The GV Suns' Callum Schorah pulled the strings in the midfield in the Australia Cup battle.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
The GV Suns fell to defeat in their seventh round Australia Cup clash against Bulleen Lions - bringing the side’s fairytale run to a close.
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The boys in navy blue dazzled en route to this stage in the competition, putting together wins over Green Gully, Murray United and Eastern Lions to set up a tie under the lights at John McEwen Reserve on May 26.
In front of a fervent crowd in Shepparton, Craig Carley’s charges had every reason for optimism after tallying up the longest unbeaten run in the club’s history during a recent purple patch.
With fans packing out the grandstand on a rainy night in the Goulburn Valley, the hosts stunned the visitors from Melbourne as attacker Laywi Niyonkuru earned the Suns an early advantage in the tie after just seven minutes.
The striker received the ball in the left channel, before pirouetting and angling his body to fire past Eisa Azizi to give the home side into a one-goal lead with a thunderous strike.
The VPL 2 outfit kept the trap door shut heading into the interval, frustrating the visitors from the league above - who had been forced to play keep-ball in the middle of the park as opportunities failed to materialize in the final third.
Following the break, the Suns’ resolve was finally breached as Lucas Vaz grabbed a crucial equalizer in the clash.
Lions boss Iacopo La Rocca made full usage of his bench after gaining parity in the battle, introducing a trio of substitutes from the sidelines in a bid to lure the Suns into submission.
His brinkmanship paid dividends when Vaz doubled his tally for the day with what proved to be the winning goal in the 75th minute.
Although the Lions closed out a 2-1 victory to earn passage to the round of 32, the result did not tell the story of the game - with the hosts having peppered the opposition goals, registering 21 shots to the visitors’ four.
Providing his verdict on how his troops fared on the day, Suns head coach Craig Carley was “super proud” of the boys for their efforts.
“We probably needed to score a few more when we were on the front foot in that first half,” he said.
“They organized after half-time and came out with intent but I’m really proud of the cup run and the endeavour during the game.
“We never gave up and you can see with Bulleen that they are a very competitive VPL 1 side with their movement and rotations during the game.”
“We know that we’re really effective as a transitions team on the counter-attack and we knew they’d have a lot of possession with the calibre of players they’ve got.
“We knew we had to bide our time and we executed our plan brilliantly but Bullen had four shots and scored two of them so credit to them.”
As the only regional side left in the cup by round seven, the Shepp side’s staff and players can be proud of their efforts after what proved to be a spellbinding run for the club and the wider community.
“It’s been great to see so many people (at John McEwen Reserve) and it proved to the boys we can compete at that level,” he said.
“We aspire to be a VPL 1 team next season and we need to be competing against teams like that with our aim being promotion.
“There’s no bigger games than this weekend’s match against Essendon Royals - we’re looking forward to it!”
The fixtures continue to come thick and fast for GV Suns, with a round 15 VPL 2 clash to come against Essendon Royals next up on May 30 from 5pm at John McEwen Reserve.
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