MELVILLE City made it three wins from four games as it stunned top-of-the-table Morley Windmills 5-0 in its State League Division 2 encounter at Wotton Reserve.
Inspired by Christian Long and Friday Zico, who bagged a hattrick on debut, the visitors led 1-0 at the break before firing home four second-half goals.
The result saw Melville temporarily move up to sixth on the ladder, two wins outside the top four and a promotion play-off spot.
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READ NOWAmid heavy rainfall, the visitors weathered Morley’s first-half storm, as the home side looked dangerous early.
Bohs Mtwale wasted two good opportunities to score before hitting the post with a third effort, while Jon Urgulia’s long range effort forced Daniel Agudelo into action.
However, Melville took the lead against the run of play when Zico cut in from the wing and unleashed an unstoppable strike which found the top corner.
Grant Mowatt almost made it 2-0 when he met Long’s cutback, only for Timothy Smith to make a strong save, while Ben Wantee came close to an equaliser when he fired just wide.
Melville dropped deeper in the second half and while it invited Morley to attack, its defensive structure starved the Windmills of any goal-scoring chances and allowed the pace of Long and Zico to wreak havoc on the break.
Mowatt had a shot cleared off the line, before Melville doubled its lead when the ball fell to Zico in the box, who slammed home emphatically.
He had his hattrick minutes later when Long went down after a collision with Scott Wrightson and the referee pointed to the spot, much to Morley’s chagrin.
Long got himself on the score sheet with a strong finish which left Smith with little chance, before adding another one after a neat through ball to seal a superb win.
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