HOPPERS Crossing was made to pay for its defensive blunders in a 3-3 draw with Bell Park in the Football Federation Victoria men’s provisional league 2 north-west at Grange Reserve on Saturday.
The Reds had a chance to seal promotion with six weeks to spare, but some carelessness at the back allowed the party-pooping visitors to nip in for a share of the points and keep the bubbly in the fridge for another week.
Reds coach Joey Vella said it was a deflating
result after an action-packed 90 minutes.
“You drop off for one second and they punish you. We made three defensive errors and they scored every time.
“It’s probably the first time this year that a team has taken their chances against us when we’ve made mistakes.”
The Reds made a flying start when captain Julian Zach nodded home from a Gus Dos Santos corner in the fifth minute.
Bell Park found a levelling goal on the half hour before the Reds regained control before half-time from a similar situation to their first goal, a Gus Santos corner finding the head of a confident Brett Gilmore.
The Reds’ upbeat mood would take a turn for the worse when Bell Park netted twice to take a shock 3-2 lead. The stuffing was not totally knocked out of the Reds, who had a stroke of luck in the 80th minute when Zia Sherzai’s strike hit the inside of the post and into the back of the net.
There were six goals, split down the middle, but the Reds were the unhappier of the two sides.
“It was frustrating,” Vella said. “The boys did everything they could to try and win the game. We controlled the game, we had a goal disallowed, we had two one-on-ones with the goalkeeper. On another day we might’ve scored six goals.”
The Reds get another shot at promotion when they host the Brunswick Zebras on Saturday.
Werribee City has come away with a priceless 4-3 win over Sunshine George Cross in a thrill-a-minute state league 1 clash at Chaplin Reserve.
Young striker Simon Zappia fired in a double for the Bees inside 12 minutes, but they needed goals from Leigh Minopoulos and Julien Cassano to bring home all three points.
The Bees, who visit lowly St Albans Saints on Sunday, are inching closer to the promotion places.
The Nino Ragusa-coached outfit is just five points behind second-placed Pascoe Vale.
FFV scoreboard
State league 1: Sunshine George Cross 3 Werribee City 4
Provisional league 2: Hoppers Crossing 3 Bell Park 3
