NPL wrap: Victory puts six past Box Hill

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Melbourne Victory recorded an entertaining 6-3 win over Box Hill United in the PlayStation 4 NPL2 West on Saturday.

Nicholas Sette scored a hat-trick at Epping Stadium, where Victory struck five times in a breathtaking opening 27 minutes.

Nuh Sehavdic, Aleksandar Stanisavljevic and a stunner from Jonathan Vakirtzis, along with Sette’s early brace, had the host in control.

Todd Dekker and Ryan Go netted in the first half for Box Hill, which trailed 5-2 at the break.

Victory head coach Gareth Naven was happy to see his team rewarded with a win.

“I’m very happy for the players in the fact the execution of what we’re trying to do in regards to the game plan, the match, is getting better,” he said.

“When you start to get success from that, I think the players get more and more belief that they can do it. At the very beginning of a team and when they evolve, if they don’t get success in regards to understanding the match, sometimes that belief can be hard to generate, especially from the coach in what he’s trying to achieve.

“There were some great examples from the training ground during the week to executing in the match, there was numerous amounts of success we were getting in our defensive shape, our attacking shape and the two transition moments.

“I think today collectively the team did very well, to help each other, to work hard for each other, to assist in other peoples’ benefits in regards to scoring goals, to passing balls through to people who could then score, trying to stop crosses, knowing when to mark space, know when to mark men inside the box when it comes in.

“I think slowly they’re trying to understand those things. It should be a normal behaviour, it should be normal for a footballer, it should be stock standard in your ability as a player. I think they’re moving towards that which is nice.

“Is there more improvement in them? Definitely. I think they know it as well and I think they want it. I thought the whole team – physios, coaches, team managers, our support staff – are putting the package together which is nice. And it was nice for the players to celebrate a win. It’s important they celebrate the times they win games because they’ve executed in such a way that allows them to win games.”

Sehavdic set up Sette for the opener and then made it 2-0, before Stanisavljevic put away a Dionis Shabani pass for Victory’s third.

Stanisavljevic passed to Sette for the winger’s second, but Box Hill responded through Dekker.

However, Victory went 5-1 up in the 27th minute when Vakirtzis curled an effort into the top corner from outside the area.

Go scored before the break but a much quieter second half followed, Sette finishing in a one-on-one prior to Benjamin Carrigan’s own goal.

Victory’s league-leading under-20s were not in action, having beaten Box Hill United 4-1 in their rescheduled Round 22 clash played in May. 

Victory is away in Round 23, making the trip to Sunshine George Cross on Saturday, July 15.

PlayStation 4 NPL2 West 2017 Round 22

Melbourne Victory 6 (Nicholas Sette 10’/19’/78′, Nuh Sehavdic 14′, Aleksandar Stanisavljevic 16′, Jonathan Vakirtzis 27′)
Box Hill United 3 (Todd Dekker 24′, Ryan Go 42′, Benjamin Carrigan 87′ og)