It's tight at the top in Victoria with six teams sitting on maximum points after two rounds of the PlayStation 4 NPL Victoria 2015 season.
Melbourne Knights 2
Northcote City 0
Melbourne Knights continued its winning start to the PlayStation 4 NPL Victoria 2015 season with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Northcote City at Knights Stadium on Friday.
After a cagey first half, Knights took the lead immediately in the second as a Northcote error from kick-off allowed Andrew Barisic in to score. Captain Tomislav Uskok sealed the three points with a glancing header 20 minutes from time.
Knights coach Andrew Marth described the first half of last week's 3-1 win over Avondale FC as the poorest he'd seen in his tenure at the club and his side were keen to avoid a repeat.
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Port Melbourne 2
Pascoe Vale 0
A strong second half showing was enough for Port Melbourne to get over the line tonight with a 2-0 victory giving the home side a 100 per cent record to start the season.
After being on the back foot for most of the first half, goals to Kamal Ibrahim and Ryan Opperman sealed the points for Eric Vassiliadis’ side.
Pascoe Vale, fresh from its 3-0 loss to Heidelberg last week, came out strongly against the fancied Port Melbourne side.
Regularly pressing high up the park, the visitors appeared to have a renewed confidence, with Michael Ferrante a welcome inclusion into the starting 11.
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Green Gully 1
Oakleigh Cannons 0
Oakleigh Cannons’ winless streak continues with a 1-0 loss to Green Gully SC at Green Gully Reserve on Saturday afternoon.
Mathew Sanders ensured a famous win for the home side an 85th minute winner. The match could have gone either way with both Oakleigh and Green Gully creating chances throughout, but were undone by some great defending for the majority of the match.
Former Box Hill forward Rinor Muriqi fired the first chance on goal after being played through into the penalty area, but couldn’t beat goalkeeper John Honos.
Gully suffered setbacks after early injuries to Amadu Koroma and Muriqi, which forced the hosts to change their gameplan.
From there on in, the match went into a stalemate as neither side was able to find a breakthrough.
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North Geelong Warriors 0
South Melbourne 3
A clinical South Melbourne has gatecrashed North Geelong Warriors’ party and left with all three points, as it outclassed the newly-promote side to win 3-0 at Elcho Park on Saturday evening.
In front of one of the biggest home crowds in recent years, the reigning champs capitalised on their chances to score twice in the first half, through David Stirton and Milos Lujic, to spoil the home team’s return to the Victorian top flight after 18 long years.
Nevertheless, it wasn’t all one-way traffic in the first half, as the Warriors had two golden chances to score within the opening ten minutes; striker Juso Julardzija’s goalpost grazing effort in the second minute almost giving the home side a remarkable lead.
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Dandenong Thunder 1
Bentleigh Greens 2
Dandenong Thunder has succumbed to a second round PlayStation 4 NPL Victoria defeat at the hands of Bentleigh Greens on Saturday night.
The match was abandoned after 85 minutes due to a floodlight power failure, with the scoreline 2-1 in favour of Bentleigh, thanks to a sublime double by Matt Thurtell. As more than 80 per cent of the match had been completed when the lights went out, the 2-1 result will stand.
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Hume City 2
Avondale FC 0
Hume City has earned its first points of the season as it claimed a late 2-0 win over Avondale FC at Broadmeadows Valley Park on Sunday afternoon.
Despite the picturesque conditions, the healthy crowd wasn’t treated to a football contest to match the landscape, as the game struggled for any sort of potency, save for the last 10 minutes.
Jai Ingham was the man who eventually broke the deadlock with just over 10 minutes to play, before supplying the final ball for Nick Hegarty’s sealer, but those magic moments were few and far between.
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Werribee City 0
Heidelberg United 1
Heidelberg has secured a second win in as many matches this season with a last gasp 1-0 victory over Werribee City at Galvin Park on Sunday afternoon.
A goal with ten minutes to play from substitute Andrew Cartanos was enough to secure a deserved victory for the visitors on a very windy day in Werribee.
With conditions making it difficult for either side to keep the ball, the match began as a scrappy contest with neither side able to create many clear cut opportunities throughout the 90 minutes.
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