Picture: Bruno Silverii

By Matthew Conversano

An enthralling contest at CB Smith Reserve on Saturday afternoon saw Moreland Zebras’ three goal advantage prove enough to hold off a late Melbourne City resurgence.

First half goals from Zebras’ Baggio Yousif and James Papadimitriou, along with a second half goal from Moreland’s James Kelly meant that both Baki Efe and Matthew Millar’s respective strikes were little more than consolation for City.

Moreland Zebras (50 points) hold second from Ballarat Red Devils (48) heading into the clash between the pair at Morshead Park in the final round.

A fairly dull opening quarter of an hour saw both sides arm-wrestle for the right to play their re-spective styles of football with strikes on goal coming at a premium.

The first chance of the afternoon took 20 minutes to come to pass. This was seemingly worth the wait for the Zebras fans, as Charalambous darted forward to draw City custodian Yaren Sozer out of his box as he slipped the ball into the path of Yousif who cooly side-footed the ball into the empty net.

A brief lull in the match following the goal terminated with a long range strike from Moreland’s Josh McMonagle-Ihasz that just flew wide of Sozer’s left post on 32 minutes.

Moreland doubled their lead two minutes before the interval as a pin point Baggio Yousif cross put the ball on a plate for the in-form Papadimitriou, who despite hitting the ‘keeper with his first attempt, followed up to convert the tap in.

The second half began just as sluggish as the first with neither side looking threatening in attack.

Yousif took it upon himself to bring the game back to life as he cut in on his right foot and let fly.

However despite beating Sozer, the City defence were on hand to clear the ball off the line spar-ing the ‘keeper’s blushes.

Kelly added Moreland’s third of the afternoon four minutes later as he unleashed a rocket from 25 yards which found the top left corner via the fingertips of Sozer.

Down, but certainly not out, City replied swiftly as a perfect cross between goalkeeper and centre half from winger Hernan Espindola left Efe with the simplest of tap ins into an empty net.

City’s opener proved to be a catalyst for their previously non-existent penetration in attack.

Millar heaped even more scoreboard pressure on the home side in the 86th minute as he was on the receiving end of a Luka Prelevic cross which flew through a sea of legs to find the full back free at the back post who duly slotted the ball home.

City came agonizingly close to completing an incredible 3-0 comeback as a dipping strike from Espindola hit the crossbar two minutes from time, leaving Zebras’ custodian Nikola Kostadinovski clutching at air.

The win means Moreland must win or draw their final fixture away at Ballarat in order to secure the NPL 1 West promotion playoff spot.

MATCH DETAILS

Moreland Zebras 3 (Yousif 21’, Papadimitriou 45’, Kelly 61’) defeated Melbourne City 2 (Efe 69’, Millar 87’) at CB Smith Reserve, Fawkner

Moreland Zebras:  1. Nikola KOSTADINOVSKI (GK), 2. Simon SYMEOY, 5. Daniel PETROV, 8. Joshua McMONAGLE-IHASZ, 10. Danny CHARALAMBOUS(24. Josh SABIDUSSI 72’), 11. Baggio YOUSIF (15. William NUTTALL 90+5’), 12. Bradley MURRAY, 3. Johnny CRIVELLI, 14. James PAPADIMITRIOU, 16. Mile MEDJEDOVIC (C), 19. James KELLY(23. Josh BERRIOS, 84’).

Unused Subs: 21. Aleksander STOJANOVSKI, 13. Lucas RUFFINO.

Yellow Cards: Charalambous 26’, Kelly 28’, Berrios 86’

Red Cards: Nil

Melbourne City: 1. Yaren SOZER, 3. Nicholas SYMEOY, 4. Jordan HALL, 5. Leo ATHANSIOU, 7. Hernan ESPINDOLA, 8. Ratip CILELI (12. Anthony RIZK46’), 10. Luka PRELEVIC, 14. Baki EFE, 15. Luke GALLO, 16. Matthew MILLAR (9. Tom BARFAROSH 90+3’), 21. Mehdi SARWARI (13. Denis GENREAU 66’)

Unused Subs: 18. Nicolas GONZALEZ, 20. Yianni SKILIROS

Yellow Cards: Hall 31’, Cileli44’, Gallo 45+2’

Red Cards: Nil