With Heidelberg United dropping points on Friday night after a controversial 1-0 defeat away to the Oakleigh Cannons, Saturday’s fixtures presented both Green Gully and Hume City the opportunity to consolidate their positions on the competition ladder.
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Arthur Papas’ side arrived at Epping Stadium on Saturday afternoon with a chance to claim outright third in the standings and keep pace with the top two.
A 5-2 win over Melbourne Victory moved Gully to within three points of Bentleigh in second place, with a number of individuals continuing their fine form in the process.
However, it wasn’t all plain sailing for the nine-time state champions who despite taking the lead through a Liam Boland goal in the 26 minute, found themselves 2-1 down a minute into the second half after Joey Katebian equalised for the hosts on the stroke of half time before a Matthew Reid own goal gave Vaughan Coveny’s men the lead a minute into the second period.
Defender Daniel Jones restored parity mid-way through the half, before substitute Nick Krousoratis scored 13 minutes from time to give side the lead before scoring another soon after to double the lead.
Evan Christodoulou scored Gully’s fifth in stoppage time and in the process his fifth of the campaign to ensure the Keilor East-based club hit the back of the net five times in consecutive games, as they now look to take the scalp of a wounded Heidelberg United in Tuesday’s FFA Cup Round 6 clash at Green Gully Reserve.
Just how good is Nick Krousoratis?
The 22-year-old forward was a second-half substitute into the contest, his recent injury troubles and a massive mid-week cup tie might have played a part in restricting his game-time to 36 minutes on Saturday. Yet a late brace sees the former Richmond man take his season tally to eight goals, putting him one behind joint-leader Chris Lucas and Milos Lujic.
After making his senior debut at Kevin Bartlett Reserve in 2012, Krousoratis moved to Port Melbourne in 2014 following Richmond’s relegation from the top flight at the end of 2013. A breakout season late last year saw him finish as the Sharks top scorer with nine league goals, while also impressing in a friendly outing against Melbourne Victory. He seems to have raised his level under Papas, who rates him highly, and with the youngster carrying plenty of pace to burn, an ability to take his opponents on and goals in his repertoire, could he be one NPL player to be looked at by A-League coaches during this off-season.
READ MORE > Bentleigh close in on top after dream night of results
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Hume City made it three wins from their last three league matches after a brace from captain Nick Hegarty saw Lou Acevski’s men defeat the Sharks. The home side took the lead just before the half hour mark when Kym Harris scored his fourth goal in three games via a header before Hegarty doubled his side’s lead five minutes later when his corner kick went into the back of the net.
A Jamie de Abreu goal inside the opening 15 minutes of the second half brought hope to the Port bench that the visitors might be able to make a game out the contest.
However for the second week running, Kofi Danning teed up Theo Markelis for a third of the night to kill any hope the away side had of stealing a point from their travels. The home crowd was then treated to the long-awaited debut of Tom Cahill, and the Englishman made an immediate impact by setting up his compatriot Hegarty for the fourth of the evening.
Hovering unpleasantly in mid-table three weeks ago, the 2015 FFA Cup semi-finalists now find themselves one point behind Gully in fourth position on the competition ladder following those three straight victories, as they turn their attention to a fascinating mid-week FFA Cup tie away to the last remaining State League side in Malvern City on Wednesday evening.
Strikers shine once more to hand Acevski selection dilemma
Heading into the Round 10 home game against Heidelberg United, Hume forwards Daniel Clark and Kym Harris had just three goals between them all season. With Tom Cahill’s clearance still a few weeks away and new signing Craig Carley prevented from featuring until the mid-season transfer window opens on May 28, Lou Acevski was placing his faith on two misfiring forwards who were under pressure to perform as City’s title aspirations looked to fade. Fast forward three rounds and the two have scored seven goals between them, both taking their season tally to five league goals.
With Cahill now fit and ready to fire, Carley waiting in the wings for his clearance to come, and two in-form frontmen, Acevski now finds himself with a pleasant selection headache on whom to start given the form of the Queenslander and South Australian respectively.
Image: Mark Avellino