Image courtesy: Peter Psarros
By Rory Flanagan
Northcote City showed why they are the leading scorers in the Victorian Premier League this season, as they accounted for Sunshine George Cross with a 3-0 victory at John Cain Memorial Park on Saturday afternoon.
Northcote had to make do without Stuart Nicholson, who is still serving a two-match ban after Northcote’s fixture against Bentleigh last week was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
Raging wind wreaked havoc on both team’s performance on the day, sucking every aerial ball in different directions, and creating an infuriating noise in the grandstand that was reminiscent of the Vuvuzelas in South Africa at the World Cup.
The first chance of the game fell to Sunshine George Cross’ Andrew Nabbout, who couldn’t find a way to stick the ball in the back of the net after Northcote City’s keeper, Chris Petropoulos, misjudged a cross and fumbled inside his area.
The weather had its first real impact on the game when Sunshine’s goal keeper, Martin John went to take a goal kick. The wind rolled the ball just as he made contact, and his kick landed in front of Trent Rixon, but luckily for him, the Northcote skipper fired wide.
The blustery conditions were causing errors all over the pitch, and there was another in the 18th minute that put Northcote into the lead when Mark McGough fired in a ground cross from the right flank.
The pace on the ball was too much for Christos Konstas to handle, who couldn’t control his clearance and put the ball past his own keeper.
City’s confidence was building and they had two contentious penalty shouts turned down in quick succession.
The first came after Trent Rixon was man-handled in the box and the latter a handball by Doug Cameron, surprisingly missed by the referee.
Cameron was proving a threat when going forward, finding himself in dangerous positions on several occasions, and he nearly equalised on 22 minutes. Fidell Richards’ shot conveniently deflected into the path of the Georgie’s left back as he dashed into the box, but Petropoulos in the City goal rushed out instantly, blocking Cameron’s effort with his legs.
As the first half wore on, Sunshine gradually edged into the game but the half time whistle temporarily stopped their momentum.
Building on their encouraging finish to the first half, the second stanza began with Fidell Richards surging into the box, skipping past several players in the process, but he took far too heavy a touch and went to ground in search of a spot kick.
Northcote wrestled the game back into their own hands. Nick Curtis was putting in a very impressive shift in the midfield for the hosts, looking assured in possession and repeatedly breaking up attacks.
The visitors should have drawn level through Doug Cameron in the 81st minute. The Sunshine fullback found himself unmarked with the ball at his feet eight yards from goal, but somehow missed the target completely and inexplicably.
The Georgies were made to pay for Cameron’s miss just a minute later.
A long flat ball from Jonathan Voulgaris still found Trent Rixon despite the swirling wind, and the talismanic striker showed exactly why he is leading the scoring charts. He took the ball past his marker with a clever touch on his chest and then blasted an unstoppable half volley into the back of the net from the edge of the area.
It was a scorching finish from the Northcote captain, who grabbed goal number twelve in a fruitful campaign for the target man. Northcote will be sweating on where his future lies however, after he recently returned from a trial with A-League club, Brisbane Roar.
With the game and possibly their season sinking, the Georgies surged forward desperately.
Substitute Andrew Bourakis whipped in a cross onto the forehead of Shaun Romein whose header was superbly tipped over the bar by Chris Petropoulos, giving the inclination that this just wasn’t going to be their day.
A clever dummy from Brad Norton almost set up Rixon for his second but the ball didn’t have enough pace on it for a first time shot when it came to him, and harmlessly trickled wide.
Rixon returned the favour to Norton with a chipped through ball that the left back controlled well. Dashing into the box and rounding Martin John in the Sunshine goal, he tried to tap home but Luke Grounds was on hand to clear the ball off the line.
Voulgaris rounded out the 3-0 win with a fine solo goal in stoppage time. He cut inside from the right flank, skipped around his defender and curled a sublime left-footed strike into the top corner from 20 yards.
Northcote City will look to continue their finals rise against third-placed Green Gully at John Cain Memorial Park next Saturday afternoon, while the relegation-threatened Sunshine George Cross face the difficult task of toppling league leaders Richmond at Knights Stadium on Monday night.
Northcote City: Adriano CHIAPPETTA, Bradley NORTON, Antoni JANKOVSKI, Nicholas CURTIS, Mark MCGOUGH, Trent RIXON, Hayden D'AGOSTINO, Eddie SOARES (George PAPADOPOULOS 80’), James KALIFATIDIS (Harry KINIGOPOULOS 77’), Jonathan VOULGARIS, Chris THEODORIDIS-PETROPOULOS.
Unused Subs: Nikolaos GOUNTARAS, Nick TZOULIS.
Goals: Konstas (O.G) 17’, Rixon 82’, Voulgaris 90+1’.
Yellow Cards: Nil
Sunshine George Cross: Martin JOHN, Shaun ROMEIN, Fidell RICHARDS, Andrew NABBOUT (Andrew BOURAKIS 66’), Craig SWEENEY, Christos KONSTAS, Douglas CAMERON, Ben COGGER (Leo SHIN 69’), Barry DEVLIN, Luke GROUNDS, James BLACKBURN.
Unused Subs: Dion PORTELLI, Matthew CINI, Cameron SALIK.
Yellow Cards: Shaun Romein 25’ Christos Konstas 49’
Last updated: Sunday July 11, 2010 3:30PM
Back