Six in a row for Southern Stars

By Stuart Teather
SOUTHERN Stars made it six in a row with a 1-0 win over FC Clifton Hill in their round 19 State League Division One clash on Saturday.
Playing at home for the second-last time in the regular season, the Stars had a crucial win against the seventh-placed side.
The Stars found themselves in a breath-taking match, with the scores level heading into injury time.
The side had been unable to break a Clifton Hill defence intent on securing a draw, but in a lucky break Sercan Doganay received a penalty in the 91st minute.
With the season potentially on the line, the pressure was on Doganay and he made no mistake, beating the keeper to give the Stars the victory.
Stars coach Dean Hennessy said he was “delighted” with the win.
“Another win at this stage of the season — we’ll take anything at this stage of the year,” he said. “They came for a point, and to be fair to them they’ve been quite successful against some of the top sides this year. We knew it was going to be a difficult encounter, we played quite well without setting the world on fire. We certainly played better than last week.”
Clifton Hill had a man sent off 10 minutes into the second half, but Hennessy said his side missed its opportunity to capitalise on the man advantage.
“I’m not sure we really used it to our advantage, particularly with our passing.”
Hennessy said he couldn’t watch Doganay take the penalty shot.
“It was unnerving — you’ve pushed it and pushed it and pushed it to try and get the result… when the ref blew the whistle, I just couldn’t believe it.”
He was full of praise for Doganay, who is the side’s leading goalscorer with nine for the year.
“For me he’s always had so much potential, we’ve worked very hard to change his game and to his credit he’s really responded.”
The three points leave the Stars a game behind their next opponents, second-placed Dandenong Thunder. The Stars/Thunder match is shaping up to be a battle for promotion, with the winner to take the coveted second position with only two more games after their clash before the end of the regular season.
Dandenong Thunder had a more convincing win in its clash against Westgate, demolishing the side 3-0 at Ardeer Reserve.
The Thunder could not find the net in the first half, but after the break the side came out firing, with Joseph Di Iorio adding another two goals to his season tally, and Mohammed Alsakran scoring as well.
State League Division Two South East action saw South Springvale play out a 0-0 draw with Casey at Warner Reserve.
In Division Three South East, Heatherton United took a 1-0 victory against lowly North Caulfield on Sunday.
Jusuf Pekmezovic scored early for United and the side held on to record a comfortable win, maintaining its hold on second position with three rounds remaining.
Doveton dropped into the relegation danger-zone with a 2-0 loss to Croydon City at Dorset Recreational Reserve.
All is not lost for the Doves, however, as the side takes on the bottom three sides in the final rounds of the year in its battle to avoid relegation.
Third-placed Springvale City had a surprise loss to Brandon Park, going down 3-1 to the seventh-placed side.
Damir Rizvic scored for City in the first half, but Brandon Park had all the answers, with Antranik Mashoian scoring a double and Garry Mousaco adding one for the winners.
All divisions have a week off this week, with the final three rounds of the season kicking off from August 22.