Lakeside worldie, inflatable bottles and Hume’s title warning

A ridiculous free-kick, an inflatable bottle celebration, and another reminder that the NPL Victoria title race is absolute chaos.

Round 13 delivered one of the moments of the season on Monday night as Caroline Springs George Cross dismantled a depleted South Melbourne 4-0 at Lakeside Stadium.

With South rotating heavily ahead of their OFC Pro League semi-final and fielding a youthful XI, George Cross took full advantage, and did it in style.

Luke Lofts stole the headlines with an outrageous free-kick that left everyone inside Lakeside stunned, after Morgan Filer added to the theatre with a hilarious celebration involving an inflatable bottle as George Cross piled on the misery.

Elsewhere, Hume City made arguably the loudest statement of the round.

Hume brushed aside high-flying Avondale FC 3-0 at home in a performance that underlined their legitimacy as title contenders.

Adisu Bayew starred with a brace in front of Spanish superstar Juan Mata, who was in attendance, with the in-form attacker moving to nine goals for the season - one behind Bruno Fornaroli for the Golden Boot lead. He has bagged four goals in his past two games.

More importantly, Hume now sit just one point off top spot.

Oakleigh Cannons remain the benchmark of the competition, but they were left frustrated after conceding a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw away to Dandenong City.

Oakleigh looked set to escape with all three points before Dandenong struck in the dying moments to snatch a share of the spoils.

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The Macedonian derby, meanwhile, produced more drama.

Altona Magic claimed bragging rights with a shock 1-0 victory against rivals Preston Lions in their first match since coach Goran Lozanovski was handed a 17-game suspension.

At Kingston Heath, Bentleigh Greens responded impressively to their humiliating 7-0 defeat to Melbourne City by fighting back for a 2-2 draw against defending champions Heidelberg United.

Melbourne City backed up that demolition with another win as, defeating winless Green Gully 3-1 as Medin Memeti’s brace made it six goals in two games, while a 90th-minute equaliser saw St Albans Dinamo rescue a 2-2 draw away to Dandenong Thunder.