By Ahmed Yussuf (@ahmedyussuf10)

Northcote City cruised to its third successive victory with a dominant 4-1 win against surprise-packet Werribee City at John Cain Memorial Reserve on Saturday.

A brace for striker Trent Rixon along with goals from both Liam Wooding and Michael Catalano proved too much for Werribee, which took some consolation with a late goal to substitute Simon Zappia.

The opening exchanges saw limited opportunities for either side until the 27th minute when James Kalifatidis’ effort on goal was saved, but Rixon was on hand to head in the rebound.

Werribee custodian Tommy Dunn looked shaky in the middle third of the first half, and after a missed effort on goal by Werribee’s Bobby Vidanoski, the away side was left exposed.

A swift counter attack saw Northcote’s young Socceroo Liam Wooding’s shot from distance go past Dunn and nestle into the back of the net.

The second half opened similar to the end of the first. Northcote attacked the Werribee defence and was rewarded in the 55th minute when Rixon was picked out by Wooding and slid the ball into the back of the net.

Northcote made it four with neat interplay between Ersin Kaya and Tremayne Sadler. Sadler, with pace down the left wing, crossed low into the path of Michael Catalano, who finished superbly to make it 4-0 with less than 30 minutes to play.

Werribee began to find its groove late in proceedings, and it was second-half substitute Simon Zappia who stepped up to brilliantly chip a ball over Northcote keeper Chris Theodoridis and into the back of the net.

That goal was the first Northcote had conceded in the past three weeks, and despite its defence looking shaky in the dying stages, Northcote was able to weather the Werribee storm.

The hosts almost added a fifth too with one of the last attacks of the game, as Wade Dekker spurned a glorious chance from close range.

The miss was academic though as Northcote prevailed and continued its impressive turnaround after a horror start to the season.

Northcote coach Goran Lozanovski was pleased with the result, despite his side’s run of two successive clean sheets coming to an end.

“Disappointing we didn’t find a clean sheet, we gave away a soft goal this week. But end of the day we scored four goals,” Lozanovski said.

“Three [wins] in a row for us which is vital after losing the first three [games].”   

Werribee City assistant coach Agim Sherifovski was disappointed by the resounding defeat but said Northcote was the best side Werribee had faced so far this season.

“[Northcote City] are a very good team, probably one of the strongest sides we’ve played so far,” Sherifovski said.

“We’re probably a little ahead of expectations, we’ve come off a good pre-season and some good results.

“If we can keep improving, finishing mid-table is one of our goals.”

Match Details

Northcote City 4 (Trent Rixon 27’ 55’, Liam Wooding 41’, Michael Catalano 63’) defeated Werribee City 1 (Simon Zappia 80’) at John Cain Memorial Reserve [HT: 2-0]

Northcote City: 22. Chris Theodoridis, 21. Ersin Kaya (5. Phillip Petreski, 76’), 16. Greg Lombardo, 23. Jonathan Bounas (10. Marino Gasparis, 67’), 14. Michael Catalano 2. Adrian Chiappetta, 3. Tremayne Sadler, 8. James Kalifatidis (15. Wade Dekker, 67’), 11. Liam Wooding, 4. Kristian Konstantinidis, 9. Trent Rixon

Unused Sub(s): 1. Luke Gavalas, 7. Jonathan Munoz

Yellow Card(s): 4. Kristian Konstantinidis 51’

Red Card(s): Nil

Werribee City: 1. Tommy Dunn, 2. Oliver Rowland, 3. Simon Symeoy, 4. Ryan Filipovic, 13. Zois Galanopoulos, 14. Bobby Vidanoski (17. Matthew Cundari, 74’), 27. Robert Naumoski (7. Simon Zappia, 45’), 26. Ray Markley. 30. Ivica Praiz. 43. Steven Cudrig

Unused Sub(s): 24. Damir Marusic, 5. Nemanja Govedarica, 31. Roderick Yousef

Yellow Card(s): Nil

Red Card(s): Nil

Image credit: Charlie Lombardo