Avondale’s “Italian” champions extended their unbeaten run with a thrilling victory against last year’s champs from Oakleigh. Despite a tough season, the Avondale squad fought hard and managed to score four impressive goals, securing a much-needed three points to stay on top of the table.
Right from the start, the home team came out all guns blazing, with the unstoppable Yusuf Ahmed finding the back of the net just 11 minutes into the game. The excitement didn’t stop there, as four minutes later, a Brandon Lundy own goal gave Avondale a comfortable 2-0 lead. This thrilling win cements their position as the team to beat in the league.
The home side came out strong in the first half, finding the back of the net in the 11th minute through this year’s unstoppable Yusuf Ahmed, before four minutes later they made it 2-0 thanks to a Brandon Lundy own goal.
The visitors showed their fighting spirit, not giving in to the attacking crescendo of the leaders, but instead increasing their pressure and circulating the ball properly. This led to a thrilling turn of events in the 18th minute when Wade Dekker scored an excellent goal, reducing the score. Dekker struck again in the 32nd minute, scoring the equalizer that ignited the crowd.
This was the score with which the two teams went to the locker room. It was an incredible first half, worthy of the dynamics of the two opponents.
It was as if Chris Taylor’s team never emerged from the locker room after halftime, leaving only “fighter” to enter the fierce battlegrounds of Avenger Park. Despite the eleven white-clad footballers making an appearance for the second half, they put up no resistance against the home team’s ramped-up performance. The Avenger Park crowd was left in awe as the home team dominated the field.
In the 61st minute, Zander Guy put Avondale ahead and Liston Diaz sealed the win with a 4 – 2 score in the 87th minute. Avondale’s resounding win definitely sent a message to their pursuers.
South Melbourne Cruises to Victory Against Altona Magic
South Melbourne easily overcame the resistance of Altona Magic on Sunday afternoon, with the score reaching 5-1. The hosts opened the scoring in the 19th minute with their trademark goal. Max Mikkola took the cross from the right, Marco Jankovic jumped higher than everyone else and beat the visitors’ keeper, Christian Rossi, with a beautiful header.
Magic quickly found an answer to the South Melbourne goal, as Tommy Semmy made it 1-1 just four minutes later. That was the score of the first half.
In the second half, Esteban Quinta’s players showed how much they wanted the victory, leaving no room for resistance from their opponents. The team’s center-forward, international Ajak Riak, gave his team the lead again in the 56th minute. Max Mikkola scored the third goal for his team in the 68th minute.
The blonde midfielder scored for the second time in the 79th minute while Alun Webb scored the final goal of 5-1 in the 86th minute, resulting in a big win for the South Melbourne side. This will certainly help them build confidence ahead of the derby next week against Avondale.
Port Melbourne Sharks Edge Out Bentleigh Greens in Nail-Biting Match
We had a nerve-wracking match on Saturday night in Port Melbourne between the local Sharks and Bentleigh Greens. The hosts were desperately looking for a positive result in response to their defeat against South Melbourne last week.
The “Cypriots” froze the already cold JL Murphy Reserve when they took the lead in the 14th minute with a goal from their maestro in the field, Thomas Strickland. The home side spent the rest of the first half aimlessly moving the ball and making harmless attacking efforts that didn’t seem capable of troubling the away team, who in turn spent too much time and energy passing the ball around in the first third of the pitch.
Adam Piddick’s half-time instructions, which could be heard even in the Sharks’ ground canteen, seemed to have done their job as the home side took to the grass for the second half with their will to turn the match around.
In the 68th minute, Jackson Courtney-Perkins found himself unmarked at the penalty spot and with a powerful shot made it 1-1 and the first step towards overturning the score.
In the 80th minute, the home team was left with ten players but that was not able to put a break on the fighting spirit of the “Sharks” since in the 90th minute, Mohamed Adam scored a buzzer-beater for Port Melbourne. The towering midfielder, who in 2021 travelled to Greece to try his luck at Xanthi football club, found himself with the ball near the left-hand corner of the Bentleigh box and with an extremely spectacular volley beat Bon Scott to give a golden victory to his team. A victory which, if only temporarily, brought the red and blue team to fifth place in the table.
Heidelberg and Moreland Deliver Lackluster Performance at Olympic Village
Despite the home advantage, at Olympic Village, Heidelberg’s struggles continued as they were unable to secure a victory, resulting in another disappointing 0-0 draw.. The home side once again failed to come away victorious, as the score remained 0-0, the lackluster performance was rough on Alexandros, who has been unable to break out of his slump since the start of the NPL championship “marathon”. Misfortune has plagued Alexandros, who have been unable to break free from the shackles of the negative playing that has persisted since the beginning of the season.
NPL 2
Great victories were achieved for the NPL2 championship by Kingston City and Northcote. The “Red and Whites” welcomed the very strong Western United, managing to get the three points thanks to a goal from the Petros Skapetis, in the first minutes of the game, while Northcote swept away the always-worthy Dandenong City with 3-0. Brunswick City was less fortunate, losing 2 – 1 at home to Werribee.
The NPL3
Box Hill lost even more ground in the NPL3 championship race. The “Greek” team left the grounds defeated once again after failing to put up any resistance at Beaumaris, suffering a 2 – 1 away defeat, remaining at the very bottom of the table.
State Leagues
Keilor Park and Yarraville remained at 0 – 0 for the North West group of the State League 1 while we had the exact same score in the match of the South East group between Malvern and Casey Comets. Aris from Springvale appeared more effective after he left the Collingwood stadium victorious with a score of 0 – 1.
NPL – RESULTS
Green Gully – Dandenong Thunder 4 – 2 (2′ L. Jeggo, 18′ J. Hope, 36′ A. Gerez, 90+6′ J. Hope – 38′ K. Dover, 83′ L. Mazis)
Heidelberg United – Moreland City 0 – 0
Avondale – Oakleigh Cannons 4 – 2 (11′ Y. Ahmed, 15′ B. Lundy [A], 61′ Z. Guy, 87′ L. Diaz – 18′ W. Dekker, 32′ W. Dekker)
North Geelong Warriors – St Albans Saints 1 – 0 (8′ T. Ruthven [A])
Port Melbourne Sharks – Bentleigh Greens 2 – 1 (68′ J. Courtney – Perkins, 90′ M. Adam – 14′ T. Strickland)
Melbourne Knights – Hume City 1 – 1 (39′ L. Kolic – 90+5′ J. Phelps)
South Melbourne – Altona Magic 5 – 1 (19′ M. Jankovic, 56′ A. Riak, 68′ M. Mikkola [P], 79′ M. Mikkola, 86′ A. Webb – 22′ T. Semmy)
NPL – TABLE
1. Avondale 11 31
2. South Melbourne 11 28
3. Oakleigh Cannons 11 23
4. Melbourne Knights 11 21
5. Green Gully 11 18
6. Port Melbourne 11 15
7. Altona Magic 11 14
8. Hume City 11 14
9. Dandenong Thunder 11 13
10. Heidelberg United 11 10
11. Moreland City 11 9
12. St Albans Saints 11 7
13. North Geelong 11 7
14. Bentleigh Greens 11 6
NPL2 – RESULTS
Werribee City – Brunswick City 2 – 1
Brunswick Juventus – Manningham United Blues 1 – 2
Northcote City – Dandenong City 3 – 0
Eastern Lions – Pascoe Vale 2 – 0
Langwarrin – Melbourne City (Y) 1 – 5
Kingston City – Western United (Y) 1 – 0
Bulleen Lions – Preston Lions*
*The match will be held on Monday (01/05) afternoon
NPL2 – TABLE
1. Preston Lions 10 21
2. Western United (Y) 11 21
3. Kingston City 11 20
4. Manningham 11 18
5. Eastern Lions 11 18
6. Dandenong 11 17
7. Pascoe Vale 11 17
8. Northcote City 11 16
9. Langwarrin 11 16
10. Werribee 11 15
11. Brunswick City 11 11
12. Bulleen 10 10
13. Melbourne City (Y) 11 10
14. Brunswick Juventus 11 7
NPL3 – RESULTS
Beaumaris – Box Hill United 2 – 1
Goulburn Valley Suns – Caroline Springs George Cross 1 – 0
Doveton – Essendon Royals 1 – 0
Boroondara Eagles – Ballarat City 4 – 1
Geelong – Nunawading 0 – 2
Melbourne Victory (Y) – North Sunshine Eagles 3 – 2
NPL3 – TABLE
1. Melbourne Victory (Y) 7 19
2. North Sunshine 7 15
3. Nunawading 7 15
4. Goulburn Suns 7 13
5. Boroondara 7 12
6. Beaumaris 7 11
7. Geelong 7 10
8. Doveton 7 10
9. Caroline Springs 7 7
10. Box Hill 7 4
11. Essendon 7 4
12. Ballarat 7 1
