Author: Craig MacKenzie

SOCCER FRANKSTON Pines staged a stunning comeback on Saturday at Fawkner Park to maintain its push towards the State 3 South-East championship. When South Yarra striker Leo Holmes scored his second goal in the 27th minute the home side was cruising with a 3-0 lead and Pines looked dead and buried. Earlier in the season Pines had been tipped to emulate newly crowned Scottish champions Rangers and go through the season undefeated but now they were staring at successive losses and the chasing pack was closing in. “To be honest we were totally outplayed in the first 30 minutes,” Pines…

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SOCCER SEAFORD United is the only local club that remains unbeaten after seven rounds of the 2021 league season. Peter Schwellinger’s side prevailed 2-1 against Chelsea in Saturday’s State 4 South local derby at North Seaford Reserve while State 1 leader Mornington and State 3 pacesetter Frankston Pines both lost their unblemished league records. Mornington went down 3-2 away to Boroondara-Carey Eagles on Saturday while Pines lost 2-1 to Hampton East Brighton at Carrum Downs Recreation Reserve on Friday night. Two second-half goals from Wayne Gordon put Mornington 2-1 up but Benjamin Osei-Safo equalised shortly after and Alex Meaney got…

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SOCCER MORNINGTON remained on track to achieve its aim of joining Victoria’s elite club competition with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Beaumaris at Dallas Brooks Park on Saturday. Sam Scott snatched the winner for the Seagulls in the 83rd minute when Josh Heaton’s hopeful ball forward wasn’t dealt with by the Beaumaris defence and Scott volleyed home from 20 metres. Mornington’s push to win State 1 and clinch an NPL3 spot next season continued with this sixth straight win that now has Adam Jamieson’s side five points clear in top spot. Despite that Mornington has plenty of improvement to make.…

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SOCCER SOMERVILLE Eagles won their first State 4 fixture when they overran Dingley Stars 7-2 at Tyabb Central Reserve on Saturday. Dingley already was in disarray having dumped coach Stan Webster a few days earlier and Somerville showed no mercy with a Bryce Ruthven free-kick in the opening minute making it 1-0. Eight minutes later it was 3-0 after Naseer Mohammad finished off a Damien Finnegan through ball and a corner from player-coach David Greening was met with a bullet-like header from Ash Scholes. A Scholes foul inside the box late in the half earned Dingley a penalty which Koray…

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SOCCER MORNINGTON recovered from a 3-1 deficit to beat Mazenod 5-3 at Dallas Brooks Park on Saturday and retain top billing in State 1 South-East. Mazenod’s Navin Vellupilay opened the scoring with a header from a corner in the 16th minute but 10 minutes later Milos Lujic equalised after holding off his marker then turning and striking the ball into the bottom left-hand corner of the net. A Dominic D’Angelo penalty put the visitors 2-1 up and the impressive Luke Gallo capitalised on a defensive error to make it 3-1 after 41 minutes. A minute later big Josh Heaton powered…

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