Melbourne Victory seeks back-to-back wins in the NPL2 West when it visits Bulleen Lions on Monday.
Summary
Victory recorded a hard-fought 4-2 win over Whittlesea Ranges in Round 5, extending its unbeaten run to two games.
Jack Palazzolo, 18, scored a hat-trick for Victory, which struck four times in the space of 13 second-half minutes.
Palazzolo moved onto four goals in five games this season, although the strike was his first since Round 1.
Midfielder Jack Morton, 17, curled in a second wonderful free-kick in as many matches.
Victory is fifth on the table ahead of its trip to David Barro Stadium in Round 6.
Bulleen is fifth in the NPL2 East after two wins from its opening five matches of the season.
Victory and Bulleen last met in June 2016, when the Lions recorded a 2-1 win at home.
Head coach Gareth Naven’s pre-match thoughts
“Everything that they’re doing in training is reflecting in the match. We’re getting better at being more comfortable in different situations and probably need to get better in speeding up our thinking process in regards to how we get out of trouble or stay out of trouble when we’ve got the ball. Also, we’d like to improve our ability to play at a higher tempo so that’s one of the challenges for us. We want to make sure we play at the tempo that suits our team, not so much that suits the competition. I’d like to think we’re moving towards being a more faster operating team in thinking and the way we play.”
This week
NPL2 West 2019 Round 6
Bulleen Lions v Melbourne Victory
Monday, March 25, 8.30pm AEDT
David Barro Stadium, Bulleen
U20 NPL2 West 2019 Round 6
Bulleen Lions v Melbourne Victory
Monday, March 25, 6.30pm AEDT
David Barro Stadium, Bulleen
U18 NPL West 2019 Round 5
Melbourne Victory v Geelong
Sunday, March 24, 10.45am AEDT
Partridge Street Reserve, Melbourne
U15 NPL West 2019 Round 5
Melbourne Victory v Geelong
Sunday, March 24, 9.00am AEDT
Partridge Street Reserve, Melbourne
Last week
NPL2 West: Whittlesea Ranges 2 Victory 4 (Palazzolo 49’/52’/58′, Morton 62′)
U20 NPL2 West: Whittlesea Ranges 0 Victory 4 (Bassal 11’/19’/32′, Wilson 36′)
U18 NPL West: North Geelong Warriors 2 Victory 5 (Duratovic 10′ pen, Latsis 20′, Moukachar 41′, Anastovski 43′, Coskundag 76′)
U15 NPL West: North Geelong Warriors 0 Victory 3 (Kapaklis 40′, McCloskey 57′, Karvounis 60′)
