In a weekend which consisted of teams fighting to leap out of the relegation zone as well as teams looking to close the gap on league leaders South Melbourne, everything was to play for.
South had earlier shot six points clear on the top of the NPL Victoria ladder with a 5-2 win over Melbourne Knights – CLICK FOR FULL REPORT.
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Hume City was one of those sides aiming to catch South, as they consolidated on last week’s 3-2 win over Heidelberg United with a 5-0 thrashing of Northcote City.
A Daniel Clark brace was the catalyst for a second half goal-fest at John Cain Memorial Reserve, including a mid-air attempt with the outside of his boot.
The brace resulted in Clark scoring his fourth and fifth goal this season, moving to the top of the Hume City scoring table.
Former Adelaide Blue Eagles attacker Kym Harris also netted himself a brace, taking his goal tally to four goals for the season at the Broadmeadows-based club.
Pressure was further mounted on Goran Lozanovski’s Northcote team as they extended their goals conceded tally to 30, second worst behind Richmond SC – who’ve conceded 39 – and 12 in front next worse Oakleigh Cannons, Avondale FC and Melbourne Victory, who’ve all conceded 18.
The result left the fans to wonder how long Lozanovski will need to rebuild the side which he was left to earlier this season.
Nick Krousoratis scored his sixth goal this season to maintain his push for the Golden Boot in a match which helped Arthur Papas’ Green Gully side preserve fourth place on the table, just one game behind second placed Bentleigh Greens.
The 5-0 result against an Oakleigh side which has kept two clean sheets all season and conceded 11 goals in their past four games highlighted the underlying issues in their defence, despite the solid performances put in by central defender Steven Topalovic. The heavy defeat leaves them hanging just outside of the top six.
With the match at Olympic Village being the most anticipated game of the round, Bentleigh proved why they deserve to be around the top of the NPL Victoria ladder, putting in a quality performance to hold back a Heidelberg team for the majority of the game, who were also looking to reinforce their title-credentials.
John Anastasiadis was left disappointed with the bitter ending of their game, but refused to point fingers at individuals, rather analysing the mistakes which led to the late goalkeeping blunder.
The absence of Kenny Athiu, Kaine Sheppard and Reuben Way proved how vital the star trio’s attacking flair is to Heidelberg, as they missed the opportunity to steal second place off Bentleigh, but performed very well given the circumstances.
Harry Noon took over the goal scoring reigns on the day, scoring his fifth goal of the season – and his fourth in four consecutive games – although the 89th minute equaliser wouldn’t be enough to salvage what George Katsakis would have expected his warriors to take out of the game.
In Monday’s fixture, Avondale fans were left wondering what could have been after Anthony Barbieri’s men failed to capitalise on Bulleen’s defence falling asleep numerous times, missing opportunities through Jeff Fleming and Mathew Sanders.
Bulleen were also lacking a final touch, with the stalemate seeing them to register their fifth draw, the most out of any team currently in NPL Victoria.
This Friday, the Lions are up against a Richmond side that have showed their defensive flaws to the league and will hope to showcase their goal scoring abilities through Sami Nour, who is Bulleen’s highest scorer with four goals.
Photo: Smile for Peter