Photo: Smile for Peter
It was a performance of the highest measure in front of goal for Oakleigh Cannons as they piled on the misery against Avondale FC in the second equal biggest winning margin of the NPL Victoria season, while the Bentleigh Greens just about did enough to gain ground on South Melbourne heading into the pair’s blockbuster clash on Friday night.
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Six of the best for clinical Cannons
Courtesy of braces to Dean Piemonte, Dusan Bosnjak and Dimi Hatzimouratis, a highly clinical Oakleigh Cannons completed a 6-0 rout of Avondale FC at Jack Edwards Reserve on Sunday night.
It was one way traffic in the first half as Oakleigh put on an efficient display that saw them control the majority of possession as well as monopolising the chances on goal for the half.
The opener came courtesy of Piemonte in the 17 minute, connecting sweetly onto a Dusan Bosnjak cross from the right flank, to hammer home on the half volley.
Chris May was required to deny Bosnjak soon after, scrambling away a curling effort from range, with Avondale stretched down the left flank after a bombing run forward from Nick Symeoy.
The resulting corner lead to not only Oakleigh’s but also Piemonte’s second of the night, as the diminutive winger swung his left footed set piece towards the back post, only to evade both defenders, attackers and keeper on its way into the net.
Abrahim Yango appeared to be dragged down inside the Oakleigh defensive area, with the protests from the Avondale players falling on deaf ears.
Oakleigh nearly made their reprieve count through Hatzimouratis, who produced a moment of brilliance from Goran Zoric’s cross, flicking the ball toward goal with his trailing leg, only for an Avondale defender to block the effort.
The second half had a distinctly different feel to it as Avondale enjoyed the first couple of forays forward.
James Riccobene forced a good save from John Honos, who used two palms to push away his 20-yard effort, while the keeper was again in the action to pluck a dangerous across out of the air from Oleksiy Khrapko.
However, Oakleigh’s recovered to put themselves further ahead, through a brilliant Bosnjak free-kick against the run of play.
With a penchant for scoring from the dead ball, Bosnjak lifted his shot into the postage stamp of Chris May’s goal to extend their lead to three goals.
It was soon four as Oakleigh were sent to the spot as Khrapko was adjudged to have dragged down Bosnjak in the Avondale box; the midfielder stepping up to convert his second.
That proved to be the story of the half, as Avondale enjoyed plenty of opportunities at their end without capitalising, while Oakleigh were able to convert their opportunities with ease.
Riccobene drove the ball forward in search of a goal in which to salvage the fast-escaping game, but despite his weaving run, the cut-back was smartly read, then cut off by Aron Wilford.
Massimo Murdocca opened up the space down the left flank to slip in Yango, who forced a brilliant reflex save from Honos to keep the ball from sneaking into his near post.
Jonatan Germano sprayed wide after a good run into the Oakleigh area, before going inches away from connecting onto Riccobene’s low ball across the face of goal.
Oakleigh stemmed the flow of chances with a fifth coming courtesy of Hatzimouratis who cut out a horror pass from Baki Efe, before turning his marking defender three times and finishing low into the bottom left corner.
Substitute Yitay Towns nearly hit back just moments after entering the fray, leaving Honos planted as he rolled an effort agonisingly wide of the upright, while he would’ve scored minutes later were it not for a crucial block from Konstantinos Stratomitros.
Adrian Chiappetta made his return to senior action after 16 months out with a series of knee injuries, and looked right at home with some good work in his 15 minutes on the park.
A thoroughly entertaining game was wrapped up late by Hatzimouratis, who grabbed his second after a fast break in injury time to complete a 6-0 scoreline.
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Greens unconvincing, but gain ground on South with win
They didn’t do it with supreme confidence, but Bentleigh Greens managed to extend their winning run to three games in the league with a narrow 2-1 win over Melbourne Victory NPL, who had new manager Gareth Naven at the helm for the first time.
Bentleigh struggled to get into the game early, with limited opportunities falling at either end, however their best came through a Troy Ruthven header and a Chris Lucas shot that he couldn’t quite steer goal bound.
A flick on header from James Xydias forced a save from Ryan Scott in the latter stages of the half, as the two sides went into the break deadlocked at 0-0.
The Greens returned from the tunnel with fire in the belly, and it took them just five minutes to hit the lead, as Matt Thurtell fired a first time cross inboard for Chris Lucas to stroke home from a counter attack.
A Liam McCormick tackle served only for the ball to fortuitously break to John Maclean – wearing the captains armband for Victory – who sprayed his shot high and wide from close range.
Just minutes later and Melbourne Victory had their equaliser in somewhat fortuitous circumstances, courtesy of Chris Theoharous who closed down a clearance from Ryan Scott, which cannoned off his back and into goal.
Lucas Derrick collected a long ball down the right wing, who’s low shot forced a save from Scott, eager to make amends for his earlier mistake.
He was in the action once more to deny Maclean with the Victory’s best opportunity of the game, who streamed clear one-on-one, only to be denied by the Bentleigh custodian.
They were made to rue that miss as the Greens struck at the other end with just eight minutes remaining in the contest, capitalising on a mistake from Victory substitute Anthony Duzel.
The midfielder had the ball dispossessed cheaply by a Lucas slide tackle, which saw Lambros Honos pump the ball forward for Ryan Paczkowski, who returned the favour with a great cross for Honos to apply the finish.
Another Victory substitute in Michael Holden nearly redeemed a point, but was denied by another solid save from Scott as his cross goal shot angled towards the right post.
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Young Davis steps up on starting NPL debut as Bergers shore up top six spot
Heidelberg United maintained their position behind the top two with a 2-0 victory over rivals Northcote City at Olympic Village on Sunday evening.
The hosts came into the contest depleted through the absence of five first-team regulars – including goalkeeper Chris Theodoridis – but nonetheless came close to opening the scoring with Sean Ellis and Kenny Athiu having early shots on goal.
The relegation threatened visitors had two good chances inside the first half to take the lead only for Borbor Sam’s cutbacks to miss his onrushing teammates.
The second one prompted a Bergers counter-attack which saw Jack Petrie open up the Northcote defence as the ball found its way to makeshift right-midfielder John Lazaridis’ who played in a through ball to marksman Athiu to slot the ball home past former Heidelberg shot-stopper Phil Petrovski.
George Katsakis’ men doubled their lead ten minutes into the second half when a Petrie corner was met by the head of former City defender Jordan Wilkes who scored his first goal for Heidelberg since re-joining them at the beginning of last month.
Northcote persisted in their attempts to reduce the deficit as Braedyn Crowley had his shot superbly saved by goalkeeper Chris Davis – on his starting debut – before substitute Todd Norris’ goal-bound follow up was blocked by a resolute Steven Pace with the United defence having to sweat in preserving their clean sheet.
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Knights keep pace with finals football after trumping Richmond
Melbourne Knights remain just a couple games off the pace of finals football, picking up a 2-0 win over 12th placed Richmond SC.
In a hotly-contested fixture, Nicolas Niagioran saw two early chances go begging for the visitors, first poking narrowly wide of the post, before being well halted by Fraser Chalmers in goals for Knights.
A few meaningful forays forward from winger Robbie Zadworny were dealt with by Richmond with relative comfort, before James McGarry struck with half-time looming to give the Knights a 1-0 lead.
The game boiled over just before the break with players from both teams converging on the pitch; the match official taking some heat out of the game by giving Marijan Cvitkovic and Bryan Bran their marching orders to make it 10 men a piece.
McGarry double the dose late in the second half, capitalising on delivery from Jason Hicks to tap home his second of the afternoon and effectively seal the result.
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Bulleen grab yet another home draw, Paco extend unbeaten run
They say there’s two certainties in life, death and drawn results on the artificial turf of the Veneto Club, so it proved as Bulleen Lions grabbed a sixth home draw, this time a 1-1 against Pascoe Vale on Monday night.
A loose back pass to keeper Alex Pavlidis was hounded down by Christian Cavallo on the right wing, which allowed Lions midfielder Andreas Govas to fire the hosts into a 15th minute lead.
Joseph Youseff was denied from range by a strong diving save from Griffin McMaster, before he repeated the dose to deny the Pascoe Vale captain from point-blank range.
However, the ball broke free for Davey van ‘t Schip to stroke home with just a handful of minutes remaining in the first half.
Van ‘t Schip had what was arguably the best chance in a tamer second half, but was unable to convert from an Adrian Talarico cross.