1996/7 National Youth League Southern Division


These statistics are supplied by Roy Hay and written for the Oz Soccer archive by Greg Stock. We believe them to be accurate and have taken every care to make them so. We would appreciate any correction of errors detected. If you wish to use them for private purposes please feel free to download them. If you wish to publish them contact Roy Hay. If you wish to use them for commercial purposes please contact Roy Hay to negotiate a fee.

National Youth League (Victorian Division),
1-3 November 1996

by Roy Hay

Gippsland Falcons opened Round Four with a three-one away win over Bentleigh Greens. Wally Noppert started the scoring for the Falcons after 15 minutes, and though the visitors dominated the match they could not add to their total till the last ten minutes. Esala Masi got the second goal in 82 minutes, and Mauro De Luca extended the gap in 84. Chris Christou scored Bentleigh Greens' goal in the last minute, when both keepers were struggling to see the ball.

Sunshine Georgies kept its one hundred per cent record after downing Box Hill by two goals to one at Chaplin Reserve. Mohammed El Kersh scored the first after 22 minutes after a run down the wing in which he beat two players then fired a shot between the keeper and his goal post. Box Hill seemed to have salvaged a point when Mark Selimi scored his third goal in successive games in 73 minutes. The Georgies would not settle for the draw and when Aaron Sicluna's shot was blocked by a defender, Lee Bickle repeated last week's effort by latching on to the rebound and putting it away for the winner in the 80th minute. It also took his season's tally to three.

In the match of the round, the Victorian Institute of Sport beat South Melbourne at Bob Jane Stadium thanks to early and late goals and a brilliant penalty save by Peter Zois. Grgo Saric put Bill Petrovski away inside 90 seconds and the striker beat keeper John Spanos. The pitch was inundated after heavy rain and passing became a lottery as the ball alternately skidded through and then stuck in the water. Alfonso Opazo had an effort touched wide by Zois, then George Tzirtis blasted the rebound just past the post. Steve Panopoulos put a free kick just over the bar as Souths tried to get on terms. In the second half Chris Nedza had a long shot just over the bar, then Alex Efstathiou's shot was deflected to Tansel Baser who again tested the keeper. Zoran Petrevski of the VIS should have wrapped the match up when he was clean through but shot straight at Spanos. Then Con Anthopoulos seemed to have won the ball before Bill Petrovski went over his legs, but the referee awarded a penalty, coolly converted by Lev Osman. In injury time South Melbourne got a penalty in its turn, but Zois dived to save Efstathiou's shot and the VIS was home, if not dry.

Melbourne Knights Colts surprised Green Gully when Ivan Razov scored the only goal of the game in 87 minutes. Green Gully dominated the first half but could not score, and even in the second David Maglovski had about four opportunities but found keeper Jeff Sabol in brilliant form. The Colts relied on counter-attacks and just when it seemed the match was bound to end in a draw, Razov beat a defender and drew the keeper before slotting home the winner.

Melbourne Knights found itself a goal behind in the first minute against the young Altona Magic, but in the end came away to win by five goals to one. Daniel Vasilevski gave the Magic its start and it took the Knights half an hour to get level through Ilija Dragicevic. Daniel Radosevic put the Knights ahead in 72 minutes, then Branko Bacak got two goals on either side of an unfortunate own goal conceded by the Magic.

Heidelberg United and Collingwood Warriors shared six goals at Olympic Village in what was a homecoming for many of last year's Heidelberg youth players now forming the backbone of the Warriors' line-up. The Warriors went off to a two-nil lead through Petros Liapis and Jim Parrisis, but Arthur Tsonis pulled a goal back before the interval. Elias Kyriakou equalised then Steve Pouniotis restored the Warriors lead, but the young Heidelberg team was not to be denied and Kyriakou levelled again. Tass Amaridis had a fine game for the Bergers, but the whole team, particularly the defenders deserved credit for a gutsy performance.

Finally in another ding-dong battle at Ross Reserve, Springvale City and Thomastown Zebras exchanged goals until the last ten minutes when the Zebras scored three times to win by five goals to two. Marco Maisanon put Springie into the lead in 37 minutes only for John Sciarrone to equalise two minutes later. Maisano did it again just on the interval, but this time Lirim Salievski was on target two minutes after the break. David De Propertis finally turned the game the Zebras way with goals in 80 and 87 minutes and Carmelo Impiombata added a fifth in 89.