Melbourne’s wet and wild weekend saw the action heat up on the pitch as both Moreland clubs recorded wins against clubs near them on the ladder to break away a bit in the pursuit of Northcote City, who continue to win at home. Melbourne Victory and Ballarat City also gained some momentum to increase the congestion in mid-table.
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It was one of the headlining games of the West between two contenders chasing Northcote at the top and the clash duly delivered, exploding in the last 20 minutes.
Trent Rixon opened the scoring with his sixth goal of the season, ramming home Josh Hanna’s flick on just after the break.
A penalty to Adam Wright saw the Welshman become the league’s top scorer with his seventh of the campaign, netting against his old club in the 73rd minute. Queenslander Matt Murphy had his team’s second of the game moments later and his second of the campaign to propel the visitors into the lead, latching onto Ali Turgut’s pass and sliding the ball into the bottom right corner.
Jay Kelly squared the ledger with six minutes to go, tapping in Apai Ukuno’s ball across the face. It marked his first goal since joining the club in the summer, with the Canberra native returning from injury recently.
Ukuno was again involved in the build-up to the winner, chesting the ball down in the path of captain Corey Thomas, who also netted his first of the season to send Campbell Reserve into pandemonium via a 3-2 win.
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Moreland Zebras stay a point behind Moreland City with a game in hand having fought for a significant result against Whittlesea Ranges.
It was a game in which the latter would rue missed chances, with the likes of Tom Barforosh having a shot headed off the line by Mile Medjedovic while Janiel Silva had a shot fly off the woodwork. Regsan Watkins had a shot saved well by ex-Zebras custodian Phil Petrovski as the Zebras also threatened in the first half.
However it was Amir Osmancevic who opened just after the break for his fifth goal of the campaign, having received the ball in the left corner of the 18-yard box and shooting across Petrovski into the bottom right.
Barforosh also netted his fifth goal of the campaign to square the ledger, but Mohamed Habib netted his second from the bench this term to seal the winner, assisted by Osmancevic before chipping past the keeper.
It was the Ranges’ first home defeat of the season, while Fausto de Amicis’ side bounced back after last week’s maiden defeat to Dandy City and face Northcote City next week at CB Smith Reserve in a massive clash.
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Northcote consolidated their six-point buffer at the top with a narrow win over Serge Sabbadini’s struggling Bees. Defender Matt Whatley had his third of the season, heading in the winner in the 77th minute.
Zeljko Kuzman’s men have won 6 out of 6 at home this campaign, making John Cain Memorial Reserve fortress as they prepare to visit the Zebras next weekend.
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Having won one in seven to begin the season, Danny Gnjidic’s men have now won their last two thanks to a comfortable win over Sunshine, who are without a win in three.
Dom Swinton and Michael Trigger both scored their fourth goals of the campaign in completely different circumstances.
Swinton poked in a Sunshine backpass to make it 1-0, before Trigger – who has a penchant for netting stunning efforts – lobbed one in from around halfway with one of the goals of the season.
Josh de Voogel grabbed a maidel goal off the bench to seal a 3-0 win as Ballarat gain a bit of mid-season momentum.
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Melbourne Victory inflicted more pain on Bendigo City with a 5-0 win. It’s another big defeat for Bendigo, who have now conceded 33 goals in 9 games and are rooted to the bottom of the table.
17-year-old Victory forward Aleks Stanisavljevic followed up his debut strike last week against Thunder with a brace, the first goal coming from Pierce Waring’s good build-up work and the next from former Ballarat attacker Brandon Lauton’s cross.
Stanisavljevic turned provider to assist central defender Ben Carrigan, while Callum Goulding got on the action via a curling effort with the outside of his foot.
The rout was sealed in second half injury time by youngster Josh Kelic, who is the son of former Melbourne Knights and South Melbourne striker Ivan Kelic – a regular NSL goalscorer in the 1990s.