Green Gully players celebrate after kicking a goal on Sunday. 87868_06 Picture: MATHEW LYNN
By ADEM SARICAOGLU
GREEN Gully’s Victorian Premier League title chase is back on track after they took care of Northcote City 3-1 at Green Gully Reserve on Sunday.
Gully was impressive throughout what looked to be an even contest, however with Osagie Ederaro and Mathew Sanders looking dangerous up front for most of the day, the Cavaliers were able to book their place in this Saturday’s preliminary final against Dandenong.
Club manager Raymond Mamo told Star Northcote City battled hard and made life difficult for the Cavaliers for the full 90 minutes despite what the scoreboard read.
“We knew that they were going to come out and obviously try and take the game on – we anticipated that was going to happen,” Mamo said.
“We were dominating in the first half, they dominated the second half.
“I thought they really came back at us again even after we had scored our third goal, so it’s a credit to them, they’re a very good side.”
Just five minutes into the match Green Gully looked to have gone ahead 1-0, however Sanders’ header into the back of the net was disallowed for offside.
But there were no such issues for Ederaro nearly 20 minutes later.
Ederaro pounced on an opportunity on the goal line when a deflected ball between Northcote City defenders and goalkeeper Chris Theodoridis landed at his feet for an easy tap in.
Green Gully took their one-goal lead into the second half but within 10 minutes of the restart Northcote City equalised.
Dean Piemonte took a free kick that eluded the wall and Cavaliers goalkeeper Nikola Roganovic to find the back of the net minutes before the hour mark.
Northcote City continued to penetrate Green Gully territory but with every counter attack the Cavaliers continued to look threatening.
In the 62nd minute Sanders ensured his name would appear on the scoresheet when his left foot strike from the edge of the penalty box crawled its way into the far post to again restore Gully’s one-goal buffer.
With Northcote City chasing the match things became desperate in the knock-out final, and in the 81st minute Jason Hayne scored the sealer with a penalty after he was brought down in the box by Theodoridis.
With the focus now on Dandenong this week, Mamo said Green Gully still needs to ensure they are on top of their game when in possession to beat the minor premiers.
“We gave possessions away quite easily again – that was evident again this week,” he said.
“You need to make sure that you hit your targets and you make every ball count because against Dandenong.
“You’re going to have to be 100 per cent with your possessions and your distribution of the ball.”
