MELVILLE City slipped to another loss and remain rooted to the bottom of State League Division 2 after a 4-3 loss to Swan United at John Connell Reserve.
Despite taking an early lead, the hosts were unable to capitalise on some promising play and a John Monterosso hattrick consigned them to their fourth consecutive defeat.
The loss extended Melville’s winless start to the season and while they are only a point off second-bottom Balga, City has played one more game.
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READ NOWMelville got off to the perfect start after some nice play from Grant Mowatt resulted in Simon El Chami drilling home after his initial shot was saved.
The hosts looked relatively untroubled until an unmarked Monterosso tapped home following Chris Marshall’s flick on.
Adam Mangion almost put Melville back in front when he steered a close-range header over, before Monterosso capitalised on a mistake to fire past Eric Cutri in goals.
The forward got his hattrick just before half time when he beat the offside trap and delicately chipped Cutri to put Swan in the driver’s seat.
James Shamim missed a golden opportunity to put the game to bed early in the second half and he was made to pay when Mowatt’s well-taken goal gave Melville a lifeline.
However, United re-gained their two-goal lead when Marshall found the net with a header and City’s day went from bad to worse when Denaudo Murray was dismissed for a professional foul outside the penalty area.
A Mark Lucas penalty after Christian Long was dragged down in the box gave Melville some late hope, but it proved too little, too late.
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