Murray United piles on five in big win away to Ballarat City

First half strikes from Archie Thompson (18^th minute) and Ryan Giles (28^th minute) gave the Border side a 2-0 buffer at the break, before blowing out the scoreline with a further three late in the contest, scored by Tom Youngs, captain Ashley Dunn and Zac Walker - the last coming five minutes into stoppage time.

Murray took full advantage of some favourable results across the league to move to seventh and sit just three points behind fifth-placed Goulburn Valley Suns.

Coach Elliot Jones was pleased with the response after letting a 2-0 lead slip in its 3-2 defeat against Whittlesea Ranges last round.

"We felt we could have really put them away in the first half, it was some of our best football for the year going forward," Jones said.

"Had we have got that third goal earlier, I think it would have killed the contest.

"Credit to Ballarat, they're a very young side and they just kept trying.

"They'll keep learning and keep improving, their coach James Robinson wants them to play football in the right way.

"I think that will open them up to goals every now and then, but they didn't stop working and really pushed us in the second half.

"Once we got that third goal it kind of broke it open and we were good enough to cash in late in the game."

Having heavily relied on Youngs as the avenue to goal early in the season, Jones was rapt to see a spread of scorers.

"Archie got the first one which is two in two weeks, so he's up and about," Jones said.

"The second goal was "Gilesy' and whenever 'Jigga' scores it's a horrible looking goal (laughs).

"He gets one a year and they either come off his shin, the side of his head or the back of his heel, but it somehow trickled over the line.

"Tommy could have had a handful today, but it wasn't quite falling his way.

"He scored one, but every time he got on the ball, he looked threatening.

"'Dunny' finished off some really good work from Zac for our fourth and Zac got one late as well for five."

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Jones was also impressed with Lewis Greenwood in his first start since returning to the club in the mid-season transfer window.

"He's come back a better player and really worked tirelessly," he said.

"Also Darcy (Pawlik), another one of our mid-season recruits, was really solid for us.

"There's guys coming in, there's pressure for spots and it's exactly where we want to be."

The depth in the squad pushed Walker back to the bench, but it didn't impact his performance.

"His last 35 minutes was outstanding," Jones added.

"He's probably a guy that could have been a little bit stung by being pushed to the bench, but it was more for team balance.

"We'll have a real squad mentality coming into the second half of the year and Zac responded in the way I knew he would.

"He worked really hard, created two goals and scored one himself."

The ladder after round 15 is: Eastern Lions 30, Bulleen 27, Langwarrin 23, Northcote City 23, GV Suns 19, Manningham United 18, Murray United 16, Box Hill United 15, Melbourne City 14, Springvale 13.