A red card, a host of crunching tackles and more had the stands at McEwen Reserve rocking during the local derby, yet it was Cody Sellwood’s early strike which had Tatura’s day end in ecstasy as the Ibises held a 1-0 lead all the way to the bank.
Although his side laid claim to a multitude of gilt-edge chances, Tatura coach Tristan Zito was content in getting over the line in such a tense affair.
“At the end of the day we’re just happy to walk away with three points,” Zito said.
“They defended well considering a couple of injuries they copped early on. We didn't take a few chances that we should have, but their young keeper made some really good saves.”
United’s 16-year-old shot-stopper, Angus Giffin, featured heavily in the game’s second half with save after breathtaking save, but there was little he could do about Sellwood’s decisive effort.
Because, inside the 18-yard-box, he rarely misses when given space.
And that’s exactly what United afforded him.
Driving into the danger area and calmly slotting past Giffin for 1-0, Sellwood and his Tatura cohort had United on the back foot on 15 minutes — and the host did not recover.
Despite Giffin’s heroics, United was dealt a further blow as Reza Baqiri earned a second yellow in the 75th minute — and with Blues dropping like flies due to injury — it proved too much of a chase for Hussein Sumaili’s troops.
Zito praised his backline for the clean sheet, in particular the efforts of centre-half Tim Lardner.
“I thought our defence stood up and controlled the game really well, Tim was terrific down back,” he said.
At La Trobe University’s Bendigo campus, it was Shepparton South doing all the schooling as it dismantled the students 5-0.
Joel Aitken extended his goal tally to 13 with a double, while Shaun Kane wound back the clock with three of the best.
It lifts the Southerners into fifth spot, four points off the second-placed Ibises and seven clear of United in seventh.
● In Women’s Championship, a frustrated Shepparton United side was forced to settle for a point after playing out a goalless draw with Tatura.
Having both hands on the contest for the majority, the United contingent was left kicking itself after spurning chances throughout the match.
But for the Ibises, it was cloud nine.
The result was a stark improvement from their 7-1 defeat at the hands of the Blues in round two, and lifts them into 10th on the ladder.
Shepparton South was unable to shock league leader La Trobe, falling 4-0 in a performance orchestrated by ex-Shepparton talent Holly Boldiston.
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