Rams jump clear of the pack

Churchill United has jumped five points clear of the chasing pack with a comprehensive 4-0 demolition of third placed Traralgon City in heavy conditions on Saturday night.

The quagmire should have tightened the contest but the Rams were relentless maintaining its average of scoring four goals per game this season.

Churchill soaked up some initial pressure from City who were finding space for Dustin Moos and John Kuol to attack in waves with support from Andrew and Adam Batt.

But it was the Rams that hit the lead when Jesse Kennedy was given room in front of goal to score under pressure from City defender Robby Holmes.

It was 2-0 when Kennedy’s strike partner Luke Cheney rose above a pack of players to head home powerfully from a corner ball.

In the second half Churchill’s Mitch Jackson played out of his skin to dominate the midfield with team mates Nathan Lugton, Tim Dawson and Nathan Osborne making attacking play difficult for City to fashion.

When Cheney was felled in the box and duly converted the resulting penalty the contest was over 3-0.

Jackson’s night was complete when he cheekily chipped the keeper from thirty yards out in a seemingly impossible position on the touch line.

City almost scored a consolation when striker Mark Fairbrother unleashed a thirty yard bullet that rattled the Churchill cross bar, but it was too little too late for the Traralgon outfit. 

Fortuna vs Moe United

Fortuna salvaged a 3-3 draw after surrendering a two nil lead against Moe United on Saturday night, narrowly maintaining control of its season’s destiny in its pursuit of Churchill at the top of the table.

In the lead up to the match contactors sucked up over 100,000 litres of water from the Crinigan Road pitch, but the surface was still extremely heavy under foot.

Fortuna looked the goods in the early stages of the first half finding plenty of space on the wings where they eventually found the net from a Hayden Tanti cross which was met by Andreas Nilo.

The Orangemen found the net again in the first half after George Fkaris scored from just inside the box.  Moe was defending poorly but managed to enter the break at only 2-0 down. 

In the second half a rejuvenated Moe hit the field and looked a totally different team running and tackling harder and looking more potent around goal.

The Red Devils scored its first of three goals for the half from a corner through Adrian Savage who smashed home a volley on the back post.

The equaliser came from a penalty converted by Lee Dastey who added another to his growing season tally 2-2.

Moe claimed the lead 3-2 when Marc McHallam pounced on Fortuna ‘keeper Dean Hamilton’s fumble and slotted the ball in the back of the net with fifteen minutes to play.

With five minutes of regular time to play Fortuna found an equaliser 3-3 when a free kick from Josh Tanti was deflected onto the crossbar by Moe custodian Peter Albanese, but the ball dropped to Joel Baldwin who headed home to claim a point against his old club.

 

Tyers vs Falcons

In atrocious conditions Tyers and Falcons played out a thrilling 4-4 draw for the Lightning to again disprove the pundits having caused several upsets to date this season.

With the ground suiting Tyers’ direct approach, this was always going to be a hard slog for the hard running Falcons.

The Birds got off to a great start with Daniel Tawfik poking home for the opener 1-0.

Tyers then came to life by scoring two goals to snatch the lead 2-1 through Shayne Pavich and Josh Membrey.

Tawfik again popped up equalize to square the ledger 2-2 just before the break.

Tyers long ball approach snared them the lead through Pavich 3-2, but Falcons equalized off the boot of Sam Amaira.

Tawfik completed his hat trick and put Falcons in the ascendancy 4-3 with what seemed to be a tough win.

However only minutes to go, Tyers yet again proved resilient and equalized to snare a point 4-4 when Sam Harbridge finished.

 

NYU vs Sale

Sale United has underlined its finals potential with a 5-1 win over Newborough Yallourn United at Burrage Reserve on Sunday.

The focused Swans settled to the conditions and controlled the midfield battle dissecting the Combine to set up Ray Allred to score the first of the day 1-0 after twenty minutes.

Moments later some sharp passing again lead to a clear break and this time youngster Ashley Ross side stepped his marker and advancing keeper to score Sale's second. 

Within minutes the contest was laid to rest when a dashing run from Dave Myall down the flank allowed him to pick out Callum Clancy who smashed the ball into the net sending the Swans to a 3-0 half time lead.

In the second half Romi Bitar made the most of a Ray Allred square pass striking the ball from outside the penalty box beating the keeper at the near post to make it 4-0. 

The rout was complete when substitute Kabo Phillips chipped the keeper 5-0. 

NYU managed a consolation goal in the shadows of full time when Jeremy Dunn finished from the wing 5-1.

Traralgon Olympians vs Monash

Olympians and Monash played out a 0-0 draw on the muddy confines of Harold Preston Reserve on Sunday.
 
Neither side was able to fashion an opening early in the game as the conditions were not conducive to good soccer.

Olympians best chances were long range efforts, with Dean Panayiotou testing the Monash ‘keeper Russell Musgrove from distance to no avail.

Wolves veteran Eric Sostak had his sides best chance of the first half when he intercepted a cross field pass from the Blues ‘keeper Ben Johnstone but was unable to control the ball before Jon Buhagiar cleared the danger.
 
After the break the game opened up with end to end chances, but neither Musgrove nor Johnstone was troubled too much.

Olympians Brian Box was lively up front, but he was given no time on the ball with his direct opponent Trent Felici in top form. 

With minutes remaining on the clock Monash looked to have snatched a winner with Sostak cutting the ball back to his captain Wally Noppert from six yards out only for substitute ‘keeper Brett Reid to pull of a stunning reflex save to gain the home side a share of the points.