Gully's 85th minute winner hurts Oakleigh
By Katie Lambeski (@katielambeski)
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.
Defence was proving to be key for both sides, as the experienced pairings of Daniel Jones and Roddy Vargas of Gully, and Adriano Chiappetta and Steve Pantelidis of Oakleigh were ably assisted by their full-backs to keep the match level.
Gully livened proceedings up late with U20s forward Omar Abdigafar’s pace beginning to create openings for the home team.
The task was made harder for Gully after the sending off of Vargas for a second yellow in the 82nd minute.
It just wasn’t to be for the Cannons, who were denied late but were hit by a determined Gully.
The 85th minute proved match defining, after Aaron Cohen dribbled past two Oakleigh players on his left flank, with his cross finding Sanders who made no mistake from close range.
Gully then remarkably looked to press their advantage, and almost found a second through the efforts of Abdigafar and Jem Berkant.
The game ended shortly after as Gully snuffed out whatever hope Oakleigh had for an equaliser.
Gully will be hoping to continue its run of form when it hosts North Geelong Warriors on Wednesday night at 8:30, while Oakleigh will search for their first points of the season at home to Hume City next Sunday.
Match Details
Green Gully 1 (Sanders 85’) defeated Oakleigh Cannons 0 at Green Gully Reserve. (HT: 0-0)
Green Gully SC: 1. Kieran GONZALEZ, 4. Daniel JONES, 5. Roddy VARGAS, 6. Jem BERKANT, 7. Liam SCOTT, 10. Rinor MURIQI (11. Mathew BREEZE 24’, 13. Omar ABDIGAFAR 72’), 9. Nikola MARKOVSKI, 12. Mathew SANDERS, 14. Amadu KOROMA (3. Aaron COHEN 18’), 15. Berkan YURDAKUL, 17. Alon BLUMGART
Unused subs: 23. Rani DOWISHA, 8. Tom MURPHY
Yellow cards: Vargas (76’, 82’)
Red cards: Vargas (82’)
Oakleigh Cannons: 76. John HONOS, 18. Adam LE CORNU, 6. Steve PANTELIDIS, 12. Tremayne SADLER (4. Brian VANEGA 75’), 7. Ben CLARKE, 2. Adriano CHIAPPETTA, 8. Dusan BOSNJAK, 23. Dominic D’ANGELO, 11. Evan CHRISTODOULOU, 10. Dean PIEMONTE (19. Goran ZORIC 57’), 26. Lambros HONOS (15. Jake MCLEAN 66’)
Unused subs: 5. Aron WILFORD, 35. Evan KRALOGLOU
Yellow cards: Chiappetta (38’)
PHOTO: Mark Avellino
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