An action-packed start to Round 13 of the NPL Victoria saw Bentleigh Greens centre-half Jack Webster deliver a massive three points to the club, who again shot to the top of the league ladder.
Handing mid-season signing Kieran Dover a starting debut in the fixture against Port Melbourne – at the expense of Chris Lucas who sat out with a niggling injury – the former Victory man started brightly, and was involved as both sides tussled for ascendancy.
They traded blows over the first half an hour; the in-form Ryan Paczkowski winning a corner on 35 minutes, which proved crucial in the tight affair.
The resulting set-piece saw Webster head in his third goal of the season to break the deadlock.
A chance on the counter attack nearly saw Port Melbourne equalise on the stroke of half-time, but forward Erhan Yalaz was denied by a fantastic Ryan Scott save.
The Greens had chances to add to their lead through Luke Pilkington and Tyson Holmes, but weren’t able to capitalise on the opportunities created.
It mattered little for the new ladder-leaders, who usurp South Melbourne’s position atop the NPL Victoria table, who travel to Green Gully later this afternoon.
At the other end of the table, Richmond managed to pick up a 10th point for the season with a 2-2 draw against Avondale FC, making strides towards their survival bid even if the three points slipped out of their grasp late.
Avondale raced out of the blocks, with a passage of play that debutant James Brown played a part in during the build-up that eventually ended in a penalty, which former Melbourne City teammate Jonatan Germano converted.
While it looked like Avondale would kick on with the lead, another penalty at the other end for a handball on Baki Efe resulted in Jake Barker-Daish also slotting home minutes later.
It got even better for the visitors when the ever-dangerous Alex Caniglia was played through on goal and made no mistake with the finish past Chris May, scoring for the second week running.
Avondale set about trying to peg back the deficit and it was midfielders Murdocca and Germano with efforts on goal – the former’s was held by Gian Tapia, while the other fizzed past the upright.
That was it for the first half, with the second a much tighter affair as neither side could muster much on goal.
In fact, it took until the 93rd minute for substitute Abraham Yango to burst through the lines and found Germano on the edge of the area, whose low effort into the bottom corner was too powerful for Tapia to get to.
In the round’s other match, Melbourne Knights bounced back from two straight home losses with a well deserved 3-1 away victory over a nine-man Pascoe Vale at CB Smith Reserve.
Stand-in captain Stipo Andrijasevic led by example, netting a double, while Jason Hicks also got himself on the scoresheet in a game which descended into chaos in second-half stoppage time.
The hosts came into the contest off the back of a memorable 1-0 triumph over league ladders South Melbourne and were missing the suspended Tomi Milardovic, whose red card last week saw him miss the opportunity to face his former club.
Andrew Marth’s men on the other hand were without the services of the injured Ben Surey, captain Milan Batur and young defender Ivan Grgic, forcing 19-year-old midfielder Nikola Jurkovic into the centre of defence, where he partnered the returning Damien Miskulin.
The visitors were the better of the two sides in the opening half and deservedly took the lead thanks to a flick on at the front post by Andrijasevic who was playing his 50th league game for the club.
Andrijasevic then had an attempt well saved by Alex Pavlidis before combining well with Hicks to set up Jacob Colosimo, whose header failed to hit the target.
The lead was doubled in the 57th minute when Hicks finished expertly, with the Kiwi netting his fourth of the season.
There was to be late drama however when Luca Santilli’s curling free-kick beat Michael O’Farrell in Knights goal as the game ticked into stoppage-time.
The long-serving Vale forward was shown his second yellow card of the evening for his conduct during the celebration of the goal.
Substitute Yusei Kitade’s delivery into the box shortly afterwards was met by the arm of fellow substitute Carl Recchia, who guided the ball home, only for the referee to correctly disallow it and send the veteran off for his deliberate action.
The Knights then countered and found their third of the evening as Andrijasevic completed his brace to join Hicks and Colosimo as the side’s equal top scorer with four goals; the former NSL powerhouse notching up a third straight away victory in the process.
Photo: Steve Starek