Images: Dion Fountas
With just Kingston City and Port Melbourne left to play tonight at The Grange, only nine points separate top to 12th in the league after 10 rounds, highlighting the tight nature of the league this term as no side has yet been able to break away from the pack.
That was highlighted most by yesterday’s action. Hume City, who, heading into the weekend in second place, now drop to fifth with their result against South Melbourne, while Bulleen Lions’ second consecutive victory has them out of the relegation half spot, replaced by Melbourne Knights who just weeks ago were pushing the top six.
In the sole Saturday contest Green Gully also jumped to third with a win over North Geelong Warriors, who remain rooted to their spot on the bottom of the ladder.
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Hume City’s run of four consecutive 1-0 wins ended in a defeat via the same scoreline after succumbing to a resurgent South Melbourne.
Hume started well on the road though and Nick Hegarty had a great run that ended in a shot from a tight angle that flew wide.
On 18 minutes a tangle between Blair Govan and Milos Lujic led to calls for a penalty; those were waved away but it mattered little when a close-range finish from Millar after 23 minutes propelled South into the lead.
Both sides exchanged opportunities before the break when Michael Weier denied Lujic, Atilla Ofli latched onto Dillon Jakupi’s pass but missed wide, and Weier was again on hand to deny Brad Norton.
The task became much more difficult for the visitors when Bryan Bran was shown a second yellow card early in the second half, and Nick Epifano came close to putting the nail in the coffin when his effort struck the woodwork soon after.
South had a couple of chances to add the second, notably when Michael Weier denied Lujic another goal to his tally, while 10-man Hume had chances of their own, Liam Boland finding Ofli whose chip just went over the bar.
But the clocked continued to tick down and the referee blew his whistle, marking South’s third straight win at home and the Lakeside outfit are making the most of their return to normal proceedings, now one spot outside the top six with a typically well-drilled performance at home against an in-form side.
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At Churchill Reserve, the contest between St Albans and Bulleen Lions resumed with a quick flurry as a couple of in-form players contributed to their season tallies.
Matt Cundari added his third for the season – 75% of St Albans’ goals this term – in just the second minute by latching onto a shallow clearance to rifle the ball in off the crossbar, leaving Wyatt Chant with no chance.
But that was cancelled out just moment later when Tom Nielsen won the ball in the attacking third to play through Jordan Templin, who added his third goal in two games and square the ledger.
The goalscoring action eased up after that with both sides exchanging half chances, but a Luke Gallo strike forced Chris May to palm over his effort to deny the visitors the lead.
That save seemed to have physically affected May, who added to his side’s injury woes and was replaced by Aaron Romein at the break.
The former Ballarat keeper was tested almost immediately by Templin, but passed his first examination.
Chant at the other end was also kept busy, having to deny the likes of Rodrigo Covarrubias and Cundari with big saves to deny the hosts the lead and keep his side in the hunt.
His efforts were vindicated late in the contest when Oliver White won a foul near the byline – the resulting set-piece pinballed around in the box before Will Abbott tapped home the dramatic late winner to send his side into raptures.
More importantly, it marks consecutive wins for the first time this campaign under Aaron Healey, with the Lions moving into 11th place on 11 points, alongside Oakleigh Cannons and Port Melbourne, though the latter still have to play today, leaving Melbourne Knights in 12th spot along St Albans and North Geelong Warriors as three Croatian-backed clubs in the relegation zone for now.
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Green Gully meanwhile notched up another win which takes them above Pascoe Vale and Hume following other weekend results, having defeated North Geelong 3-1 at Gully Reserve.
The tone was set early when Wade Dekker turned the ball in from Nick Krousoratis’ cross for the lead in just the second minute.
He doubled that 10 minutes later – his fifth goal of the campaign – to have the hosts looking ominous at 2-0 after following in Matt Breeze’s initial saved effort.
The visitors managed to stem the flow thereafter and the sides went into the break with the same scoreline.
Dekker was centimetres away from completing his hat-trick early in the second half with an effort that struck the post.
The Warriors responded almost immediately as Kene Eze nodded home his second of the season to peg one back for his side.
Nick Krousoratis however put the icing on the cake, finishing off Alex Caniglia’s cross to make it 3-1.
