Right: Endeavour United’s Arun Yuvarajan (centre) hurdles an opponent during his side’s 2-1 loss to Heatherton United on Saturday. 21124 By Stuart Teather
DOVETON turned its form around in its State League Division Three South East match on Saturday, defeating Boroondara 3-1 to record the side’s first win in its last five games.
The win was crucial for the Doves to stay clear of the relegation zone in a jam-packed division, where any team from fourth to twelfth could still find itself down a division next year.
Leon Buhic got the scorers working early when he converted from a free kick, but the Eagles replied before half-time when Adriano Ardesi beat his defender and put the ball in the bottom corner of the net, tying the scores at the break.
There were chances aplenty in the second half, but for the most part the Doves could not convert, until Buhic and Edemar Garcia finally beat the keeper in the last five minutes, giving their side a convincing 3-1 win.
Doves’ coach Michael Kupinic said he thought his side could have won by more than two goals.
“It was one of those games where we started off well and I thought ‘here we go,’ but we kept missing,” he said.
“I thought that we were a lot more skilful, and with Buhic, Edemar and Budesa in our attacking third we looked dangerous.”
Kupinic was full of praise for his goal scorers, and said Buhic threatened the goals every time he gained possession.
Coming in mid-season, Kupinic said he was surprised at the result from the last time the two sides met.
“What I couldn’t understand was how they beat Doveton 5-1 last time they met. I came in the week after, so I wasn’t there for that.”
He said that with the win, his side was in a good position to avoid relegation, and that the Doves were in some good form.
“I think our chances are good because our fate is in our own hands, we don’t have to rely on anyone else to do us any favours.
“I thought that apart from the game against (Morwell) Pegasus, we’ve played pretty well – we were a bit hard done by against Springvale.”
Berwick City moved into fourth position and gave itself a five-point buffer from the relegation zone with a good 3-1 win against Sandringham City on Saturday.
Matthew Nitz, Orlando Mejias and Nikolaos Papadopoulos all scored in the win, while Michael Cook scored Sandringham’s only goal.
Bottom side Endeavour United had less success, going down 2-1 to Heatherton United, all but sealing the side’s relegation to the provisional league next season.
Down 1-0 at half-time, Hardeep Garcha scored for Endeavour but it was not enough as Heatherton converted again to secure the win, and maintained a hold on second position.
In State League Two South East, the Casey Comets had to settle for a 2-2 draw against Port Melbourne at the Comets Stadium.
The Comets went up 1-0 before half-time thanks to a Ben Watson goal, but Port Melbourne fought back after the break, and only a second Watson goal secured a point for the home side.
