The round eight showdown between the reigning champion and the undefeated Ibises went up a gear after Hassan Alhilfi danced through the Ibises defence and goaled on the eve of half-time, doubling the advantage handed to the Blues by Marcus Thomas 13 minutes earlier.
But in the face of a Tatura outfit that had taken all before it, the half-time message from the Blues’ coaching staff was clear.
“Even though we were two goals up, we knew they were going to come back hard,” United assistant Rahman Kutrolli said.
“We had a lot of opportunities we didn’t make the most of going forward.
“You’re never comfortable with Tatura.”
Sure enough, the Ibises roared to life.
A slew of opportunities on goal were repelled by Blues’ shot-stopper Imran Ali Mohammadi, but the Ibises finally broke through after Tom Leech was brought down in the box, duly converting a penalty with 10 minutes in regulation play to keep the Blues on edge.
With the result still in the air two minutes into stoppage time, Rumesh Bartaula fired a shot past the Ibises keeper to seal a valuable three points.
Bartaula and Tatura’s Jose Rivera were each shown yellows as time ran down – joining Joseph Sepe and Gerald Corbo in the referee’s book – and the whistle eventually blew to signal United’s 3-1 win.
“We’ve got a great respect and rivalry with the Tatura Soccer Club,” Kutrolli said.
“They kept persisting and there were a few times, including with that penalty, where we knew the game was still on.
“It was lucky in the end that (Rumesh Bartaula) squeezed one through late in the game.
“It was a team effort to beat them – they fought it out right to the end.”
The competition bye has come at an opportune time, with Blues captain Willie Sauiluma sustaining a rib injury in the 63rd minute, though Kutrolli confirmed the damage to his leading man wasn’t as serious as first suspected.
At Spring Gully, Shepparton South also needed all of its 90 minutes to nab the three points.
Malivaï Daninthe goaled closing in on half-time to hand the advantage to the black and white travellers and, shortly after, the Reds were reduced to 10 men after Bowdie Chandler picked up a second yellow.
Still, the Reds stuck with South right up until the 92nd minute, when the ever-reliable Joel Aitken connected sweetly to confirm his side’s sixth win of the season.
Meanwhile, Shepparton’s venture down the highway didn’t yield quite the same fruit.
The Reds saw Eaglehawk net the first two goals before Emmanuel Reddy’s eight-minute strike kept Shepparton afloat in a fast start.
They could only watch on as the Eagles slammed home the next 13 goals, completing a 15-1 defeat of the Reds to keep in touch with the top echelon.
Shepparton United continued its winning ways in the women’s league top division with a 4-0 win over Tatura, Olivia Loverso and Maria Villani sending the Blues into the break two goals to the better before Lilli Wilson’s brace secured another strong win.
Meanwhile, South ran into a red-hot Spring Gully in a 1-8 defeat, with Colts United (16-2) and La Trobe (1-0) the other winners in round eight.
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