The Northern Demons grabbed another big State League scalp when it defeated former league leaders The Cove two-one on Saturday at Byrne Park.
The game certainly pleased home fans.
The Dominic Sciancalepore-coached Demons has now won against all opponents except two in a soccer season equalling near its best ever.
The Demons played its best possible 11 against a team that had won two-nil back in round seven.
It was not going to allow The Cove back to back wins.
This time The Cove combination was not what the Demons fronted earlier in the season, but the locals had to play well against a team that had only narrowly lost the recent cup quarter final to Adelaide City.
On Saturday the Northern Demons started best and challenged the visitors strongly to take the honours in the opening 25 minutes.
It was the returning Daniel Cox that had the ball in The Cove’s net after making full use of a good Pat Keane left corner kick for a one-nil lead to the Demons at the 15th minute mark.
The home team looked in great shape after the goal, but then allowed its opponents to come back into the game as the Reds’ good brand of soccer fell apart.
An equalizer was beckoning and The Cove was rewarded for its better soccer when Nathan Smith scored for just a minute before referee Regis Quefflec blew his whistle for half time.
The visitors went on with their good soccer at the start to the second period.
However, Sciancalepore had Connie Kouimitzis replace Gaeten Annese at the 59th minute and the Reds coach also made changes to his mid-field and in attack.
Meanwhile the advent of Kouimitzis gave an instant spark to the Demons and different avenues forward.
The Demons now pressured The Cove in to making mistakes.
Nonetheless it was another Demons substitution with 10 minutes remaining that led to the Demons next goal.
Chris Mara, who had played and scored in the under 19 game earlier in the afternoon, scored the Demons winning goal again from a Pat Keane cross.
It was also the speedy Mara who intercepted a back pass to keeper Deale Chamberlain which caused the keeper to infringe and gave the Demons a penalty in the dying minutes of the game.
Chamberlain was sent off and Connie Kouimitzis was offered the penalty only to see The Coves’ reserve keeper save well.
There had been plenty of action in the last half hour of play, but there was also some quite clever bench work and positional changes that helped the Demons win another entertaining home game.
A delighted home crowd formed an honour guard to applaud their team from the field.
