Champs triumph

AIMING for a hat-trick of division one titles, Eaglehawk scored a vital win against Epsom in the Football Central Victoria match of the round.The Epsom line-up was desperate to take the three points to stay in touch with the ladder leaders.It was an interesting start at Truscott Reserve in Eaglehawk as the Scorpions began with just 10 players on the field.Star goalkeeper Liam Dukes was “stuck in traffic’’ and able stand-in Leigh Merchant took on the key role.Epsom looked to in-form youngster Jake Allport and Joel Potafio to capitalise on the play of Jarrod Ridsdale, Adrian Stockdale and Aaron Baker in midfield.The Hawks struck in the sixth minute when Ross Johnstone was brought down and Chris Hopley converted the penalty.Shortly after Dukes arrived and Merchant took his place on the pitch.Dukes had just minutes to settle in when he made a great save to deny Rob Mercuri a goal.Eaglehawk took control of the midfield, with Johnstone, Mercuri and Daniel Liefting in a lot of the play.The Hawks’ attack of Sam Gowers, Sean Boxshall and Shane Eleveld was tightly marked by Trent Gladstone, Trevor Harvey and Kallum Lyons.Late in the half, Merchant was hurt in a heading contest with Hopley.The Epsom player went to the bench and was replaced by Shaun Naughton.After the half-time break, both temas worked on playing wide through overlapping runs.Epsom gained the break it needed when a shot deflected off Mick McKechnie and was called handball.Baker made no mistake to level scores.Another chance fell to Allport, but the strike went high over the bar.A long high pass into the box was not cleared by Dukes, and Gowers pounced to put the Hawks back in front.A great contest ended in a 2-1 win for Eaglehawk.Colts United tackled Spring Gully in another big match at Strathfieldsaye.Jacob McDonald’s strike in the first minute was saved by Gully goalkeeper Wes O’Shaughnessy.Colts took the lead when McDonald pounced on a defensive error and beat the keeper.Young speedster Jarrod McCulloch increased United’s lead with a cracking shot from outside the area just five minutes before half-time.Colts’ attacking play continued after the break.Ben Langan struck a superb goal for Colts to lead 3-0.Gully had the edge in numbers after Adam Castleton was sent off for a second yellow card offence.The Reds dominated most of the second half.Dennis Barnett headed a well-placed cross to cut Colts’ lead.With five minutes to go, young substitute Rowan Muller finished off a counter-attack to put Gully within a goal.Although Colts were tiring, they worked hard to achieve a 3-2 victory.Golden City tackled Kyneton at Shadforth Park.A free kick for Kyneton was on target, but was deflected away by City keeper Shane Greenwood.Both teams continued to work the ball through the middle of the pitch, but did not capitalise near goal.A well-time volley by the Rangers’ Michael Stellings just cleared the crossbar.City put several crosses into attack, but the Kyneton defence held firm in a goalless first half.After the break, Rams’ teammates Josh Claney and Julian Miles-Keogh continued to work hard in midfield.A strike by Damian Robertson hit the crossbar.Kyneton received a free kick straight in front of goal for handball, but did not convert.A late Kyneton tackled on the edge of the 18-yard box gave City a great chance to break the deadlock.The strike just went wide of the net.A well-placed Kyneton corner put City’s defence under pressure.The Rams did not clear and Simon Harman pounced to strike what would be the winning goal in the 80th minute for the Rangers.Swan Hill held a two-goal lead by half-time of the clash at Moama, after Tim Van der Veen struck twice.After the break, the Raiders worked harder to be first to the contest.The Raiders were back in the game when Ryan Timbs scored in the 47th minute.Moama had a lot of shots saved or off target.A long pass from defence went to Adam Brady, who dashed down the right wing and crossed to Jared Hartman to level scores. Moama peppered the goal in the last five minutes but the Swans teamed well for a two-all result.Strathdale’s winning run rolled on as it scored a 2-0 win against Castlemaine at Soldiers Memorial Park in Chewton.Despite missing some players because of a school camp at the snow, Castlemaine worked hard to keep the pressure on the in-form visitors.Xavier Clayton and Leigh Morrissey struck the Blues’ goals.