Image courtesy: Steve Starek
By Liam Coventry-Poole
Green Gully has cemented their place in the final five with a thrilling 90th minute winner against Sunshine George Cross at Knights Stadium.
Timothy Gould was the hero for the guests, almost certainly sealing the Georgies fait for 2010. Astonishingly it was Sunshine’s eighth loss in a row, taking only one point from their past nine matches.
The match had plenty writing on it for both camps, and it showed in the early stages, as both teams took a long time to ease into the flow of the match.
Eventually Sunshine produced the first shot on goal for the match, through James Blackburn. Craig Sweeney cleverly played a quick free kick into the path of Blackburn in the box, but he was pushed to a wide position, eventually shooting the ball over the bar.
Three minutes later Blackburn went a step further and stunned Gully with the opener. A blocked Ben Cogger shot trickled into the path of Blackburn, who went one out with Nikola Roganovic from only a few yards out from goal, comfortably slotting it home for Sunshine George Cross.
Green Gully sprung to life following the goal, going close through Timothy Gould who hit the post with a decent strike from outside the box.
Seconds later Steve Burton had a shot from 15 yards out, denied by the head of Barry Devlin, who was in a good position to clear the threat off the line.
Green Gully’s immediate pressure overwhelmed Sunshine and they equalized in the 23rd minute through Brent Fisher. An Andy Vargas corner to the near post found Fisher’s head, and he had no trouble putting the equaliser past Martin John.
Gully almost snatched the lead in the 28th minute, when a long range Timothy Gould header dipped at the last minute, as a flat-footed Martin John could only stand and watch the ball hit the crossbar.
Green Gully suffered a blow in the 34th minute, when Paul Harris had no option but to replace an injured Jonathon Munoz with Graham Hockless.
Green Gully continued their dominance on the ball, giving Sunshine no room to move when moving the ball out of defence, causing major turnovers in their attacking half.
Andy Vargas almost snuck a goal in just before half time, getting his head onto a cross to the back post, only to hit the side netting of the goal.
Green Gully came out firing in the second half, with Graham Hockless going narrowly wide with a left foot strike from just outside the box.
Sunshine produced a rare opportunity in the 54th minute, when Fidell Richards’ shot the ball inches over the bar after he struck the ball well on the edge of the area.
The flow of the match died right down in the last half hour, with very little penetration of the area, as both shapes made it difficult for either team to counter attack with any conviction.
It took Green Gully almost half an hour to register their next real chance on goal, coming agonizingly close to a winner. Steve Burton forced a great reactionary diving save from Martin John, however, John could only manager to parry the ball away, rolling on to hit the far post and over the line for a corner.
Green Gully should have scored just a few minutes later when they broke and found themselves on the ball with four attackers up against three Sunshine defenders. The returning Joshua Groenewald was on the ball and had two teammates on his left with no defensive coverage whatsoever. Selfishly, Groenewald opted to take the long shot, and sprayed the chance well wide of the goal, ruining an excellent opportunity to take the lead.
The match looked to be well and truly over until Green Gully snatched a late winner in the 90th minute. It was Timothy Gould, playing hero for Gully, notching the ball into net and past John after he got a slight touch on an Andy Vargas cross from the right hand side.
The goal sparked massive celebrations in the Green Gully camp, overcoming their bitter rivals and almost certainly condemning them to State League 1 next season.
Next Saturday afternoon Green Gully are at home, facing Dandenong Thunder, while Sunshine George Cross face the Oakleigh Cannons next Sunday evening at Knights Stadium, the last team Sunshine had a victory against way back in round 9.
Sunshine George Cross: Martin JOHN, Shaun ROMEIN, Fidell RICHARDS, Leo SHIN, Craig SWEENEY, Douglas CAMERON, Ben COGGER (Andrew BOURAKIS 77’), Evan CHRISTODOULOU, Barry DEVLIN, Luke GROUNDS, James BLACKBURN (Andrew NABBOUT 62’)
Substitutes: David STRANIERO, Taxiarhis APOSTOLIKAS, Cameron SALIK
Goals: James BLACKBURN 18’
Green Gully Cavaliers: Nikola ROGANOVIC, Daniel JONES, Steven BURTON, Timothy GOULD, Jeffrey FLEMING, Gary WALES (Mathew SANDERS 84’), Ryan OLLERTON, Mile MEDJEDOVIC, Andy VARGAS, Brent FISHER (Joshua GROENEWALD 68’), Jonathan MUNOZ (Graham HOCKLESS 34’)
Substitutes: Nicholas ROBINSON, Kyriakos GEROHRISTODOULOU
Goals: Brent FISHER 23’, Timothy GOULD 90’
Last updated: Sunday July 25, 2010 3:33PM
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