Moreland City captain Corey Thomas’ pride after club’s first win of the season

Moreland City’s dramatic come-from-behind win over Bentleigh Greens sparked wild celebrations and it’s no surprise, it was the club’s first in 60 years.

Moreland City won its first game in 60 years. Picture: Content Hype

When Moreland City clinched victory over Bentleigh Greens on Saturday it ended a six-decade long wait.

The Coburg-based club was last in the top flight of Victoria’s football pyramid in 1962 and returned this year for the first time since.

Moreland’s last win – and only win that season – in the then Victorian State League came against Melbourne, 1-nil, on August 11, 1962.

So it was no surprise the dramatic come-from-behind 2-1 win at CB Smith Reserve, the club’s first home game of the NPL Victoria season, sparked wild celebrations.

Having arrived in 2015 and seen the club climb back to the top, City captain Corey Thomas said it was a proud moment.

Corey Thomas in action for Moreland City. Picture: Content Hype

“The boys are buzzing after getting the three points,” he said.

“For any team it’s important to get your first three points of the season but as a newly promoted team – the first time in 60-odd years – it’s even more important.

“A lot of the fans and committee members who have seen Moreland down in State 2 and 3 and for myself this is my ninth season, so there’s a lot of excitement.

“I’m very proud, coming here in 2015 from Wales, I only planned on being in the country for a year.

“There’s been a lot of ups and down, AAMI Park in 2018 when we were close to promotion, it came to a point where we thought it might never come but we stayed strong and got there.”

The 2022 NPL2 champions conceded in just the seventh minute but then Bentleigh goalkeeper Christian Pavlidis was shown a straight red five minutes later, handing the initiative to City.

Defender Nick Bavcar found the equaliser just before half-time and Fletcher Fulton scored a bizarre winner almost immediately after half-time.

Chasing down a back pass, Fulton’s pressure paid off as he charged down Greens’ replacement keeper Ben McCauley’s attempted clearance and the rebound found the back of the net.

The drought-breaking win followed an impressive Round 1 performance against reigning premier South Melbourne at Lakeside Stadium.

City took a first-half lead – new recruit James Hooper scoring one of the goals of the season – but couldn’t hold on, going down 2-1.

Thomas said the club had showed in the opening two rounds it was capable of competing at the level.

“I don’t think many people knew much about Moreland City, so we’ve probably surprised a little bit, showing we can compete physically and fitness wise,” he said.

“We put up a fight, going 1-nil up (against South Melbourne), but game management probably let us down in the second half and experience helped them get over the line.

“On another day we could have taken a point from the game but we took a lot of positives and took it into Round 2 and got the three points.

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“We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves, playing well against South Melbourne and getting the three points against Bentleigh you could say we’ve found our feet.

“Like I said, getting the first three points is really important and it will give us confidence to go out and get more.

“We know there’s no easy games, we know every week we’ve got to be on our game, at this level teams will capitalise on any moment you’re not.”

It doesn’t get any easier for Moreland with a trip to preliminary finalist Port Melbourne Sharks on Saturday, Altona Magic at home and then neighbouring rivals Avondale away.