Sport
North nets point
Marty Shevelove
29Apr08
THREE games, three draws.
North Caulfield Maccabi drew its third straight State League 3SE game last Wednesday night, a 2-2 standoff against Boroondara Eagles at Port Melbourne.
A share of the points was a bitter pill for North, which overran the Eagles in the second half. However, poor finishing cost the side victory.
North found itself two goals down inside the first 25 minutes, but bounced back and gradually took command as Ari Ritz and Gary Hughes became more prominent in midfield. Hughes got North back into the match just before half-time with an over-the-shoulder shot that snuck in under the crossbar and into the net.
The second half was all North.
Maccabi finally got the equaliser on a spectacular solo effort from Ritz.
With their tails up, Maccabi went for the kill in the final 10 minutes. Chance after chance went begging with the final one falling to Jonathan Rochwerger from a corner just a minute before full-time. But his shot from just six metres was wide. North coach Andrew Freund said the feeling was clearly one of two points dropped rather than one gained. The next chance to break into the win column is tonight (Monday) against Croydon City Arrows at Port Melbourne.
* Michael Michalakopoulos collected his first win as South Melbourne coach last Sunday when South scored four second-half goals to down Fawkner Blues 6-2 at Bob Jane Stadium.
South finally got on the scoreboard in the 23rd minute thanks to Gianni De Nittis only to be equalled by Fawkner in the 42nd minute. However it didn't take South long to break the deadlock with Nunes again setting up De Nittis. Nathan Caldwell made it a 3-1 game early in the second half and Bill Natsioulas then made it 4-1 with a 59th minute goal. De Moraes followed with a set piece goal and Ricky Diaco upped the count to 6-1. Fawkner's Jason Principato ended the scoring on a header five minutes later.
Tenth-placed South had a much tougher chore on Monday night against sixth-placed Altona Magic.South hosts Richmond on Sunday, May 4 at 4pm.
* ON Saturday Caulfield Cobras defeated Keysborough 2-1 with a last-minute penalty converted by Ange Gogis in in the Provisional League 2 match at Victory Park in Bentleigh. Paul Papangelis scored a fantastic goal by powerfully volleying his shot on target to make it 1-0. Gogis then converted the penalty to break the 1-1 tie. The Cobras are in sixth place with a record of 2-0-2.
