Shepparton South's Joel Aitken has his eyes on the prize.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Make no mistake, the margin for error is narrowing ahead of the penultimate round of the Central Victorian League home and away season.
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Shepparton South continues to firm as the main challenger to title incumbent Tatura, picking up a third consecutive win against a gallant La Trobe University at McEwen Reserve.
Joel Aitken sparked the early breakthrough, utilising the cranium to good effect at the end of a free kick to find the back of the net.
A carbon copy of that effort from La Trobe levelled proceedings, but a 70th-minute conversion to Trent Newbound delivered South a hard-earned win after a patchy first half according to coach Luke Viney.
“I think it was an effort from the whole team to just play football the way we know we can,” Viney said.
“There’s a few guys that came off the bench and settled the game down; Murtaza (Gulzari), Nick Murphy were fantastic coming off the bench.
“But it's actually a real credit to the starting line-up to be able to settle themselves down, to be able to then control the game throughout the second half.”
The South mentor also reserved praise for young debutant Will Jones, who made the jump from the club’s youth side.
Jones wasted no time settling in after replacing an injured Lewis Coyle, looking assured patrolling the pitch.
Meanwhile, Tatura has spent a month undisturbed at the top of the League 1 men’s table, and an 8-2 drubbing of Epsom will keep the Ibises there for another week.
It was the Scorpions, however, who jumped the reigning champions with a 2-0 lead after 25 minutes, but it was a short-lived one.
Tristan Zito and Xavier Black got to work, transforming a 3-2 lead at the half into the Ibises biggest win of the season and Black’s status as the competition’s premier striker all but assured after a monstrous five-goal haul, taking his tally to 19.
Shepparton United and Eaglehawk didn’t need to wait long to lock horns again after last week’s fiery League Cup final.
The result mirrored the 3-2 scoreline of that clash after Riki Koyanagi’s strike deep into injury time stole all three points for United, with Hassan Alhilfi’s brace the bedrock of his team’s sixth win of the season.
Meanwhile, Shepparton United’s League 1 women claimed their eighth straight victory in a 6-0 rout of Eaglehawk.
Lilli Wilson, Rezwana Baqiri, and Maria Villani each picked up a brace to maintain their grip on second position, a point clear of Strathfieldsaye which produced an 11-1 win over Border Raiders.
Tatura travelled to face undefeated Spring Gully, but couldn’t capitalise on a promising 1-2 scoreline, eventually faltering to a 1-4 loss.
