Photo: Rob Cruse
South Melbourne have secured their first win of the season following a 2-0 triumph away at St Albans Saints on a weekend in which the top four sides all played out draws, while Francesco Stella inspired the Port Melbourne Sharks to a valuable away win over the North Geelong Warriors.
The long weekend’s action began on Friday night when the second-placed Bentleigh Greens hosted third-placed Pascoe Vale who were yet to experience defeat from their four opening league matches.
The visitors got off to the best possible start in the sixth minute when the in-form Davey van ’t Schip held the ball up on the left-flank, played a neat one-two with Luca Santilli before finding an unmarked Quaynor Mustapha on the edge of the penalty area.
The Ghanaian took a touch before driving a low shot past Greens shot-stopper Ryan Scott for his first goal for the Rams since joining the club mid-way through last season.
Both sides exchanged opportunities throughout the first half with Marino Gasparis’ stinging half-volley clipping the crossbar while Marco Jankovic’s scuffed shot was saved on the goal line by Alex Pavlidis.
Van ’t Schip continued to give the Greens defence grief in the second half and issued a warning after being allowed to carry the ball to the edge of the area before flashing his low shot just wide of goal.
A misplaced pass from substitute Andy Brennan on the hour mark saw the Dutchman pounce upon it and glide his way forward before cutting in and launching another low effort which wrong-footed Scott and found its way into the back of the net for his fourth goal from five starts this campaign.
Brennan redeemed himself in the 76th minute by reducing the deficit after flashing a shot across which went past Pavlidis having being teed up by fellow substitute Ben Litfin.
Litfin then produced a piece of brilliance to level the scoring by lobbing the ball over Pavlidis having received the ball right near the touchline to net his third goal in five appearances for the Greens.
Pascoe Vale had a couple of late half-chances to win it but failed to hit the target as an entertaining affair ended all-square at the end of the 90 with both sides maintaining their positions on the table.
Friday evening’s other encounter between the Oakleigh Cannons and Heidelberg United was postponed until further notice following the death of an Oakleigh sponsor and junior parent.
As a result of that postponement, Green Gully moved into fourth-place following a 1-1 draw against first-placed Avondale at Knights Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Gully forward Wade Dekker found the back of the net early on only to be ruled offside, while Avondale striker Kaine Sheppard forced Rani Dowisha into making a sharp save inside the opening 25 minutes.
The game lit up in the 38th minute when danger-man Nick Krousoratis was then adjudged to have been brought down inside the penalty box by Avengers defender Ramazan Tavsancioglu.
English midfielder Jay Davies stepped to take the spot-kick only to see his low-shot down the middle saved by the legs of compatriot Chris Oldfield who continued his good form between the sticks.
Brian Vanega’s men were punished for that miss in clinical fashion three minutes later when Argentine box-to-box midfielder Jonatan Germano drilled a free-kick past the Gully wall and into the corner of the net for his second goal in the space of a week as the hosts went into the break with the lead.
The visitors came out from the interval determined to restore parity with Alex Caniglia, Nick Krousoratis and Josh Brindell-South all trying their luck on goal in the early minutes of the second half.
Their perseverance ultimately paid off when a well-taken corner from George Lambadaridis was met by the head of Dekker who buried home his second goal of the season with a powerful flashing header.
Another Lambadaridis corner found the head of Matthew Breeze with the Englishman striking his header onto the crossbar as Gully’s exciting attacking four intensified their search for a go-ahead-goal.
A moment of indecision in the Avondale defence presented Dekker with an opportunity on goal although the former Melbourne City forward blasted his powerful close-range strike into Oldfield who did well to ensure the game finished 1-1 apiece at the end of the 90.
Down in Lara, Port Melbourne rebounded from last week’s home loss to Green Gully by striking twice in the second half to defeat North Geelong 3-1, with the hosts still yet to taste victory after five rounds.
Bobby Vidanoski had an early shot at goal for the Warriors with their goalkeeper Marko Stevanja also denying Andreas Govas and Stella inside the opening ten minutes in a frantic start to proceedings.
However it proved to be a case of third time lucky for the visitors who eventually found the back of the net on 18 minutes through Alex Khrapko, with the Ukrainian netting his third of the campaign.
The crossbar came to the rescue of the besieged Warriors who almost went two behind when long-range specialist Andreas Govas struck the woodwork after trying his luck from 25 metres out.
North Geelong managed to turn the tide and equalised just after the half hour mark when forward Juso Julardzija drilled a low shot into the corner of the net to tie the scoring prior to the half-time break with Michael Anderson failing to put away a Nathan Long cutback in the 40th minute.
With neither side able to fashion any meaningful opportunities in the opening 20 minutes of the second half, Micky Colina brought on American Kene Eze as the Warriors searched for a winner.
The game then turned in a matter of two minutes with Stella finding space and curling in his first for the Sharks before doubling their lead and putting Dominic Barba’s men in a commanding position.
The home side had a late chance to grab a consolation as substitute Nicholas Jurcic combined with Eze only for Port goalkeeper Brendan White to make a smart save as Port moved into the top six.
On Sunday afternoon, South Melbourne earned their first three points of the campaign following a workmanlike 2-0 triumph over the St Albans Saints who stayed rooted to the bottom of the table.
A game with limited chances saw the struggling giants of Victorian football hit the front on the 34th minute when reigning four-time NPL Golden Boot winner Milos Lujic tucked away his penalty.
Saints goalkeeper Chris May denied the visitors from extending their margin on a couple of occasions throughout the 90 with the Dinamo attack struggling to meaningfully test Nikola Roganovic.
The result was put to rest in injury time when Leigh Minopoulos unloaded from range after being offered space and belted his powerful strike into the top right-hand corner of the net.
Chris Taylor’s side moved outside the automatic relegation places into 12th while the Kruni Razov’s men have lost all three of their opening home matches, by an aggregate scoreline of 10-1.
The long-weekend round concludes tonight with Kingston City hosting Hume City while the Melbourne Knights visit the Bulleen Lions as the former trio all look to move into the top six.