With only three rounds to go of the 2010 Alanic Victorian Premier League, the top five final's positions are still well and truly up for grabs, as are the bottom two “relegation” spots for two unlucky teams.
At this stage, Richmond, Hume City, Green Gully Cavaliers, Oakleigh Cannons and Heidelberg United are the top five teams, and are in contention for the Premiership, but Dandenong Thunder, Northcote City and South Melbourne could all make the finals if results go their way.
Last weekend’s matches proved just how close this competition is. We saw a well-fought out draw between second-placed Hume City and eight-placed South Melbourne, a come-from-behind draw to Altona Magic against the Melbourne Knights; and the Green Gully Cavaliers just edged out Sunshine George Cross in the last minutes of their game at Knights Stadium. This weekend’s round of games promises to again provide some fantastic football.
The Bentleigh Greens and the Melbourne Knights will kick off Round 20, on Friday night at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex.
Both clubs have struggled with consistency all season, and their last victories were many rounds ago.
Andy O’Dell is yet to find that elusive first win since taking over at the Bentleigh Greens two weeks ago; he was very disappointed with last weekend’s 1-0 loss to an undermanned Heidelberg United team.
“I’m not very happy, they had about five players missing and we couldn’t get a result,” O’Dell said.
O’Dell said the players have responded really well since he took over as coach. However, it’s a tough ask to turn their fortunes around with such limited time.
Ivan Duzel’s team couldn’t hold onto their two goal buffer against Altona Magic last weekend, eventually drawing 2-2.
“It’s the same things, we played 70 minutes of excellent game (sic), but then no concentration, but a draw is better than a loss though,” Duzel said.
Duzel said his players need to get mentally tough.
“Unfortunately a lot of games this season we have been under pressure, but we put ourselves under pressure with our results.”
Duzel is urging his players to show some fighting spirit on Friday night against the Bentleigh Greens.
“We have to pick up the points; it’s a crucial game for us.”
In what should be a cracking game of football on Saturday afternoon, the Green Gully Cavaliers are hosting Dandenong Thunder at Green Gully Reserve.
Apart from Dandenong Thunder’s match last weekend, both teams have been in tremendous form over the past six weeks, with Green Gully elevating themselves into the top five, and Dandenong still with every chance of making the finals.
Gully snatched a victory against Sunshine George Cross, scoring in the last few minutes.
“It was a late goal, I think overall we deserved the win though,” coach Paul Harris said.
Although they are currently in third position on the table, Harris said Gully will be taking each match as they come heading towards the finals.
“The results have been going well, but with three games left the top five is still undecided, so we have to continue to perform well.”
Jason Hayne has returned from New Zealand and will be up for selection for Gully; however Jonathan Munoz is still injured and will most likely miss Round 20.
Dandenong Thunder’s Round 19 match against Northcote City was abandoned after the lights went out at George Andrews Reserve at about the 50th minute mark of the game. Northcote City was leading the match, 4-1. Football Federation Victoria is investigating why the lights failed, and will determine whether or not the match will be replayed.
Stuart Munro didn’t want to make excuses for his team’s first poor performance in a number of weeks, but he said he had a number of players sick and were unable to play.
Looking to their Round 20 match, Munro said it is “another six pointer”.
“They’re a very experienced team, but we’ve got quite a good record against them.”
Northcote City will take on Heidelberg United at John Cain Memorial Park on Saturday afternoon.
Northcote City was on their way to a memorable victory down at George Andrews Reserve when the lights failed last weekend.
Northcote had scored four goals to Dandenong Thunder’s one when the lights went out; Northcote’s goals scorers were Jonathan Voulgaris, Mark McGough and James Kalifatidis, who scored two.
Heidelberg United notched up a great victory against the Bentleigh Greens in Round 19. It was a big test for Heidelberg United, as they were missing at least five senior players from the line up.
After the match, coach George Katsakis said he was very proud of his players.
“The entire club is proud of your endeavour and efforts out there tonight. Your commitment to the cause was phenomenal,” he said.
On Saturday night, Altona Magic will play their last match at home for the 2010 season, with a tough challenge against Hume City at Paisley Park Soccer Complex.
Altona Magic fought back from being two goals down again against the Melbourne Knights last weekend to come away with a draw. The point they took from that match will be crucial at the end of the season.
Altona’s captain, Pece Siveski said he was pleased the team was able to fight back after their poor start.
“It was a good comeback, we showed a bit of character, and in the end it was probably a fair result after a terrible first 20 minutes from us,” Siveski said.
Koce and Kole Delev are struggling with injuries, and they both might miss the match this weekend.
Hume City finished with a 2-2 draw against South Melbourne last weekend, in a highly entertaining match at John Cain Memorial Park.
Hume City is hitting their straps at the right time of the season, despite a number of injury concerns, including to coach Andy Vlahos.
Richard Cardozo’s two goals puts him second behind Northcote’s Trent Rixon for the Alanic Victorian Premier League leading goal scorer.
South Melbourne will host Richmond on Sunday at John Cain Memorial Park for their Round 20 match. South Melbourne drew with Hume City, 2-2, last weekend.
“I thought it was a fair result in the end, both teams would’ve been happy with the result - they could’ve won it, and we could’ve won it,” South Melbourne coach Vaughan Coveny said.
Coveny said he is “down on numbers” this weekend. Joseph Youssef, Hamid Basma and Rhodri Payne could all miss the crucial Round 20 match.
Fernando De Moraes continues to be an injury concern for South Melbourne, after he received another knock against Hume City.
“He should be alright, he missed probably three or four games (with a back injury), we’ve been slowly managing him back to full fitness,” Coveny said.
The draw against Hume City has put more pressure on South Melbourne to win this weekend to keep their final’s hopes alive.
“The last couple of weeks have been encouraging from our point of view, we’re still not out of it, mathematically we can still make it, in terms of that, mentally and physically we keep preparing as we usually do and you never know what happens.”
Richmond defeated the Oakleigh Cannons 1-0 last Friday night; Michael Chatzitrifonos was delighted his side was back to playing good football.
“We didn’t play well against Sunshine George Cross (despite the win in Round 18); it was pleasing to get back into some good form against a competitive team like Oakleigh,” he said.
Chatzitrifonos said things are “all looking rosy” for the club heading into Round 20. They have a full list to pick from and a 10 day break before this match, and Ross Antoniadis and Stefan Piorkowski could possibly return to the side this weekend.
The final match for Round 20 is the VPL LIVE broadcast game between Sunshine George Cross and the Oakleigh Cannons at Knights Stadium on Sunday from 5pm.
Sunshine’s coach, Theo Constantinou was disappointed to lose against Green Gully in the final minutes of the match, saying it was a “very competitive game”.
Constantinou has his “best available team to pick from” again this week, and he believes this game is the club’s best chance to defeat the Oakleigh Cannons.
“With a couple of main players out and a few injuries, if we’re ever going to beat them it’s this week,” he said.
Oakleigh has lost five of their past six matches and has gone from leading the league to possibly dropping out of the top five.
Coach John Anastasiadis said the “wheels have fallen off”.
Nick Kalmar and Cameron Watson have just signed A-League contracts, and Anastasiadis said losing such important players has been hard on the team.
“Whilst we’re doing a good thing it’s hurting the team pretty bad, players coming and going has hurt us,” he said.
Anastasiadis said this weekend’s match against Sunshine George Cross is crucial.
“It’s pretty much do or die, we have to win, Sunshine are in survival mode, we have to win, it will be a pretty passionate game, we can’t talk anymore, we just have to go out there and win.”
Last updated: Thursday July 29, 2010 10:12PM
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