Alex Salmon nets four for Oakleigh Cannons, Melbourne Knights progress

Oakleigh Cannons and Melbourne Knights are through to the NPL Victoria preliminary finals as Alex Salmon runs riot.

Alex Salmon in action for Oakleigh Cannons. Picture: Graham Denholm

An stunning 22-minute Alex Salmon blitz inspired a thumping 5-0 Oakleigh Cannons elimination final win over Altona Magic

Melbourne Knights are also through to the NPL Victoria preliminary finals after a 2-0 win over Port Melbourne on Friday night.

At Jack Edwards Reserve, Salmon was at his clinical best to put the Magic to the sword.

The Cannons striker netted a hat-trick in the first 22 minutes of the match to quickly put the cut-throat final to bed.

Skipper Joe Guest made it four after 26 minutes and Salmon scored his fourth in the second half to complete the rout.

Coach Chris Taylor was rapt with the offensive explosion.

Alex Salmon celebrates a goal for Oakleigh Cannons. Picture: Graham Denholm

“Alex has been working very hard and we’ve tried to tweak a few things to get him on the scoresheet and he got his just rewards,” he said.

“It was a pleasant change, we’ve created a lot of chances in most games but don’t tend to put them away.

“It’s probably the first time we’ve, in the first 20 minutes, put a side to bed – when you put you’re chances away it makes a difference.

“If you don’t put your chances away you give the other side confidence and we’ve done that a lot this year so it was nice to get reward for the chances we created.”

Altona, making its first finals appearance since 2009, simply had no answers for Salmon.

He opened the scoring in the fourth minute, pouncing on a fumble by Magic keeper Christian Rossi, curled home his second from left of goal before completing the hat-trick running onto a Guest through ball.

Salmon helped set up the fourth, a long ball finding Stef Valentini in acres of space, who found Guest in the area, finishing on the second attempt.

The win sets up a preliminary final clash with South Melbourne on Friday night, a replay a last season’s grand final won by the Cannons.

Oakleigh is one of only three teams to have beaten Hellas this year and Taylor is confident his side can repeat the dose.

“We’re on track but we know it’s going to be difficult, they’ve proved their worth finishing second in the league,” he said.

“The honours have been shared, they beat us on our ground and we beat them at Yarraville when they were playing away from home.

“Both teams will go into the game with a little bit of confidence, knowing they can beat the opposition, but we know it’s going to be tough.”

Meanwhile, at Knights Stadium, Henry Hore and Gian Albano scored second half goals to end Port Melbourne’s season.

After a wasteful first 45 minutes, Hore broke the deadlock just 75 seconds after the break, finishing cooly at the back post.

Albano made it two when he won and converted a penalty just after the hour mark, his quick feet fooling Sharks defender Daniel Edwards.

Knights coach Ben Cahn said the team wanted to put on a show in their first final since 2015.

“It’s been a long time since finals football has been played a Melbourne Knights so we just wanted to enjoy the experience at home in front of a good crowd,” he said.

“It was a tight first half, we created a lot of chances but didn’t quite sneak one through.

“You go into half-time at nil-nil and of course you start thinking about if it stays the same we go to extra-time, so it was a big relief to score in the first minute of the half.

“From there we were quite comfortable and it was only a matter of time before we got the second.”

Albano’s penalty continued his outstanding form, after a double in the Australia Cup Round of 32 win over Lions FC.

“We’ve adapted tactically a bit and he’s been one of the players that has really benefited,” Cahn said.

“He’s coming up with crucial goals, crucial assists, crucial moments in the game and also working very hard when we’re out of possession and we need everyone to dig in.”

The win sets up a huge week with the Knights to host South Australian giant-killer Campbelltown City on Tuesday night in the Australia Cup Round of 16 before facing NPL premier Avondale on Saturday.

“Before we focus on Avondale we’ll put all our effort into the Cup game against Campbelltown, Cahn said.

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“I’ve watched a lot of their games, absolutely not taking them lightly, they’ll be a very strong side.

“We began this season with the aim of winning the (NPL) grand final and we belief we can go on and do that.

“We lost to Avondale earlier in the year 3-0 but we put in a really strong performance and the scoreline didn’t reflect that and then when we played them at home we draw 1-1 and were unlucky not to come away with three points.

“There’s more pressure on them because they’ve had an unbelievable season, set all sorts of records, as premiers of the competition but we’re in a good place and certainly belief we can get a result.”