Avondale picked up its first point of the season as Port Melbourne remain among four teams yet to taste defeat in PlayStation 4 NPL Victoria.
Pascoe Vale 2
Northcote City 3
Northcote City has secured its first points of the 2015 NPL Victoria season, while leaving Pascoe Vale still searching for its, after a thrilling 3-2 victory on Friday evening at the opening of CB Smith Reserve.
Northcote did things the hard way, twice going behind early on before James Kalafatidis got the winner in the 39th minute.
A packed crowd ensured a thrilling atmosphere, and they were rewarded early when referee Chris Pope adjudged Northcote keeper Chris Theodoridis to have fouled the oncoming Jake Nakic. Michael Ferrante stepped up and slotted the resulting penalty as the hosts were ahead after only three minutes.
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Avondale 0
Port Melbourne 0
Avondale FC has picked up its first point of the PlayStation 4 NPL Victoria 2015 season, keeping Port Melbourne at bay and sealing a 0-0 draw at Avondale Heights Reserve on Saturday afternoon.
The match started with both teams hesitant to show their cards, with a tough midfield battle and neither side looking to press too high.
But after five minutes, Port showed it came to play. Some brilliant work up the left wing saw Kamal Ibrahim with a golden chance on the edge of the box, only for Ibrahim to appear gun-shy and freeze at the decisive moment.
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North Geelong Warriors 0
Melbourne Knights 1
Melbourne Knights has maintained its unbeaten start to the PlayStation 4 NPL Victoria season with a hard fought 1-0 victory over North Geelong Warriors at Elcho Park on Saturday evening.
A solitary 72nd minute goal by Knights striker Andrew Barisic - his third in as many matches - was the only difference between the two sides in what had been a fairly even clash all afternoon.
The first half was a case of the actual game not living up to the occasion as it took awhile for both teams to settle their nerves in front of a bumper crowd.
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Dandenong Thunder 2
Green Gully 5
Green Gully is back on the winners list after a 5-2 defeat of Dandenong Thunder at George Andrews Reserve on Saturday night.
The clash was Gully’s third in seven days but the visitors showed no signs of fatigue, running rampant as five individual goal scorers piled the punishment on the young Thunder side.
The game began with Thunder controlling play but unable to cause damage in Gully’s defensive third. Green Gully looked dangerous on the counter attack and looked to have gone ahead in the 19th minute after Rodrigo Vargas turned in a Jem Berkant free-kick, but Vargas’ header was ruled offside.
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Werribee City 1
South Melbourne 2
The crossbar has come between Werribee City and a famous point against South Melbourne, as last year’s champion recorded a 2-1 win at Galvin Park on Sunday afternoon to continue its perfect start to the season.
Chasing the game after going down 2-0 in the first half, Werribee bombarded the visitors with a barrage of attack in search of an equaliser, and it almost came in stoppage time, only to be denied by the crossbar after a header from Steven Cudrig.
Coming off a midweek fixture away to Bentleigh Greens just four days earlier, Werribee struggled to get out the blocks against a fresh South outfit.
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Heidelberg United 1
Bentleigh Greens 3
Bentleigh Greens has secured a massive come-from-behind 3-1 victory over a 10-man Heidelberg at Olympic Village on Sunday night.
A Heffernan thunderbolt opened the scoring for Heidelberg, only for Ruben Way’s sending off to pave the way for Bentleigh to get back into the match, through goals to Jamie De Abreu, Liam McCormick and Chris Lucas.
It was the home side with the momentum at the start, with Reuben Way’s free kick taking a large deflection off Thomas Mathews, only for goalkeeper Alastair Bray to recover.
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Oakleigh Cannons v Hume City (match abandoned)
A sickening head injury to Oakleigh forward Ben Clarke has seen the Round 4 PlayStation 4 NPL Victoria fixture between Oakleigh Cannons and Hume City abandoned after 23 minutes.
A major collision between Hume goalkeeper Chris Oldfield and Oakleigh striker Ben Clarke resulted in Clarke going down with a suspected head injury.
Ambulances were called, and the game to be stopped for almost 20 minutes before the match was eventually abandoned by the referee; the score was 0-0 at the time.
A determination on the match will be made next week after the referee’s report is reviewed, a spokesman from Football Federation Victoria confirmed.
“A decision on the replay of the game will be made early next week,” he said.
“But right now, our thoughts are with Clarke, his family, and his club.
“We wish Clarke a speedy recovery and a safe return to the football field.”
Round 3
Bentleigh Greens 1
Werribee City 1
Werribee City has ended Bentleigh Greens' 100 per cent start to the season, after a 1-1 draw in an entertaining game of football at the Kingston Heath Soccer Complex on Wednesday night.
New signing Christopher Cristaldo opened his account for the visitors from the spot just after the break, before Matt Thurtell converted an indirect free-kick late on to salvage a point for the Greens.
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Image courtesy of Alen Delic