Blues celebrate gr-eight day

Stealing the headlines from a high-powered showdown between Shepparton South and Tatura takes a lot, but Shepparton United did so and then some in a ruthless destruction of Epsom.

The link-up play came easily for the Blues, who pounced on interceptions with aplomb and tore the visiting defence to shreds throughout the 90 minutes.

By the final whistle, United had trounced its foes 8-1 with no fewer than six blue shirts on the scoresheet — more than the number of goal-scorers for at least 18 clubs between the four Australian rules leagues in the Goulburn Murray region at the weekend.

Epsom did find the back of the net through a well-taken Logan Hromenko strike from the edge of the area, but there was understandably little fanfare.

Mohammed Al-Gazaly and Mohammad Reza Baqiri were each at the double in a comfortable stroll to the cup semi-final.

The most surprising element is that this result only just exceeded United coach Roven Shaholli’s expectations.

“I expected at least five goals plus, given the training sessions we had,” Shaholli said.

“The game probably should have been done in the first 10 minutes, but when we did find the back of the net the first time, we found the confidence from then on.

“The last month or so, it’s been hard with Ramadan and guys fasting and we didn’t have the results we wanted.

“It's a very good young side and now things are starting to fall into the right place.”

With several senior players still on their way back into the side ahead of United’s league season opener with Spring Gully on Saturday night, it’s a good problem for Shaholli to have.

“The younger guys who have stepped in have proven to be good enough, so it’s very exciting,” Shaholli said.

“The leaders did their job and ensured the younger boys followed the game plan and were rewarded at the end.

“I'm very proud of all the boys today.”

There was, just quietly, that grand final rematch at Tatura between the division’s two heavyweights, which provided its own share of fireworks.

Shepparton South appeared to be coasting midway through the second half after new striker Stephen Appiah continued his explosive start to life in the black and white with a hat-trick.

Trailing 4-1, a Tatura outfit bolstered by the return of senior figures like Thomas Corso and Tristan Zito fought back, with the latter finding a late goal.

South did enough to complete its second straight elimination of Tatura from the cup, taking plenty of confidence into their round one encounter on Sunday with a 4-3 win.

Two clubs visiting Shepparton’s Vibert Reserve had offence on their minds as Golden City met Strathdale in a high-scoring affair.

In the end, an Ethan Basilewsky hat-trick did the damage as Strathdale advanced 5-2.

Earlier on Sunday, on McEwen Reserve’s second pitch, there was another mauling as Eaglehawk dispatched Border Raiders FC, the last division two side standing in the cup, with an emphatic 7-0 thrashing courtesy of four Caden Meeks goals.