They certainly didn’t make it easy, but Murray United won its first game in 11 weeks with a thrilling 3-2 triumph against Nunawading City.
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Zac Walker’s stoppage time strike sealed the win, moving the Border outfit 10 points clear of Nunawading who remain anchored at the bottom of NPL 2 East.
Murray hit the front after 18 minutes when Gonzalo Freddi followed up captain Ashley Dunn’s blocked shot and slammed it home.
Nunawading equalised in the 25th minute, but Dunn restored the advantage with a stunning 25-yard effort seven minutes from half-time.
Murray continued to press in the second half and had several opportunities to extend the margin.
The visitors weren’t without theirs either as goalkeeper Matt Mildren pulled off some quality saves and Halil Gur cleared a shot off the line when Mildren was beaten out wide.
However, Nunawading eventually drew level again after some more patchy defending allowed them too much time and space.
Just when all seemed lost, Walker took the ball at halfway and streamed down the field to meet the keeper one-on-one, where he calmly tucked away the winner in injury time.
Murray coach Elliot Jones admitted it was “utter relief” to come away with the three points.
“I was still frustrated with the way he (Walker) was defending, so I was rapt to see him finish that chance,” Jones said.
“He’s a big game player, he loves a crowd and any chance to rip his shirt off and run down the sidelines.
“The guys have been working so hard and it’s just great to get that reward after a pretty tough couple of months.”
Jones paid credit to Nunawading, who never went away throughout the afternoon despite an 8-0 thrashing last weekend.
“(A-League veteran) Fahid Ben Khalfallah is an absolute jet and played at centre back today, so that gave us a whole set of problems we hadn’t anticipated,” Jones said.
“We thought he’d play as an attacking midfielder and we set up to counter that, but they became a lot less predicable because he can ping a ball from anywhere.”
Dunn was outstanding once again, playing a more attacking role.
“He’s a great finisher and I think he’d like to play up there every week, but it’s just a shame we don’t have two or three of him because sometimes we need him deeper doing the defensive role,” Jones added.
Freddi was groggy from a knock and left the field late in the game, but will be assessed mid-week.
The ladder after round 22 is: Dandenong City 51, Moreland City 43, Goulburn Valley Suns 31, Springvale 30*, Eastern Lions 27, Melbourne City 26*, Langwarrin 25, Box Hill United 23, Murray United 22, Nunawading City 12.
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