Ben le Cornu (left) of Surfcoast tries to wrong foot Liam Nelson of Corio, watched by Steve Luczo (5).
Surf Coast stuns Corio in local derby
By Roy Hay
In a classic game of two halves, Surf Coast came back from a two-nil deficit to beat league leader Corio by three goals to two.
Corio came into this game six points clear at the top of the Provisional League Division One ladder and Surf Coast languished in second last place, but you would not have known it by the end of their match at Quay Reserve on Saturday.
Corio dominated the opening half after surviving an overhead bicycle kick at goal by Adrian Begg, who must have watched Wayne Rooney’s Manchester United example several times.
Begg’s effort just cleared the bar and from then on Corio got its passing game going and took the lead after 12 minutes.
Elton Savice, Steven Luczo and Vedran Stojanovic were involved in the build up and Andrew Palmieri supplied the finish.
In the 25th minute Palmieri found himself clear of the defence, and when there was no offside flag he planted the ball past Sam Versace.
From then till the interval Corio dominated the midfield and should have increased its lead on several occasions, but the closest they came was a delightful Grgo Saric free kick which curled over the wall but dropped just over the bar.
Surfcoast coach Lyndsay Falzon applied the hair-dryer at half-time and brought on Adrian Bond for Begg, but the coach’s main appeal was to his players’ pride.
What a transformation as Surfcoast grabbed a lifeline in 63 minutes!
Hector Nunez of Surfcoast on the ball with referee Mal Bosnjak in close formation.
The livewire Jack Taylor found himself unattended and directed a free header past Alec Kitanovski.
There were only eleven minutes left when Ben le Cornu’s corner kick reached Ry Herman about 20 metres from goal on an angle, but his delicate lob dropped just inside the far post to equalise for Surf Coast.
Now the momentum was with the home side and when a cross from the right evaded several defenders and attackers, Taylor pounced once again for the winner.
Referee Mal Bosnjak sent off Rhys Manning and Surfcoast assistant coach Jason Pickles for alleged ‘violence of the tongue’, and dished out a string of bookings, but it was typical derby stuff rather than malicious play which was involved.
Overall it was great entertainment for the crowd, and Surfcoast can set its season going if it remembers how it won this game.
At the end, Corio coach Kit Greechan agreed that this had been a case of suicide rather than being murdered by the opposition.
Altona Magic 1 North Geelong 2
Two former Premier League clubs clashed at Paisley Reserve in Division One of the State League and North Geelong beat Altona Magic by two goals to one.
It was one-all at the interval and Michael Anderson scored the winner for the Warriors on the hour mark with a great shot from outside the box.
Mijo Trupkovic’s free kick rebounded from the wall and Anderson blasted it back in.
In the first period the home team went ahead after a bit of miscommunication in the North defence and a back header which fell kindly to the opposition.
Anderson then set up Raj Kurul for the equaliser right on the stroke of half-time.
Coach Ante Skoko was pleased that his experienced players are now providing the stability and guidance to what is otherwise a very young side.
Geelong 2 Williamstown 0
In the battle in the lower reaches of Division Two on Friday night, Geelong accounted for Williamstown by two goals to nil with one in each half.
Michael Nikolovski got the first and Jasko Ikanovic the second.
Matias Gorisito was sent off for a bad challenge in his first match back from suspension.
There were some positive signs for Geelong in the performance of the skilful Chileans, the Castro brothers, Ricardo and Yanko who were recruited from Altona City.
The win took Geelong six points clear of Williamstown and ten ahead of the bottom two clubs, though they all had games in hand.
Keilor Park 4 Geelong Rangers 2
Geelong Rangers had a tough assignment away to league leader Keilor Park in Division Three and went down by four goals to two.
Grant Mussel and Lorenzo Carbone with a double put the leaders three-nil up at the break, but Rangers hit back in the second half.
Grant scored another for Keilor and the Rangers goals came from an own goal and a twenty-metre screamer from Daniel Psmaris.
Coach Dale Harris said Rangers really gifted the goals to Keilor in the first half, though Carbone at 18-years-old gave the Rangers’ defence headaches throughout.
Rangers best in the fightback were Jason Leroux and David Ellis.
Bell Park 1 Epping City 3
Bell Park has had a roller coaster season and is struggling to break clear from the drop zone in Division Two of the Provisional League.
Its cause was not helped by a three-one loss at home to Epping City.
Ifeanyi Ihanacho, known to the locals as Gift, scored for Park in the first half but Epping went to the break with a two-one advantage.
The visitors added the third as Park chased an equaliser.