Bentleigh Greens SC (4) vs St Albans Saints SC (1):
Round 7 began with the Bentleigh Greens finally putting an end to their six game losing streak under new head coach Riccardo Marchioli.
It was St Albans who scored first, only five minutes after the half-time break through Joseph Monek who received the ball from Daniel Fabrizio and then slotted it past Greens keeper Bon Scott.
Bentleigh responded quickly in the 52nd minute as Scott Hilliar headed it past Jasmin Keranovic to level the scores from a free kick taken by Tom Strickland.
Four minutes after the leveller, Strickland played through to Mario Barcia who muscled his way through past the St Albans defence and scored to give Bentleigh the lead.
Coming into the last ten minutes of the game, Bentleigh scored for the third time as Strickland’s long distance effort bounced its way to Keranovic who parried onto the post where substitute Luka Ninkovic was there to tap it in.
In the 86th minute, another Bentleigh substitute in Mitchell Rooke scored the Greens’ fourth after Lucas Derrick was able to find Rooke in the box who slotted it in for Bentleigh’s first win of the 2023 season.
Heidelberg United FC (2) vs Port Melbourne Sharks SC (2):
The second game on Friday night went down to the wire as Heidelberg were able to secure a hard fought point against Port Melbourne at Olympic Village.
The Sharks were first to get on the score sheet in the 32nd minute through Jalil Regague who mistimed the initial header but was able to get a second opportunity at goal and took it well, slotting it past a wall of Heidelberg defenders hitting the bottom left corner.
Just before the end of the first half, Port Melbourne were two up scoring from another corner after Caio De Godoy’s initital shot went straight to Chirs Duggan who was able to knock it in.
Coming into the second half, Heidelberg had a real uphill battle to deal with and substitute Shigeto Masuda was the difference maker in this matchup.
Masuda scored two goals in added time with the first of the pair he poked it in after Sharks’ keeper Andrew Withers punched the ball into the path of the Japanese defender.
Masuda’s second of the game came from dangerous cross from Deion Nikolaidis where he was able to get his head onto it and score it past Withers to end the game as a draw.
Moreland City FC (2) vs Hume City FC (5):
Hume City win big away from home as they defeated Moreland City at CB Smith Reserve on Saturday afternoon.
Moreland scored first in the 38th minute after Jamie Latham’s corner found the former Hume City player Birhan Elibol in the box who headed it past Rory Brian.
Hume responded quickly as Dylan McGlade was able to get the leveller after Mitch Cooper’s header was saved and parried away by Alex Kondoleon into the path of McGlade who tapped it in.
After the break, Hume scored three goals in the span of seven minutes with the first of the three coming from substitute Jawad Rezai in the 68th minute where Ben Bowler found Rezai with a through ball past the Moreland backline where he was able to slot it pass Kondoleon to go one up.
Bowler was once again involved where his cross from the left-hand side found Brandon Lauton in the box who scored a header in the 72nd minute to increase their lead to two.
Bowler ended up with a hat trick of assists to his name as his cross found Josh Bingham who controlled it with his chest to score off the volley and putting in a contender for goal of the week.
However, Moreland did cut the lead back to two as James Hooper scored from the penalty spot sending Brian the wrong way.
But once again, Hume were able to score and sealed the win through another Rezai goal in the last moments of added time.
North Geelong Warriors FC (0) vs Green Gully SC (7):
Green Gully earn their fourth win of the season after dominating the North Geelong Warriors at Elcho Park.
It didn’t take long for the travelling side to score as Alan Gerez scored a tap in two minutes into the game to give Green Gully the early lead.
Green Gully doubled their lead through Tyler Vecchio who was able to tap it into the Warriors goal after Gerez dribbled his way past the defence to find Vecchio.
A minute after Vecchio’s goal, Josh Hope was able to get onto the score sheet after a poor back pass by Matthew Stosic led to Hope intercepting and slotting into the back of the net to go up by three.
Coming into the last ten minutes of the game, Gully were able to score four goals in nine minutes. The goal haul started off with substitute Adolph Koudakpo in the 79th minute where Gianluca Iannucci crossed into Koudakpo who headed it in for Green Gully’s fourth of the afternoon.
In form forward Pierce Waring was able to bag himself a brace within a minute starting in the 84th minute where Mitchell Graham found him free in the box and it only took Waring one touch to strike it past Hamish Flavell. His second goal came from a Josh Hope cross where Waring got his head onto it to increase the lead to six.
To finish off Gully’s commanding performance, Josh Hope got himself another goal after Flavell parried the ball into his path securing the win for Green Gully.
Avondale FC (3) vs Melbourne Knights FC (0):
Avondale’s unbeaten streak continues to grow after their win against the Melbourne Knights at Avenger Park on Saturday afternoon.
Liam Boland kicked off the scoring as his header from Joseph Katebian’s corner in the 28th minute gave Avondale the lead into half-time.
Boland striked once again but this time from the penalty spot in the 74th minute in which he sent Knights’ keeper Chris Oldfield the wrong way.
Substitute Manyluak Aguek got himself a goal only coming on three minutes earlier after a cross from Dillon Jakupi found him in the box where he was able to head it in to keep the unbeaten streak alive.
Altona Magic SC (3) vs Dandenong Thunder FC (2):
Altona win their second game of the season after beating Dandenong Thunder at Paisley Park on Saturday evening.
Dandenong started the scoring in the 22nd minute with Gerhardus Damen scoring the first of the evening after Goffry Lino found him making a late run into the box.
Eight minutes later, Altona levelled the scores through Tommy Semmy after Thunder’s Sevdim Ismaili played a weak back pass where Semmy was there to intercept and take it round Francis Soale to score.
Altona had momentum coming into the second half only taking them four minutes after the break to score their second. Cian Cuba was able to find Charlie Leech who striked it pass Soale to help Altona go up by one.
Two minutes later, Jonas Markovski increased the lead to two after his left-footed strike hit the top corner scoring Altona’s third of the evening.
Dandenong were able to cut the lead back to one through Kieran Dover in the 74nd minute, but it was Altona who finished the game as victors.
Oakleigh Cannons FC (0) vs South Melbourne FC (1):
The last game of the round saw a rematch of last year’s NPL Vic final as South Melbourne seeked revenge against Oakleigh at Jack Edwards Reserve.
There was only one goal which separated the two sides and it was from South Melbourne’s Josh Wallen scoring from a corner in the 54th minute of the game giving South Melbourne the win.
Image Credit: Paul Crossley
