Dark night for our Galaxy

GEELONG Galaxy United was taught a comprehensive football lesson by the rampaging Preston Lions following a 8-1 hiding in their VPLW clash at Hume Reserve on Saturday night.

The home side simply had no answers to the marauding Lions, who outgunned, outfought and outclassed the youthful Galaxy line-up, which included four 17-year-olds and two 14-year-olds in its matchday squad.

Lions striker Rachel Stirton was the undisputed star of the show, coming away with a sensational five-goal haul – four of which were scored in a devastating opening-half display of pure champagne football.

The speedy dynamo started the ball rolling in the 14th minute with the contest’s opener, before attacking winger Melissa Garcia doubled the visitors’ lead after only 21 minutes.

Stirton doubled her tally two minutes later, before forcing overworked Galaxy goalkeeper Evie Bowen to retrieve the ball from the back of her net in the 30th, and 40th minutes. Miri Nishimura’s freaky goal from a corner in the 45th minute, after Bowen fumbled the ball into her own net, capped off a miserable opening half for Galaxy.

Despite faced with an unassailable 6-0 deficit at the break, the home side came out firing after the interval and looked like scoring first. But a perfectly slotted effort past Bowen by the hard-working Keiwa Hilda on the hour mark put paid to any hopes Galaxy had of staging a mini revival.

The icing on the cake was applied in the 90th minute after Stirton was felled in the box by Bowen. The red-hot striker stepped up to take the penalty and duly converted for her sixth goal.

Only a minute later, however, Galaxy captain Emily Sutcliffe bobbed up with a late consolation goal to thwart Preston goalkeeper Christine Fonua’s hope of keeping a clean sheet. It was the only (minor) victory for the home side on an otherwise disappointing night.

WARRIORS FIRE LATE

NORTH Geelong Warriors came away from David Barro Stadium with a sensational come-from-behind 3-2 win over fourth-placed Bulleen Lions to maintain their lofty position at the top of the NPL2 competition standings.

Trailing 2-0 with 20 minutes to go, John Pykett pulled one back for the visitors in the 71st minute, before a penalty by captain Ryan Oppermann three minutes later restored parity. But the visitors were not finished there, with league leading goalscorer Caleb Mikulic netting the winner in the 88th minute to take his season tally to 11.

In NPL3, Geelong SC’s winning run came to an abrupt halt on Saturday, after the Lions were defeated by Melbourne Victory 2-0 at Epping Stadium.