By Tim McGlone

A thrilling match between Whittlesea Ranges and Kingston City ended in bizarre fashion on Friday night when an outbreak of sprinklers meant the game had to be abandoned with seven minutes of normal time still to be played.

The match was poised for a thrilling finish at Epping Stadium, with Kingston City leading 3-2 but having just gone down to 10 men following George Stauriois’ dismissal.

Under the NPL Rules of Competition, Kingston City was awarded the 3-2 win and the three points with the required 80 per cent of the match having been played for the result to stand.

Kingston had scored three first-half goals to have the match in control at the break, before the home side hit back with two second-half strikes to claw its way back into the contest.

A frenzied opening saw both sides spurn golden chances to take the lead. Former Brunswick City striker Gino Defeo somehow missed from inside the six-yard box after some great work from Velibor Mitrovic down the right flank.

Mitrovic was causing headaches for the home side and it was no surprise when he opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, rounding the keeper and finishing coolly after a long ball from Stauriois.

In the 41st minute Max Etheridge raced down the left flank and fired a hopeful shot that took a wicked deflection into the back of the net, giving Kingston a 2-0 lead.

Defeo seemingly put the game beyond doubt just before half-time when he ran onto a long ball from keeper Sermin Sadikovski and bundled in a goal off the post.

Whittlesea hadn’t played as badly as the score line reflected and deserved its goal in the 55th minute, courtesy of a free kick from the dangerous Matthew Iuliano.

When substitute Daniel Peluso finished off a smart team move in the 80th minute to pull the margin back to a goal it appeared the strong crowd at Epping Stadium were in for a thrilling final 10 minutes, but the sprinklers behind the goals at the Whittlesea attacking end went off, causing a 10-minute delay before play restarted.

This time only three minutes of playing time took place - which was enough for Stauriois to be sent off for a second yellow card - before a different set of sprinklers near the edge of the Whittlesea penalty area went off and this time refused to stop.

After 10 minutes of deliberation the referees called for full time, giving Kingston City a bizarre victory in the first game of the NPL 1 season.

Kingston City coach Nick Tolios was happy enough to come away with the three points.

“I thought our side played really well, we should have put the game away a lot earlier, but credit to Whittlesea, they came back and made it a contest,” Tolios said.

Whittlesea boss Vinko Buljubasic thought his side would have been a strong chance to score again had the sprinklers not intervened.

“I was confident we would score again. We had the momentum, they were dropping really deep,” Buljubasic said.

“In the end it’s a disappointing way to finish considering we came back from 3-0 down”.

Whittlesea Ranges faces FC Bendigo in Round 2, while Kingston City plays away to Moreland Zebras.

MATCH DETAILS

Whittlesea Ranges FC: 1. Anthony Raspudic (GK), 19. Patrick Colliar, 14. Mark Vangeli, 3. Daniel Sotiropoulos, 17. John Reale, 8. Nicholas Sarbin, 18. Mile Mistove (6. Ahmet Turer 64’), 11. Rami Mustafoski (9. Daniel Peluso, 45’)  13. Tomislav Trbohovich  (12. Daniel Giogha 45’)  7. Matthew Iuliano, 5. Kliment Dimitrieski.

Unused Subs: 2. Lachlan Stagg, 16. Berkam Yhrdakul

Goals: Iuliano 55’, Peluso 80’

Yellow Cards: Sotiropoulos 32’,

Kingston City FC: 26. Sermin Sadikovski (GK), 5. Kemal Curran, 4. James Karvelis, 2. Peter Lord, 11. George Stauriois, 16. Nicholas Stanatiov, 18. Andrew Doig (8. Anthony Stauriois 63’), 17. Deniz Sabanovski, 7. Velibor Mitrovic (10. John McLean 73’) 15. Gino Defeo (14. Arthur Papadopoulos 67’), 9. Max Etheridge

Unused Subs: 13. George Malliaris, 3. Stacy Tsalkos,

Goals: Mitrovic 22’, Etheridge 41’, Defeo 45’.

Yellow cards: Stauriois 15’, 83, Mitrovic 44’.

Red Cards: Stauriois 83’.