Former Socceroo and marquee signing Jade North showed his class in defence in a superb debut for the Border outfit, which produced its best first half performance of the season.

Murray opened up a 3-0 lead at the break from only four shots on goal.

Tom Youngs scored from a header two minutes in and Zac Walker doubled the advantage at the half-hour mark.

Seven minutes later, Youngs linked up well with veteran Archie Thompson who played him into open space and led to the Englishman winning yet another penalty, which he stepped up and converted himself.

But it was certainly a tale of two halves.

Victory got on the board when Josh Hope found the top corner and Jack Palazzolo got it back to 3-2 when he tapped in at the back post after a fumble from Murray keeper Abdulkerim Koc.

To Murray's credit, they regrouped and were able to see off a late charge from the visitors to score their fifth win of the season.

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"You know they'll keep coming and they sub guys on that are quicker than the ones that come off," Murray coach Elliot Jones said.

"To be 3-0 up, it was some of our nicest football and we took our chances early.

"We spoke about holding them out for 10 to 15 minutes because they'd throw the kitchen sink at us and they scored about 10 minutes into the second half.

"I thought our composure all over the ground was really solid, so to hold them off and make it quite a scrappy 3-2 in the end doesn't really do it justice because we were so good in the first half."

Thompson was thrilled with the performance of his ex-teammate North.

"I think we've been missing a bit of leadership and organisation and he brings that," Thompson said.

"It's so hard to go straight into a team not having played with anyone and knowing what their qualities are.

"My legs seized up in about the 50^th minute and his starting cramping around the 80^th (laughs)."

Darcy Pawlik impressed in the midfield his first game for the club since 2017.

The ladder after round 13 is: Eastern Lions 29, Bulleen 24, Northcote 22, Langwarrin 20, Manningham United 15, GV Suns 15, Melbourne City 14, Box Hill 13*, Murray United 13, Springvale 12.