In yet another NPL2 West match-week littered with twists and turns, the race for promotion came no closer to finding an outright favourite, as both ladder leaders North Geelong Warriors and second placed Whittlesea Ranges slipped up with losses in their respective fixtures.
That opened up the path for four chasing teams, with St Albans Saints, Moreland Zebras and most importantly Melbourne City all capitalising with victories, the latter now leading the competition.
Not one of last week’s top six remains in the same spot of the ladder in a title-tilt that gets more exciting by the day.
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Warriors lose top spot after derby defeat to Saints
North Geelong Warriors have let top spot on the NPL2 West ladder slip, falling to a 2-1 loss to sister club St Albans Saints.
Michael Grgic struck well in the 23rd minute to give the Saints an early lead, with Adrian Barresi grabbing his first goal of the season to double their advantage.
They missed a number of chances to go three goals up but instead saw their lead slashed in half after keeper Alex Baird impeded Nicholas Jurcic on the charge.
The resultant spot-kick was well converted as usual by defender Matt Townley, but the goal proved too little, too late for the hosts, who slipped to third place after the round’s results.
Whittlesea can’t capitalise as Werribee secure second straight win
Whittlesea Ranges missed a golden opportunity to go top of the ladder, after falling to a surprise 2-1 loss to Werribee City, in a game that failed to reach any spectacular heights.
Atilla Ofli struck before the break to take the Ranges into half-time holding a 1-0 lead, while George Slefendorfas came close, striking the crossbar in the second term.
Two disappointing lapses from the Ranges in the middle of the park allowed the Bees to come home strong with two second half strikes to complete their comeback.
Domenico Marafioti netted the first on 57 minutes, before Robbie Naumovski completed a two minute double salvo almost immediately from kick-off to give his side the lead.
Werribee were able to hang on for their second consecutive win of the season, while there will no doubt be dissapointment in the Whittlesea camp as they failed to capitalise on North Geelong’s slip up.
Turer scores his third in as many games as Sunshine & City draw
In a wild weathered day, Sunshine George Cross collected a well-earned point against Moreland City at Campbell Reserve on Saturday afternoon.
Ahmet Turer began proceedings in the seventh minute when he opened fire from outside the box beating the outstretched hands of the opposition keeper.
Moreland continued to batter the Sunshine goal however finding no luck; Apai Ukuno came closest for the home side in the first half when he called keeper Matt Jones into action on a tight angle, who saved with his outstretched leg.
Following an injury prior to half-time, Nathan Liberto was replaced by 17-year-old Aaron Phung, who was immediately thrown in the action when Brandon Xerri’s ball picked out the youngster only for his shot to go wide of the goal.
City were awarded a penalty after Lisandro Paz was adjudged to have been brought down in the box, 10 minutes after the break.
Casey Thomas stepped up to the spot, sending Jones the wrong way and equalising for Moreland.
Paz came closes again for Moreland City, nearly profiting from a Trent Rixon cutback, only for his shot to be cleared away once more by the Sunshine keeper.
The hosts went down to 10-men in its dying embers, as Liam Brian was given his marching orders after receiving his second yellow for kicking Ryan Dragovic in the 90th minute.
Four-goal contest sees City claim first place with their fifth win in a rows
Melbourne City’s development squad have continued their impressive form of recent weeks, notching up a fifth consecutive win, this time a 3-1 result over ninth-placed Bendigo City.
The teams went in at half-time stalemated at 0-0, but Melbourne City wrestled ascendency in the contest with three second half goals, courtesy of Will Nuttall, Austin Wong and Yousef Ahmed, who was teed up by Guiseppe Marafioti.
The result capped off the merry-go-round of positions at the top of the NPL2 West ladder; City now in pole position for promotion, but face stiff competition from no less than five teams, who are within two games of the top.
Zebras crack five-game winless run as Yousif winner defeats Ballarat
One goal separated Moreland Zebras and Ballarat Red Devils in a tie that held plenty of significance in that aforementioned promotion race.
A win would have seen the Red Devils slip into second place on the NPL2 West ladder; instead it was compatriots Moreland that took that mantle with a 1-0 win.
The match looked destined for a 0-0 draw, but the in-form Baggio Yousif struck with just a minute left in regulation tie to seal the result, his 11th goal of the campaign arguably his most important.
The result leaves Ballarat languishing in sixth place, but testament to the tightness of the league, are just four points off top place.
Photo: Kun Ji