Recap
The first game of Round 14 saw a mid table clash between the two promoted sides Ashburton and Brunswick. A win for Ashburton would see them jump Brunswick into fourth, while Brunswick was in search of their fifth win a row, which would see them momentarily leapfrog Hume into third. Ashburton had a more positive start to the match and after a couple of close calls they eventually hit the front through a top right corner strike from Ahmad Hassani. After some solid toiling and pressure on the Ashburton goal from Brunswick, they finally found the equaliser, as Cameron Holmes rolled new Warriors keeper Baghair before tapping home. With minutes left in a very closely fought first half, Behrad Behzadpour found a defence splitting pass to Samim Mehjerdi who slotted his effort into the bottom left corner to give Asburton a slender lead going into half time.
The second half saw the game come to life and the goals begin to come thick and fast. Chris Triantafilopoulos levelled it up for Brunswick, before minutes later Behzadpour put the Warriors back in front. Hassani grabbed his second of the game to give Ashburton a two goal buffer before Matthew Sesay was given it on a plate to to pull it back to a lead of one. rRuz Roslan levelled up for Brunswick as the tension raised another notch, but Ashburton responded as Hassani wrapped up his hatrick to give his side the lead once more. Brunswick were holding long periods of possession, however couldn’t find another break though as the new man in between the sticks for Ashburton, Baghair was pulling off save after save. This allowed for his side to hit on the break and the did just that as Shams Haidari marked his return to the Ashburton side with a deft chip to strech Ashburton’s lead back out to two, with not long remaining. Ali Hossain Zadeh finished to all but seal the points for Ashburton. Brunswick played fifth man to try and salvage something from the match but it was to no avail as Ashburton held out to jump into fourth spot.
Man of the Match: Hossain Baghair (Ashburton FC)