The Bentleigh Greens are looking to reignite their Alanic Victorian Premier League season in round 18, appointing Andy O'Dell as their head coach after replacing Goran Lozanovski last weekend.
Bentleigh Greens' Operations Manager, John Ioannou, said the decision was mutual, after Lozanovski initially approached the committee after Saturday’s 4-0 loss to the Green Gully Cavaliers.
“Loza came to the committee on the weekend and said, ‘Boys, I think it’s time for a change’,” Ioannou said.
“We obviously wish Loza all the best, it was a hard decision,” he said.
Last weekend, we saw all the home team’s win except for the Melbourne Knights, who lost to the Oakleigh Cannons after their second half fight back.
It’s hard to pick the winners again in round 18, particular with top matches like the Bentleigh Greens versus Dandenong Thunder, Northcote City versus Green Gully Cavaliers, and the Oakleigh Cannons versus Hume City coming up this weekend.
On Friday night, O’Dell will lead the Bentleigh Greens against a formidable Dandenong Thunder outfit at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex.
O’Dell is thrilled to be coaching at Premier League level again, after he split with Sunshine George Cross earlier in the season.
“It’s great, I’m really looking forward to it, but it’s different to George Cross with the facility (Kingston Heath Soccer Complex),” O’Dell said.
O’Dell had his first training session with his new team on Monday night, where he told the players they all had a clean slate.
“It’s a chance to start fresh, I just told them we’ve got to get back to basics, it’s got to be a massive group effort.”
The Bentleigh Greens are currently sitting ninth on the Alanic Victorian Premier League table, with five wins, three draws and eight losses.
Despite pulling up a bit sore from their round 17 match, the Dandenong Thunder team are full of confidence following their fifth win in a row against Altona Magic at George Andrews last weekend.
“The players are a bit stiff and sore, it was quite a heavy pitch I think,” coach Stuart Munro said.
Munro said their round seven, two-nil loss to the Bentleigh Greens was the club’s worst performance of the season, and he will be using it as ammunition in his talks with the players this week.
“The last time we played them it was the worst performance of the season, a terrible game, very disappointing.
“It coincided with the time when we were at our worst; we’d lost games and had lost a few players with injuries and suspensions.”
The other Friday night match will also be a cracker, as the league-leaders - the Oakleigh Cannons, take on a resurgent Hume City at Jack Edwards Reserve.
Oakleigh’s coach, John Anastasiadis said he was shocked when the team went 1-0 down in the first minute of their match against the Knights last weekend.
“It was a shock to concede so early, in the first 25 minutes we really struggled to get going, we looked really flat,” he said.
“For the second half I just told them to go out there and enjoy themselves, because in the first half they looked heavy, like things were getting to them, so it was pleasing when we fought back - we needed the three points desperately.”
Anastasiadis said his team knows it’s going to be a very difficult game against third-placed Hume City.
Andy Vlahos’ Hume City overcame Richmond in a close encounter in round 17.
Vlahos said he will almost have a full list to pick from this weekend, with the exception of Lou Acevski, who still has another week to go with his suspension.
On Saturday afternoon Northcote City welcomes the Green Gully Cavaliers to John Cain Memorial Park for their round 18 match.
Both teams had convincing wins in round 17, Northcote City defeated Sunshine George Cross 3-0, and Green Gully outplayed the Bentleigh Greens 4-0 at Green Gully Reserve.
The last time these two clubs met was in round 7, when Green Gully were the victors, 1-0.
Sash Becinovski was bitterly disappointed to go down 1-0 to Dandenong Thunder last weekend, but Altona Magic will have a chance to redeem themselves against Heidelberg United Saturday night at Paisley Park Soccer Complex.
Becinovski said the pleasing thing about the round 17 match was that the side showed improvements from the previous three games.
“But, at the end of the day we’ve lost another three points,” he said.
Becinovski said there was still plenty of positivity around the club, with the feeling that a victory is not too far away. But they have a tough task this weekend, coming up against a club that has not been defeated since round nine.
Last weekend, Heidelberg United continued their dominance over South Melbourne, finishing 2-0 winners.
Heidelberg United are now in the top five, sitting fifth on the table with 24 points.
The only Sunday match pits traditional powerhouses South Melbourne and the Melbourne Knights against one another at John Cain Memorial Park.
South Melbourne’s coach, Vaughan Coveny said his team was unlucky against Heidelberg in round 17.
“It was disappointing, we were in the game for most of it, but the two penalties really hurt us a lot...the game was in the balance and it could’ve gone either way,” he said.
Fernando De Moraes has been a major loss for South Melbourne, he is still struggling with a back injury, and to make matters worse, the club will also be without Kyle Joryeff and Rhodri Payne for this big match.
“We have a pretty good squad to pick from, everyone’s been doing well, now’s the time for someone to step up with those three guys out.”
Ivan Duzel blamed a lapse in concentration for the Knights’ 2-1 loss to the Oakleigh Cannons last weekend.
“Definitely they lost concentration, for just a couple of minutes cost us the game,” Duzel said.
“We were a much better team in the first half; I was expecting another goal in the first 45 minutes because they played good team play, good passing.”
The final match of round 18 is the Alanic VPL LIVE broadcast game between Sunshine George Cross and Richmond at Knights Stadium on Monday night.
Sunshine George Cross haven’t won a game since round nine, and last weekend they went down to Northcote City 3-0.
It will be a tough ask for a team likely low in confidence, coming up against one of the league-leaders in Richmond.
However, Richmond haven’t been performing to their best recently either, their last win was in round 13, and in round 17 they lost a close battle with Hume City, 1-0.
Richmond’s coach, Michael Chatzitrifonos said he thought his club deserved far more than what they got against Hume.
Chatzitrifonos is hopeful his team will get back on the winners list soon.
“Hopefully we can turn it around pretty quickly...I’ve always said when you have momentum it’s important to keep it going.
“I know it’s a cliché but I’ve just told the boys to take it one game at a time and not worry about where we finish on the ladder.”
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Last updated: Thursday July 15, 2010 10:27PM
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