Esposito Hattrick Seals Victory

A hattrick by Christian Esposito has steered North Eastern MetroStars to a 5-3 victory over Sturt Lions at TK Shutter Reserve today.

The match ended with three goals scored in injury time, to finish the match in a thrilling spectacle.

Esposito gave MetroStars the perfect start after 12 minutes, when Matt Dawber was tripped inside the penalty box, with Esposito stepping up to slot the ball past Lions keeper James Klappers.

The chances kept coming for MetroStars, firstly with Matt Charalambous who was unlucky not to score, and then five minutes later, Charalambous rounded Klappers who was off his line, played in Dawber who went agonisngly close to scoring.

Straight after the half time break, Dawber doubled the lead, when Esposito played in a ball to Dawber who rounded Klappers to calmly slot the ball into the net.

Michael Debono pulled a goal back for the Lions after 66 minutes, but 10 minutes later, Esposito scored his second goal of the match to give MetroStars a 3-1 lead.

Lions werent going down without a fight, and recent import signing Federici Matteo scored to pull the scores back to 3-2.

But the match ended in exciting drama.

In the 91st minute, Liam Wooding's cross found Esposito on the back post who headed home to complete his hattrick, to take his League goal scoring tally to 16 goals from as many matches, to make the scores 4-2.

The Lions pegged a goal back 60 seconds later when Matteo scored once again, but straight after the restart, Lachlan Barr scored his first goal for MetroStars, to complete the 5-3 victory.

MetroStars 5 (Esposito 12', 76', 91', Dawber 46', Barr 93')

Sturt Lions 3 (Matteo 80', 92', Debono 66')

MetroStars: Carmody, Barr, D'Aloisio, Cali (Henderson 86'), Morris, Callisto, Solagna, Wooding (Jakob 91'), Dawber, Esposito, Charalambous (Davis 75').