Image: Smile for Peter
The Oakleigh Cannons have prevailed into next week’s semi-finals after an emphatic 5-2 elimination final win over Green Gully at Jack Edwards Reserve last night.
The goals were shared on the evening with Steve Pantelidis, Goran Zoric, Adrian Chiappetta, Dimitri Hatzimouratis and Dusan Bosnjak finding themselves on the scoresheet, while Liam Boland and Nick Krousoratis were Gully’s goalscorers on the night.
The tone for the game was set inside the opening minute as a curling Dean Piemonte free-kick evaded everyone, forcing Rani Dowisha to parry it away from sneaking into the corner of the net.
Despite some early pressure from the Cannons, it was the visitors who edged in front when Jay Davies was rewarded for his perseverance on the right flank as his ball into the area was not held by John Honos, with the ball spilling into the path of Boland who made no mistake tapping into an unguarded net to open the scoring against his former club.
The lead did not last long as the energetic Zoric provided a dangerous cross into the area which was tucked home by veteran Steve Pantelidis for what was the former Melbourne Victory defender’s first goal in 47 league appearances for the Cannons.
One became two on the half hour mark as a well-placed through ball found its way to Zoric, who cut inside and hit the ball with the outside of his foot for only his second goal of the season, as the home side went into the break with a slender 2-1 lead.
The end-to-end nature of the contest continued in the second half as Oakleigh netted a third when a swinging corner from Piemonte saw his former Northcote teammate Chiappetta rise highest and head home from close range to extend the Cannons advantage.
Arthur Papas brought on Krousoratis and Anthony Ragusa in the hope of energising the Gully attack and the former made an immediate impact in the 72nd minute as he met Boland’s flick on and timed his run at the back post perfectly before gliding the ball past Honos to halve the deficit.
Any hopes of a Gully comeback were dashed three minutes later when Piemonte found Hatzimouratis outside the area as the Oakleigh forward unleashed a scintillating half volley which dipped over the top of Dowisha and into the net.
Four became five in the 78th minute as Gully conceded position in their defensive half with Hatzimouratis playing in Bosnjak who composed himself before netting his 21st goal of a prolific campaign to round off the victory.
Bosnjak had another opportunity to extend the lead only for his side only for Dowisha to make a sharp save on a night when a rampant Oakleigh frontline sent an ominous warning to the rest of the competition as they await to face either the Bentleigh Greens or Heidelberg United next week.
For Green Gully, thoughts immediately turned to Tuesday evening’s blockbuster all-Victorian FFA Cup Round of 16 tie against the Melbourne Knights at Knights Stadium as they look to keep their season alive for at least another few weeks.