SOCCER WRAP | Narrow losses all round in tough weekend

Ballarat City missed out on a chance to cement itself in the top echelon of State League 1, going down 1-0 away from home Whittlesea on Saturday night.

In a scrappy first half, Whittlesea scored right on half time through a scrimmage in the box and would hold out a fierce Ballarat City onslaught in the second half to score the valuable win.

Playing coach Michael Trigger said it was an average start to the contest, but his side really picked up in the second half and was unlucky not to score an equaliser.

"The first half was okay, but probably not to our usual level," he said. "It's always annoying to concede a goal, just before you go in for a regroup.

"The second half we really put our foot on the gas and took control of the game and even the chances they had late in the game were due to the fact we were throwing numbers forward to get the equaliser.

"We created plenty of chances and enough to win a couple of games, not just one, so it's disappointing to walk away without any points, but satisfied with performance and the effort put in."

It was a frustrating day all round for City and now it faces a couple of huge tests, starting with Green Gully in the Dockerty Cup on Wednesday night before returning home to face Brimbank on Saturday.

Green Gully is ranked three divisions ahead of Ballarat City, but Trigger said his team would go in with a nothing-to-lose attitude.

"Wednesday is a different test for us in terms of opposition," he said. "It's more or less a free hit for us to give it a crack.

"We won't change our style, we'll try and go at them as hard as we can and give them as tough a game as we can come up with and see where we end up after that.

"It's another tight turnaround from Wednesday to Saturday and we get to play back at home for the first time in what seems ages for us."

Ballarat City 1 def by Mill Park 2

Ballarat City's women's team has gone down for the first time in State League 1, losing a close encounter against Mill Park on Sunday 2-1.

It was a tight contest all day with Mill Park taking a 1-0 lead into half time before both teams traded goals in the second half.

Tayte Fraser was the lone goal scorer for Ballarat City, but taking some comfort is that Mill Park is one of the unbeaten teams in the competition after the first two rounds and look to be among the leading contenders this season.

Ballarat City gets its first home game this Sunday afternoon up against Kings Domain. Kings Domain is yet to have a win this season and sits at the foot of the State League 1 table.

Sebastopol Vikings 3 def by Laverton 4

It was oh so close for the Sebastopol Vikings, going down in a high-scoring contest to top-of-the-ladder Laverton on Saturday afternoon.

The Vikings jumped out of the blocks with three first half goals to Kade Peldys, William Georgiou and Pat Karrs, taking a 3-1 lead into half time, but there were unable to stifle the top team after the break, with Laverton firing back to win a high-scoring thriller 4-3.

Laverton has been the top side for the first part of the season and it's their goal scoring that has been the feature, slotting 17 goals home in its five matches played, a clear competition leader.

For the Vikings, a bright start where they scored seven of a possible nine points in the first three games has evaporated with two successive losses. They have gone from third to ninth in the space of two weeks and now face a difficult run on the road having already played four games at home. Next weekend the Vikings travel to Bundoora United.

Ballarat SC 1 def by ETA Buffalo Club of Victoria 3

Ballarat SC has fallen short in its bid for a second win of the State League 5 season, going down 3-1 to the ETA Buffalo Club of Victoria on Saturday at Trekardo Park.

Only one goal separated the sides at half time with the visitors up 1-0, but they were able to run away with the contest in the second half with goals from Roydon Vun, Sebit Kharmis and Javiar Cabezas. Ballarat's lone goal came from Eli Bolt in the second half.

The match was incredibly physical throughout with three red cards being shown by the referee while there were also eight yellow cards.

After five games played, Ballarat sits in ninth position with one win and four losses. Next week's bye has come at the right time for the club who will look to regroup in the middle part of the season to push further up the ladder.

Ballarat North United has stamped itself as the early pacesetter in the Ballarat District Soccer Association with a comprehensive victory over Daylesford and Hepburn United in Sunday's round two clash.

Fresh off the back of slamming seven goals into the net against Maryborough in the opening round, the Ballarat North United attach put another nine into the back of the net in another huge win.

It was an all-round team performance with four players, Sam Coxall, Oliver Richardson, Josh Huggett and Alex Worthington all scoring twice in the win.

In other matches, Victoria Park made it two-from-two with a hard-fought 3-2 win over Bacchus Marsh. Scores were locked together at 2-2 at the half, with Victoria Park putting through the winner in the second half.

Creswick picked up its second win of the season as well with a 2-1 win over Maryborough while Forest Rangers went on the attack with a 7-2 demolition of Ballarat, Michael Lockyer scoring a hat-trick for the winners.

In the women's competition, Vikings scored 13 goals in a massive win over Creswick with both Salli Mould and Daniela Weinreich each scoring a hat-trick and Ballarat White had a 6-1 win over Victoria Park