Round 12 in NPL2 West saw the top four sides all square off against one another, as Melbourne City and St Albans Saints joined the promotion hunt with a mere point separating second from sixth – North Geelong (25); Zebras, Whittlesea, Ballarat (22); Melbourne City, St Albans (21) – as the Warriors maintained pole position on the ladder, while the league’s bottom two sides could not be separated.
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1. Warriors retain first place after Zebras stalemate
The top clashed on Saturday afternoon but could not be separated after a scoreless 90 minutes at CB Smith Reserve. The visitors would be the happier of the two sides as they kept their three-point lead at the top intact in a game where they were without the services of Michael Anderson and Matthew Thorne, while in-form forward Kene Eze was taken off early with an injury. It was also the case of the walking wounded for the Danny Gnjidic’s side, who were without services of injured pairing Milos Tosic and Nejc Kolman, while Baggio Yousif was also substituted with a suspected injury.
2. Two first half strikes see spoils shared in Ballarat
Neither the Ballarat Red Devils nor Whittlesea Ranges were able to close the gap on first place after a 1-1 draw in Saturday’s late kick-off at Morshead Park. Midfielder Michael Trigger gave the hosts the lead in the 37th minute with his fifth goal of the season. However, the lead proved to be short-lived as Atilla Ofli pounced to net his 17th strike of the campaign on the stroke of half-time. Both sides exchanged efforts on goal in the second half without reward as the points were shared, with the pair consolidating their respective positions on the ladder.
3. Three from three as City put three past Moreland
Melbourne City have seemingly recovered from a five-game winless run by claiming their third successive victory via a 3-1 defeat of Moreland City. Two first half-goals from Yusuf Ahmed and captain Phil Petreski saw the hosts march away to a two goal lead – with the duo both netting their fifth goals of the season. The visitors reduced the deficit when Lisandro Paz pounced for his fourth of the campaign to give his side hope of grabbing a draw. However, that aspiration was ended in the 86th minute when substitute Mehdi Sarwari restored the two-goal deficit to help city close the gap on the chasing pack.
4. Four-goal thriller cannot separate league strugglers
Werribee and Sunshine remain footed to the bottom of the NPL standings after the two played out a 2-2 draw at Galvin Park on Sunday in a result which favours neither of the two sides. Former Richmond defender Daniel Piovesan scored his first goal for the club with a header from the corner but that goal was cancelled out before half-time Ahmet Turer’s maiden strike for George Cross. Jonathan Voulgaris restored Werribee’s advantage in the second half after beating goalkeeper Senad Ahmetovic in a one-one-one with Serge Sabbadini on course to collect his first win in charge of the Bees. But it wasn’t to be as Adrian Logozzo tapped home after Ryan Dragovic’s initial shot was saved by Anthony Saric.
5. St Albans smash five past Bendigo
A hat-trick to Ivan Skorich handed St Albans a resounding 6-1 win over an underwhelming Bendigo City side. Skorich gave the Saints an early lead before a missed penalty from the visitors was punished by a goal from Josh Knight just a minute later. Carl O’Keefe halved the margin with his second goal in consecutive away games but Skorich’s second before the interval restored the two-goal margin. The former Nunawading City grabbed his third in the second half before two veterans in Scotsman Ryan McGuffie and Irishman Barry Devlin added their names to the scoresheet – the latter scoring his sixth of the season.
Feature Image: M&A Photography