In a landmark day for the Daylesford and Hepburn United Soccer Club, the under 13s Saints dominated the field to win 5-1 over an always dogged Sebastopol Vikings at St Georges in Sebastapol on Sunday morning.
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The first 15 minutes of the game was tense as the Saints were caught on the back foot by a physically larger and more dominant Vikings squad.
However a rare error down the back offered the Vikings an opportunity on goal which was clinically dispatched.
From this point in the game, credit must be given to the Saints outfit, who re-organised themselves and subsequently doubled their efforts.
Tulley Pelham’s work rate and tenacity began to find openings for the Saints.
He linked in with key forward Mehdi Bennani, whose determination saw him pass three defenders and lay off for the Saints equalizer.
The Saints then managed another and went into the halftime break 2-1 up on the score board.
After early pressure, the Saints defence got on top of the Vikings.
Otis Smith coolly broke down every attack from the Vikings and was well supported by the calm heads of Aaro Partonen and Jacob Slater.
The second half was all Daylesford.
Logan Koleski who was on a streak, finished the match with a hat trick while showing great poise to find the mouth of the goal when required.
Meanwhile, Monty Hughes worked tirelessly down the right hand side and always managed to link up well with the midfield.
But the man of the match was star player Zach Koleski.
Koleski was powerful in the middle of the field, giving the opposition no comfort on the ball and making several damaging entries into the box. Koleski finished the game with two goals.
The Saints now have a virtually guaranteed lead in the race for under 13s Division 2 title. With six points and 37 goals difference clear, the title is theirs.
The best players for the Saints were Zach Koleski, Logan Koleski, Tulley Pelham, Monty Hughes and Otis Smith.