Bentleigh, Oakleigh and Green Gully consolidated their positions in the top-six with wins over Richmond, Bulleen and Pascoe Vale respectively last night in results that mostly reflected the ladder positions.
At CB Smith, Guly continued their positive run away from home with an entertaining 3-2 win that saw both Aaron Ward and Jay Davies make their debuts after signing from Northcote and Cairnlea respectively – the latter even scoring on his maiden appearance.
It took until the 34th minute for the deadlock to be broken, and it was Evan Christodoulou who did the damage, lashing in a left footed effort.
Going down 1-0 at the break, Pascoe Vale found a spark and it was Davey van ‘t Schip who found the equaliser.
However, not long after it was Christodoulou who headed home for both his and the team’s second goal.
Davies then got on the end of a Kliment Taseski cross late in proceedings to score his first goal in his first game
Late substitute Matt Conversano then pegged one back in stoppage time with a good finish, but it was mere consolation as Gully held on for the vital three points to get back on track after two consecutive league defeats.
At Jack Edwards Reserve, Oakleigh Cannons put on a good showing to claim a 3-0 win.
Dimi Hatzimouratis scoring minutes into the contest, and also minutes from its conclusion, sandwiching the rest of the contest’s proceedings in between.
His finish at the near post not long after the first whistle put Bulleen on the back foot immediately, but the visitors worked hard to peg back the deficit.
Chances to Lorenzi, Rosman and Barresi showed they were in the game, but the efforts were either saved or off target, on a night when Andrew Cartanos made his debut after his move from Heidelberg.
Their hard work was undone in the 68th minute when a scramble in the box was poked in at the back post by Dean Piemonte.
With time running out on a comeback, Hatzimouratis produced an excellent top corner strike to seal an emphatic 3-0 win.
At Kevin Bartlett Reserve, Bentleigh were without suspended Ruthven and injured Wallace, McCormick and Ibrahim.
In came Lambros Honos for his Greens debut, while Jakob Williams appeared for Richmond for the first time since his move from their opponents on the night.
The changes mattered little for the visitors as an unfamiliar source in Josh Brindell-South got forward to score after pouncing on Gian Tapia’s initial save in the 13th minute.
Exactly 10 minutes later it was a more conventional route on goal for Bentleigh, as Matt Thurtell broke through one-on-one with Tapia, slotting into the bottom left corner.
In an eventful first half, it was Alex Caniglia with a low drive to halve the deficit, but that was all she wrote as the scoreline remained the same in the second half, while Caniglia collected a second half injury to put a dampener on his night.
Image: Matt Johnson