Port Melbourne 1-0 Green Gully

Port Melbourne grabbed their first win of the campaign with a great effort from Thomas Alesandratos to seperate the sides. The substitute’s strike was the only effort that really tested Lawrence Caruso who came on to replace the injured Liam Dricscoll around the hour mark.

Opening exchanges were those of a midfield ping pong match, as both teams came out early looking to press a mistake. The game settled after a quarter of a hour with the visitors having the earlier chances, none of which worried Luka Romic in the Port Melbourne goal.

As the half wore on, the Sharks took a grip of the tie as right back Jonathan Varkitis was afforded space to dissect Green Gully’s defence twice in quick succession.

On a better surface both passes could be attributed daisy cutter status. Not on this pitch though.

JL Murphy Reserve has undergone floodlight investment in favour of pitch repairs of late, as the area becomes more residentially dense; the theory being to get the lights in before the neighbours complain, and deal with drainage improvement later.

Both times Varkitis split the back line he found Josh Markovski. First time round the forward got tangled, and on the second occassion he blazed neither shot nor cross across goal.

Better finishing and a better pitch would both be welcomed if Port Melbourne are to continue their ascent off the foot of the table.

Scott Lochead was the liveliest for Green Gully, but didn’t have the personnel around or ahead of him to shift the momentum back in his side’s favour.

The Scot had one of the games earlier chances, when Port Melbourne tried to build from the back carelessly. Lochead intercepted and advanced but his effort sailed over Romic’s crossbar.

It was the first of a few shots he registered as Green Gully were limited to shots from the edge of the box.

Gully looked more interested after the break but Port boss John Markovski was quicker to send his substitutes for a leg stretch down by the corner flag. Soon after he rang the changes introducing Alesandratos to the left flank. It proved pivotal after he drifted inside unopposed and darted his shot away and off the opposite post to open the scoring. From there on in the dynamic of the game shifted slightly, with Gully chasing an equalizer.

As time wore on play became more direct and searching balls were sent long down the channels in a bid to beat Port on the turn. To no avail, though however green Gully did manage to collect a couple of free kicks only to waste them with poor deliveries into the box.

It was an opportunity for Port Melbourne to extend their lead, breaking on the counter, but number substitute Aidan Brown wan’t decisive enough going forward.

It led to a cagey closing five minutes but as the last night of summer drew to a close, so to did Port’s poor run of form,  hanging on for their first victory of the season to lift them off the bottom of the NPL.