Image: Ashley Perez
In what could be a decisive night in the direction of the 2017 NPL Victoria campaign, Bentleigh Greens are back on top of the ladder after Avondale lost their first game of the season, while Pascoe Vale were held to a late draw by Port Melbourne to drop vital points in the race for the top. Green Gully won their first home game of the campaign to get back in the top six with yet another entertaining contest at Gully Reserve.
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The evening’s early game took place in Keilor Downs where Green Gully faced off against the struggling Oakleigh Cannons in what was their third consecutive home game.
Having yet to taste victory at their newly re-developed surface, Brian Vanega’s men were eager to claim all three points and return to the top six following a three-game winless run.
There was plenty of action early into the contest with Cannons forward Dean Piemonte shooting over the bar while former Oakleigh midfielder George Lambadaridis tested John Honos with a shot from just outside the area which forced the veteran shot-stopper to tip the ball over the bar.
The breakthrough came in the 13th minute when towering Gully midfielder Jonathan Bounas opened his account for the season after nodding the ball in from a Lambadaridis corner.
The former Northcote City captain had regained his place in the starting 11 in recent weeks having lost it following his Round 2 sending off against Kingston City.
Gully finished the first half the stronger of the two teams with the likes of Jay Davies, Nick Krousoratis and Sami Nour causing the Oakleigh defence plenty of problems without the end reward.
Out-of-form Cannons playmaker Dusan Bosnjak shot straight into Rani Dowisha early in the second half while Piemonte and Nate Foster hit another shot off target.
The home side almost doubled their advantage half way through the second half when a corner was met by the head of defender Matthew Reid, but his effort was cleared off the line by Abdalla Okud.
The Cannons were back on level terms in the 71st minute when a Piemonte corner was powerfully headed home by Steve Pantelidis – whose only previous goal for Oakleigh came in last year’s 5-2 preliminary final triumph over the nine-time VPL Champions.
Substitute Matthew Breeze forced Honos into making a save as Vanega brought on Wade Dekker in search of a winner, only for the former Melbourne City forward to pick up a knock minutes after coming on as he was replaced by defensive midfielder Stephen Hatzikostas in the 86th minute.
The 2016 FFA Cup Quarter-Finalists won a corner within seconds of that substitution with Lambadaridis taking it once more as his former Cannons teammate Hatzikostas was left unmarked to header the ball past Honos for his debut goal for Gully.
The reigning NPL Grand Finalists almost snatched a draw in injury time when Piemonte hit a speculative effort from range – his shot smacked the crossbar in what would have been another goal of the season contender from the wide forward, who has a habit of scoring spectacular goals.
However, it was not to be as Gully inflicted Oakleigh’s second straight defeat to leave the Con Tangalakis and Peter Tsolakis coached side struggling in 10th place on the ladder.
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At ABD Stadium, Avondale custodian Chris Oldfield was back at his old stomping ground since his Hume departure at the end of the 2016 campaign.
He had to deal with a Jayden Prasad shot early to deny his old club the lead. However, he could do nothing to deny Liam Boland soon after, with the big man found once more by 2017’s assist king Nick Hegarty to make it 1-0 to the home side.
At the other end, Hume’s new custodian Michael Weier had big gloves to fill in 2017 but has made a good impression so far and was on hand to deny Yitay Towns as Avondale searched for an equaliser.
He had a few more saves to make throughout the contest to deny the visitors who continued to mount a challenge.
A big flashpoint came in the 79 minute when Dillon Jakupi gave away a penalty and the visitors had a chance to level from the spot.
Kamal Ibrahim, having scored three goals in his last three games in all competitions, stepped up for the spot kick but his effort ricocheted off the woodwork.
It was just one of those nights for Anthony Barbieri’s men who couldn’t find a way through.
For Hume it was a relieving win having held on at the end, making it a third consecutive 1-0 win having really tightened up at the back since a 3-2 defeat to Kingston away in Round 5.
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Pascoe Vale welcomed Port Melbourne with the chance to go to the top of the ladder
TCF Player of the Month Davey Van ‘t Schip had a mazy run blocked early, while Joseph Youssef had a shot plucked out of the air.
However it was Port with the best opportunity to open the scoring before half time when Andreas Govas’ ball forward was controlled by Oleksiy Khrapko before he was bundled into by Paco keeper Alex Pavlidis.
He stepped up to take the penalty, and despite being saved by the keeper, was the quickest to follow in and put the ball in the back of the net.
Pascoe Vale themselves had a penalty moments later when Matt Lazarides’ shot was adjudged to have struck a diving Alan Kearney’s arm.
Van ‘t Schip stepped up to put away the first of his eventual double on the night as the half ticked to near 50 minutes with the stoppages.
In the second half the Dutchman turned it on again with a dazzling run down the left before cutting in and driving a low shot in off the near post for the lead in the 63rd minute.
Port pushed, however, and Nick Apostolopoulos found Khrapko for a shot that rattled off the crossbar.
Then with Port getting more desperate towards the end of the 90 minutes, a free kick on the edge of the area allowed Franceso Stella to step up and curl in the extra time equaliser.
Pascoe Vale remain the only unbeaten side in the league but would have been disappointed to throw away a late lead to not leapfrog Bentleigh and Avondale at the top.