Photo: Bendigo City FC
The NPl2 West title race once more took a set of twists and turns, with four teams beginning to separate themselves from the pack in the race for automatic promotion.
Last week’s ladder leaders Melbourne City were downed by the ever-impressive Dandenong Thunder, while North Geelong made use of that slip-up to go top after doing the job against Nunawading City.
Elsewhere, Bendigo City grabbed their second win of the season, as did a plucky Sunshine George Cross against Eastern Lions.
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The NPL2 West title race
With top spot the prize for a win on Sunday afternoon, North Geelong Warriors just about did the job against Nunawading, but would’ve been hoping for a more commanding performance despite the 3-1 scoreline.
The first half ended 2-0, with goals coming courtesy of Kene Eze and Rudi Saglam, as the leading visitors controlled the majority of play at Mahoney’s Reserve.
Heading out of the rooms, Nunawading enjoyed a much more fruitful second half, providing a good match up to their more fancied opponents.
Vito Cichello tapped home to consolidate the result, with David Antequera levelling up the half for the hosts with a late consolation.
Melbourne City’s 3-1 loss to Dandenong Thunder the night prior had set them up to take top spot, albeit it was a much different tale at George Andrews Reserve.
Despite going down to a Thunder side yet to drop a point in the league, Melbourne City provided a very capable match-up and looked like a side capable of taking out the NPL2 West title.
The in-form Yusuf Ahmed was busy on his return to his old stomping ground, as was former Bentleigh Greens winger Luke Gallo.
They capitalised on their early ascendency via the penalty spot, captain Christopher Cristaldo slotting home the spot kick he’d won from a clumsy Faisal Sakhizada shove.
Dandenong began to find their groove and hit back with a class Kristian Sarkies free-kick, which dipped over the wall and into the back of the net.
Daniel Bennett’s weaving run in the 51st minute saw him pick out Brandon Barnes to slide a left footed shot past a diving Yaren Sozer with a first time effort – his 17th goal in his last five games and 27th of the season.
Confidence oozed as the Englisman then sent a bicycle kick over the bar, before Bennett netted the goal of the night with a curling finish into the right corner in the 83rd minute.
Sakhizada and Barnes had goals disallowed late in the piece, while City had a number of decent chances to equalise at 2-1 in a fantastic watch for those at the ground.
Keeping pace with the Warriors was Whittlesea Ranges, who recovered from last week’s shock home defeat to Werribee with a 3-1 win over a ten-man Goulburn Valley Suns.
Atilla Ofli was in inspired form for the Ranges with another hat-trick, his third of the season, to take his season tally to 21.
Frenchman Anthony Galliard scored for the Suns who also handed young keeper Declan Mariano a debut following the 11th minute red to number one Muntadhar Al Gazaly.
Also sitting a point off the pace is Moreland Zebras, courtesy of a second consecutive win, after defeating Box Hill United 2-0 at CB Smith Reserve.
A cracking strike from Joshua Mcmonagle-Ihasz got things going after just two minutes, before the Zebras doubled their advantage with a goal to James Papadimitrou.
That was it for the scoring as Moreland held on for a valuable win, as a fracture begins to build in the West title race.
North Geelong sit on 29 points, with both the Zebras and Whittlesea just a point behind on 28 and last week’s league leaders Melbourne City fourth on 27.
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Bendigo and Sunshine grab second wins of season
In the battle of the regional clubs, Bendigo City fashioned a hard-earned 1-0 victory over the struggling Murray United who made it eight consecutive losses in the league.
Having let 18 goals slip by in the four games preceding this tie, Bendigo saw the chance to hit a youthful looking Murray United at its most vulnerable, and they did so via a superb second half strike from skipper George McHeileh.
More drama was to follow with United forward Zac Walker having his stoppage time penalty saved by Bendigo keeper Donte Thomas as City picked up just their second win of the season.
Sunshine George Cross also grabbed their second win this term, triumphing 2-1 over Eastern Lions.
A good passing move for the first goal led Sam McCall playing in Ahmet Turer who scored in his fourth consecutive game.
Eastern equalised when a set piece deflected off the wall for Munyaradzi Nyadzayo to nod the ball in.
The winning goal was bundled home by former A-League man Chris Grossman, who connected onto a Nathan Liberto cross from a short corner.
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Debutants make headlines in Dandy City win
Three debutants got on the scoresheet as Dandenong City grabbed an away day victory over sister club St Albans Saints.
Gonzalo Freddi opened the scoring after just 17 minutes, with Rodrigo Covarrubius levelling proceedings just a minute later on his St Albans debut with a chip over the opposition keeper.
City once more took the lead through Luke Burgess, before similarly, St Albans hit back within just a couple of minutes, this time through winger Josh Knight.
Up stepped City’s high-profile signings Amir Osmancevic and Ross Frame to slot the winning goals in a 4-2 result, the former grabbing two assists in the tie.
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Kingston continue to keep pace with Thunder
While they still face a four point deficit over a Dandenong Thunder side that doesn’t look capable of losing at the minute, Kingston continue to breathe down the necks of their divisional rivals after securing a fifth win in six starts with a 3-1 win over Ballarat Red Devils.
Lining up at Morshead Park just a day after the Matildas did battle with New Zealand, it was the visitors this time that were able to secure the victory as they cruised to a two-goal lead courtesy of Mouad Zwed and Jerry Karpeh.
Pat Karras pulled one back for the Red Devils to make things interesting, but Karpeh was able to seal the result deep into injury time with his eighth away goal of the season (out of nine total).
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Brunswick grab injury-time goal to deny Werribee third successive win
Werribee City continued their good form of late by picking up their first point against NPL2 East opposition for the season, nabbing a 2-2 draw with Brunswick City.
Welshman Adam Wright got Brunswick off the mark in the 18th minute, with Damien Peters drawing level on his Bees debut.
Domenico Marafioti put Werribee into the lead just beyond the hour mark, only for Wright to cruelly deny them a third straight win with his 92nd minute goal.
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Returning duo help Springvale return to winning ways
It was a happy homecoming for Vojo Milojevic as he nabbed a double at White Eagles Stadium to give Springvale a 3-0 win over Moreland City.
Milan Jovanovic similarly marked his starting return with a goal from midfield to put the White Eagles back into the winners circle after a barren two weeks.