Drina’s Noble rise

Forget Dancing with the Stars, it was dancing with the Comets on Saturday. Or perhaps more accurately, dancing around the Comets. Nemanja Samardzic, right, and Adem Awal were influential as Noble Park dazzled the Comets in a display that even the judges couldn't knock. 65193 Forget Dancing with the Stars, it was dancing with the Comets on Saturday. Or perhaps more accurately, dancing around the Comets. Nemanja Samardzic, right, and Adem Awal were influential as Noble Park dazzled the Comets in a display that even the judges couldn’t knock. 65193

By Gavin Staindl
MANY soccer fans tipped Noble Park to be the season’s first side relegated from Division Two, but Drina are forcing fans to re-think their predictions after claiming a third win from four matches on Saturday.
Noble Park dominated Saturday’s encounter against Casey Comets, beating last year’s promotion hopefuls 3-1 on their own turf.
Until Casey scored a goal late in the match, Drina was on track for a well-deserved shut-out.
While the back four defenders for Noble Park were resilient in preventing Casey goals, it was in the midfield that the game was won.
The visitors’ pressure on the Comets forced them to make many passing errors, and by the second half the Comets were reduced to repetitive long balls as the only way forward.
Drina moves to equal-fifth on the ladder after sitting bottom without a win to its name less than a month ago.
ELSEWHERE, it was a good day for the Division Two Dandenong sides as Dandenong City and South Springvale both clocked up wins.
Double goals to Vlado Juric and Roger Machado presented Dandenong City with a 6-0 thumping over Diamond Valley United at Frank Holohan Reserve while Springvale City enjoyed a 2-0 win over Doncaster Rovers at Anderson Reserve on Friday night.
Unfortunately, Heatherton United could not make it a clean sweep for the local sides, going down 2-3 to Malvern City at Bosnia and Herzegovina Centre.
Heatherton had a one-goal lead heading into the half but was over-run by last year’s Division One side.
Taking Malvern’s place in Division One is the Southern Stars who have impressed in their first year back in the higher division and were again successful on the weekend.
Goals to Alan Kearney and Velibor Mitrovic gave the Stars a 2-0 win over the Western Suburbs at Ralph Reserve on Sunday.