom of the table.

Hume City 3 (Carley 17’ 75’, Trajceski 29’) Oakleigh Cannons 1 (Bosnjak 7’)

Oakleigh also looked fresh as they hit the front early against Hume City, however they were overrun by their opponents’ attacking outlets in a 3-1 loss at ABD Stadium.

It was Dusan Bosnjak who hit home his sixth goal in five games to give Oakleigh the lead within just eight minutes, having seen an earlier chance saved by Chris Oldfield.

Craig Carley found the back of the net for a third consecutive game in Hume colours to restore parity, putting home the rebound from Nick Hegarty’s initial shot.

Kristian Trajceski put Hume into the lead just before the half hour mark, while the Cannons hit back just before half-time, only for their goal to be scrapped after an offside flag.

Plenty of chances flowed at either end, however it was Carley at it again to seal the contest with just over 15 minutes remaining, put Hume temporarily over Heidelberg United and Green Gully into third place.

South Melbourne 1 (Schroen 16’) Bulleen Lions 0

South Melbourne bounced back from the mid-week heartbreak of an Westfield FFA Cup thrashing with an assured 1-0 win over Bulleen Lions.

It was Marcus Schroen who struck the only goal of the contest, netting in the 15th minute from close range following a corner, after his initial effort was blocked.

A hamstring injury to the far linesman, prompting a switch of officials proved a rare talking point in the first half, and so it proved for the full 90 minutes.

The result ensured South nabbed top spot back off Bentleigh, who were sitting on equal points with a superior goal difference.

Melbourne Knights 1 (Glavan 69’) Port Melbourne 0

Eric Vassiliadis’ men came to Somers Street seeking revenge after their opponents finished their Westfield FFA Cup Round of 32 hopes merely five days earlier.

Yet after a mostly uneventful first half, their task became all the more difficult when the referee drew red in the 56th minute after David Stirton’s late and reckless slide tackle through the legs of Robbie Zadworny – who has recently been back from a long-term injury.

Nick Glavan slotted the much deserved goal 13 minutes later, as the fullback cut inside the box and faked his shot multiple times before driving a low hit through the near post of Luke Gavalas.

Desperate efforts from the travellers late in the fixture saw countless free kicks and crosses swung into the box, but the 10 men could not find the equaliser, while the hosts weren’t able to land the killer blow either, settling for the one-goal win.

Heidelberg United 1 (Vargas [OG] 8’) Green Gully 1 (Boland 52’)

With Heidelberg and Green Gully facing each other, the opportunity came for one to pull ahead of the other and leapfrog Hume into third while keeping pace with the top two.

In the end, neither side could be separated in a result that ultimately favoured neither side.

The hosts hit the lead courtesy of an own goal to Roddy Vargas just eight minutes into the opening half, with Sean Ellis’ set pieces from the right causing all sorts of headaches early on.

While neither side could add to the scoreboard in the first half, the second largely paralleled that of the first.

The early goal came through Liam Boland in the 52nd minute, tapping home from close range after a corner situation was not dealt with by the hosts.

A rash challenge from Jay Davies on Les Doumbalis raised the ire of coach George Katsakis, whose frustration only rose when substitute Reuben Way was sent off late in the tie, as the game petered out to a draw.

PlayStation 4 NPL Women's

By Angela Christian-Wilkes

Calder United 1 (Crummer 53’) Alamein FC 1 (Vlajnic 67’)

Calder United have won at both their previous two clashes against Alamein this season, but the first half saw both struggling to create chances.

The game saw the return of Larissa Crummer from Matildas’ duty, which appeared to stir up Calder United’s defence.

She was often flanked by two players, leaving the wings bare for Hannah Keane and Melina Ayres to send in powerful crosses. However, the first half concluded with no visibly stronger opponent.

A solo sprint and finish from Crummer saw Alamein take the lead in the 53rd minute. She tore away from the defensive line to get one-on-one against 'keeper Beth Mason-Jones, then coolly slotted it past her.

Calder United equalised in the 67th minute with a free kick taken by Tyla Jay Vlajnic just shy of the 18-yard box.

With no wall in place, the direct shot came as a surprise to Alamein’s defence. Curving over players, the ball bounced off the cross bar and into goal out of Melissa Maziels’ reach.

Galaxy United FC 1 (Taranto 84’) Heidelberg United FC 1 (Gray)

Geelong Galaxy battled it out at home against Heidelberg United on Saturday evening.

The Warriors were able to achieve the upper hand by half time, with the consistently performing international Leigh Gray slotting away a goal.

Galaxy’s Melissa Taranto equalised with a goal in the 84th minute.

Box Hill United SC 2 (Vatcky 15’, Hubert 69’) Southern United FC 0

Southern United were unable to reverse their string of losses on Sunday as Box Hill United left Wembley Park with a 2-0 win.

Box Hill made a quick start. Kristina Hall fed a through ball directly to Elaina Vatcky’s feet, who outpaced Southern’s defence and scored with a carefully placed shot at the far right post.

In the 69th minute, Emily Littlewood sent a looping chip to Emily Hulbert at front post. Hulbert’s sharply headed the ball over into goal to make it 2-0.

FC Bulleen Lions 4 (Coppock 7' Pollock 26' Privitelli 56' Friend 67') Bayside United FC 1 (Harbis 47’)

Monday night saw Bulleen deliver a formidable performance that contrasted sharply with their loss last week to Box Hill.

In the 6th minute, Jamie Pollock was given the space to knock over a cross from the far right of the box which was met by the head of Emily Coppock and sent the ball forcefully into the goal.

Twenty minutes later, Pollock was able to follow with a header of her own, cleanly bouncing Dani Gudelj’s corner into the back of the net.

Bayside were able to pull one back on the cusp of the second half when Bronte James persisted up the right wing, meeting Bulleen’s challenges and sliced the ball back to Emily Harbis.

The ball evaded the arms of keeper Lauren Farrugia as Harbis made a prompt and powerful shot into the top left corner.

Bulleen were quick to restore dominance, with Lia Privitelli seizing upon a wayward pass from Bayside, outrunning their defence and slipping the ball through in the 56th minute.

Then after 67 minutes, a more ambitious shot from Privitelli bounced off the cross bar.

However, Bulleen calmly reclaimed and Bella Scott sent a cross back into the box. Caitlin Friend met this with a downward directed header, rounding out the night’s goals.

The win sees the Lions hit the top of the table.

PlayStation 4 NPL 2 cross-conference

Moreland Zebras FC 0 Kingston City FC 2 (Mitrovic 15’, 73’)

Despite Kingston enjoying the large majority of territorial dominance in the early knockings of the match, it would be Zerbas’ Josh Sabidussi who would muster the first chance of the game as he intercepted a weak back pass from Kingston centre-half Zdenek Koukal and fund himself in a one-on-one with custodian Sermin Sadikovski.

His hesitation proved costly however as defensive pressure forced his right foot strike to be hit straight at the keeper.

Mitrovic would open the scoring for the visitors on the quarter-hour mark as he capitalized on a retreating Moreland defence, allowing the forward time and space to send a wicked shot past Zebras’ keeper Nikola Kostadinovski from outside the box.

The goal seemed to spring Kingston to life as Damian Iaconis would have doubled the lead following a cutback from Muad Zwed, if not for some last ditch defending from Zebras’ centre half Milos Tosic.

The partnership of Zwed and Iaconis would prove dangerous again 3 minutes after the restart as another blistering run from the former ended with a cross to the latter whose heavy touch allowed for Kostadinovski to come out and smother his lunging toe-poke toward goal.

Mitrovic would put the game beyond doubt as a deflected strike of his right boot slammed off the crossbar and narrowly beyond the goal-line 17 minutes from time.

The result sees Moreland one point behind the promotion playoff spot in PlayStation 4 NPL2 West, while Kingston remain in the playoff spot for their respective East conference by a staggering 14 points ahead of third placed Dandenong City.

Bendigo City FC 1 (Purdy 67’) Box Hill United 1 (Ludlow 82’)

A trip to Epsom Huntly Reserve proved more difficult than expected for Box Hill as they could only come away with a point from PlayStation 4 NPL2 West cellar dwellers Bendigo City on Saturday Night.

The home team went ahead on 67 minutes after a terrific solo run from Daniel Purdy beginning from the half way line was completed with a dipping strike from 25 yards which had Pythagoras custodian Keegan Coulter beaten all ends up.

However any hopes of an upset victory were dashed eight minutes from time as Caleb Ludlow capitalised on a Kazuki Okada cut back to equalise for the visitors.

Dandenong Thunder SC 4 (Barnes 25’,Tinker (OG) 33’, Elmazovski 71’, Catherine 90+3’) defeated Ballarat Red Devils SC 0

Dandenong Thunder maintained their unbeaten league run as they dismantled a lacklustre Ballarat Red Devils side at George Andrews Reserve.

Brandon Barnes extended his lead as PlayStation 4 NPL2 East top goalscorer to a monumental 15 goals in the 25th minute of play as his low drive from the edge of the box found the bottom corner to put the hosts ahead.

An own goal from Red Devils’ defender Daniel Tinker following a Daniel Bennett cross doubled the lead for the visitors eight minutes later.

Brendan Elmazovski would add a third in the second half as he ran onto a well weighted Veton Korcari through ball and slotted the ball into the bottom left corner.

Thunder would round out a dominant display via a header from substitute Samuel Catherine from a corner deep into stoppage time

 St Albans SC 1 (Grgic 58’) Brunswick City SC 1 (Portillo 74’)

 With fellow PlayStation 4 NPL2 West promotion contenders North Geelong Warriors and Moreland Zebras picking up a draw and a loss respectively the day prior, St Albans went into the contest knowing that a win could see them jump to 3rd on the table.

After a scoreless first half, The Saints struck the first blow with Michael Grgic slamming home from close range following a corner, only to be cancelled out in the 74th minute of play as Juan Portillo was on the end of an Anthony Le Page cross to equalise for the visitors.

A match that Dinamo would have to consider a wasted opportunity given the nature of the NPL2 West promotion race.

Nunawading City FC 1 (Dimitrakis 68’) defeated by Whittlesea Ranges FC 4 (Ofli 21’, Slefendorfas 48’, 85’, Yabio 79’)

Whittlesea backed up a formidable draw with runaway leaders Dandenong Thunder last week with a comfortable 4-1 win over NPL2 East’s last placed Nunawading City.

Goals to Whittlesea’s Atilla Ofli in the first half and George Slefendorfas 3 minutes into the second, gave the visitors a 2-0 lead, before Felix Dimitrakis pulled one back for Nunawading on 68 minutes.

This would prove little more than a mere consolation goal for the hosts as new signing Tedros Yabio scored his first Whittlesea goal in the 79th minute of play, with Slefendorfas completing a brace in the 85th minute rounding out a solid performance.

The result sees the Ranges go top of PlayStation 4 NPL2 West by a 3 point margin, with Nunawading remaining rooted to the foot of the table with just the one win to their name.

Melbourne City 7 (Clarke 35', Ahmed 47', Wong 51' 92', Sarwari 68' 75', Cristaldo 81') Eastern Lions 0

By Lou Verga

Melbourne City kept pace at the top of the PlayStation 4 NPL2 West table with a 7-0 demolition of Eastern Lions at La Trobe on Saturday.

Having lost their last two matches, Joe Palatsides’ youth side dominated possession throughout but struggled to breach a determined Lions outfit in the first half.

That was until Bradley Clarke came up with one of the sweetest strikes of the season. Following a set piece, the ball trickled out to the right-back who lashed it unerringly into the top corner from 25 yards.

Going in 1-0 down at the break, the Lions had a chance to re-group but their plans went out the window almost immediately after the restart when Yusuf Ahmed was played through and dinked a cute finish over Rob Havercroft from a tight angle to double the advantage.

Austin Wong put the result beyond all doubt five minutes later, matching Clarke’s goal with another screamer in a near identical situation, with Havercroft only able to stand and watch this one fly in.

Yaren Sozer didn’t have much to do in the City goal but came up with a superb diving save to keep out Ziggy Razuki with the visitors’ best chance on the hour mark.

Striker Mehdi Sarwari then got on the scoresheet as he finished off a cut-back from Chris Cristaldo, before bagging a brace with a precise finish from the edge of the area.

Determined to keep a clean sheet, Sozer was strong again to keep out Munya Nyadzayo’s shot before Cristaldo made it six after the Lions failed to clear a corner.

Wong added his second in extra time to round out an emphatic return to winning ways for City.

Moreland City 5 (Ukuno 3', 70', Kose 65', 84', Rixon 90+4') Goulburn Valley Suns 3 (Sellwood 48', Heffernan 52', Kane')

Moreland City defeated Goulburn Valley Suns in an entertaining and topsy turvy affair at Clifton Park.

After a delayed kick off as the match was originally scheduled at Campbell Reserve, Apai Ukuno gave Moreland a 1-0 lead in the first half.

The game was turned on its head when goals from Cody Sellwood and Dan Heffernan put the Suns ahead, before Ukuno struck again to make it 3-2 for the hosts.

Shaun Kane equalised again for Nick Kalafatis’ side, but Kose’s second with five minutes remaining made it 4-3 to Moreland before a Trent Rixon penalty in added time sealed it at 5-3.

North Geelong Warriors 1 (Saglam 63') Dandenong City 2 (Osmancevic 32', Frame 74')

Dandenong City took third spot on the PlayStation 4 NPL2 East table with an impressive away win against West promotion contenders North Geelong Warriors.

Amir Osmancevic gave Dandy the lead in the first half, before Rudi Saglam levelled things up in the 63rd minute.

But Ross Frame came up with the winner on 70 minutes as Dandenong came away with a derby win.

Murray United 0 Sunshine George Cross 2 (Kitade 53', Arredondo 61')

Sunshine George Cross made it three wins in a row with a 2-0 triumph on the road to Murray United.

Both goals came in the second half through Nicolas Gonzalez in a result which saw the Georgies continue their resurgence while Murray remain on just one win for the season.

Springvale White Eagles 2 (Stoilovic 18', Ozcagli 23') Werribee City (Marafioti 88')

Springvale White Eagles kept their fantastic form going and put a halt on Werribee City’s improvement with a 2-1 win at White Eagles Stadium.

Damir Stoilovic gave the home side the lead with a brilliant curling finish into the top corner before Erdem Ozcagli made it 2-0 with a header capitalising on Werribee’s poor defending of a free kick.

Werribee pulled one back from the penalty spot in the 89th minute which proved a mere consolation.