Image: Harlequin Sports Photography
The Bentleigh Greens and Avondale have emerged as the early front-runners of the NPL as the pair recorded victories on Saturday afternoon to continue their 100 per cent start to the campaign.
The Greens did it the hard way by coming back from behind to defeat the North Geelong Warriors at Elcho Park, while the Avengers pulled off an upset by defeating Heidelberg United at Olympic Village.
On Sunday afternoon, St Albans hosted Hume City with the visitors running rampant on a miserable day for Kruni Razov’s side who were defeated 5-0 in their worst league defeat at home since 2013.
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The weekend’s proceedings kicked-off in Lara where North Geelong welcomed John Anastasiadis’ Bentleigh outfit in a year in which the Warriors are celebrating their 50th anniversary.
The visitors came into the contest on the back of an impressive 3-0 victory over Green Gully in Round One and looked to continue that ascendancy on the road by beginning the game on the front foot.
Kieran Dover’s header forced North custodian Daniel Zilic into making a reflex save, while Matt Thurtell squandered two good opportunities on goal by misplacing his shots off target.
Despite their early pressure, Bentleigh fell behind when Bobby Vidanoski’s cross into the area from fell to former Kingston City captain Andrew Doig, with the Scot’s powerful low effort from just outside the box beating Ryan Scott and handing the Warriors a surprise early lead in the 13th minute.
Micky Colina’s side almost doubled their advantage but Michael Anderson’s shot hit the side netting, while Juso Julardzija was unable to beat Scott one-on-one, with the 21-year-old shot-stopper denying the ex-Greens forward a second time just minutes later.
Scott would once more prove to be Bentleigh’s saviour when the young goalkeeper saved Matthew Thorne’s penalty kick after Anderson had been brought down in the area.
North was made to pay for their missed chances with the Greens levelling the scoring minutes into the second half when Thurtell’s initial shot was parried by Zilic, only for Nathan Long’s clearance to ricochet of the goalkeeper and into the path of Ben Litfin, who tucked the ball home from close range.
Long’s bad luck continued soon after when he was adjudged to have fouled Thurtell in the area, with the Queenslander making no mistake from the spot to give his side the lead on his return to the ground where he tore his anterior cruciate ligament for a second time in 2015.
The Warriors went agonisingly close to finding an equaliser only for Vidanoski’s strike to cannon off the crossbar following Anderson’s flick on from a long Zilic clearance.
Bentleigh had their opportunities to further extend the lead but Marco Jankovic also hit the woodwork after pouncing on a poorly weighted backpass by substitute Nicholas Jurcic.
The visitors ended the game with 10 men as defender Ross Archibald collected a second yellow for bringing down Anderson on a day when the Warriors missed the services of the injured Kene Eze.
Bentleigh marched to the top of the table with that result as they prepare to face the Melbourne Knights next Friday night, while North Geelong visit Kingston City on Monday week.
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At the Village, Heidelberg were looking to make it two consecutive home wins over an Avondale outfit who struggled to get results against the competition’s best performers last term, with the Avengers collecting a total of four points from a possible 36 against last year’s top six.
Anthony Barbieri’s men fielded four former Bergers players in their starting 11 and it was no surprise that two of them combined to hand the visitors the lead mid-way through the opening term.
Evan Christodoulou’s free kick into the penalty area bounced its way through to the back post where Jamie Cumming was lurking – the defender then netted his second goal for the club.
Chances were few and far between in a game dominated by the two respective defences, with plenty of physicality involved.
Avondale however were disciplined until the end against a very direct Heidelberg side.
The result sees the 2014 NPL2 Champions join the Greens at the top of the table, while United suffered their first regular season home defeat since 2015 having gone unbeaten on home soil during 2016.
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St Albans marked their return to the top flight after a six-year absence in the worst possible style, with a Nick Hegarty masterclass seeing the visitors trample their hosts 5-0 on a miserable afternoon for Dinamo in Melbourne’s west.
The scoring was opened inside the opening sixty seconds when Joseph Monek was disposed on the flanks and Hegarty surged down the right and delivering a pin-point cross into the box, with new signing Atilla Ofli hitting the ball first time on the volley and past Chris May for the opener.
One became two only two minutes later when Hegarty’s through ball from inside his own half from picked out Daniel Clark, who rounded May before slotting the ball home to double the advantage.
Any hope of a Saints comeback was dashed on the stroke of half-time when Hegarty collected his hat-trick of assists by delivering a cross into the back post which Ofli pounced on for his brace.
Dinamo handed a starting debut to former A-League marksman Jean Carlos Solórzano but looked fragile in defence – their aerial weaknesses were exposed once more as a Theo Markelis cross into the box met the head of debutant Liam Boland in the 68th minute.
Boland joined Ofli by netting a second when he met Hegarty’s corner with a header as Dean Hennessey’s posted their win of the campaign via a demolition job over their sorry opponents.