United goes down fighting

By Gavin Staindl
MULTIPLE lead changes have never been an iconic characteristic of soccer – but it certainly was in Heatherton United’s 5-4 Division Two loss to Casey Comets at Bosnia and Herzgovnia Soccer Centre.
After trailing 2-0 at half time, Heatherton rattled off three goals in 15 minutes to snatch the lead.
Casey scored to level the game only to have Heatherton reclaim the lead again five minutes before full time.
Attempting to defend its slim lead, Heatherton conceded a fourth goal with three minutes remaining and then watched as Casey jumped ahead with 16 seconds left.
“It was a gut-wrenching game. If you were a spectator though you would have never wanted the whistle to have blown,” Heatherton coach Miro Kupinic said.
“We started off really well and had some really good opportunities but through lack of concentration they scored from a free kick then scored again. They had some more opportunities and deserved to go in (at halftime) 2-0 but I said to the boys ‘if we believe the game is over then it is over, but if you believe we can still win it then we can’. We then came out and scored three goals to take the lead,” Kupinic said.
Heatherton’s Anthony Braha set the pitch alight with a dazzling run that set up Ali Sanad with one of his two goals for the afternoon.
Sanad’s effort was followed by goals from Mirzet Skenderovic and Adis Lolic who hit a 45-metre shot that ricocheted off a player and into the bottom right corner of the net to land what looked like the knock-out blow.
But when captain Zlatko Buljubasic limped off moments later Casey sensed a chance to regain the lead.
After scoring moments before injury time, Casey scored the winner from a corner with 16 seconds left.
Kupinic said afterwards he was shattered at losing a game that was within their grasp.
But despite suffering multiple injuries before and during the game, the humble coach is taking nothing away from the Comets victory.
“I take my hat off to the Comets. They persevered and persevered and they didn’t keel over … I think they got the points on endeavour,” Kupinic said.
The Southern Stars undefeated run extended to 15 games but not before the Division Two leader was put through another battering at the hands of Dandenong City.
The Stars escaped a scare last week against the Eastern Lions and nearly had their perfect run ended this week by a determined Dandenong City who came from a goal down to finish 1-1 at Frank Holohan Soccer Reserve.
In Division Three South Springvale’s shaky second half of the season continued with the 2-1 loss to Kingston dropping the Greek-based team back into the three-team pack fighting for promotion.
After dropping only one game in the opening eight rounds, South Springvale has since won only two and hangs onto second position by a point.
Sitting five points clear is Noble Park who had a tight 2-1 win over Springvale City at Ross Reserve.
Noble Park went up early in the match with a long-distance strike by Nebojsa Vukosavljevic and after Boris Bajic’s scored in the second half, Noble Park was able to hold off Springvale to create a handy buffer on top of the Division Three ladder.
The Springvale White Eagles are in danger of being knocked from their perch on top of the Division One ladder after losing their second straight match.
The White Eagles, who before last week had not lost a match since round three, went down again this week to the Western Suburbs 1-0 at White Eagles Stadium.
The White Eagles still hold a two game lead over their nearest rival but with seven rounds left, the White Eagles will need to win a few more before they can look ahead to the Premier League.