The NPL Victoria Men's Finals, proudly presented by Senol, are finally upon us and the final six are ready to battle it out for championship glory. Tonight we have a thrilling elimination final double header as Green Gully take on Bentleigh Greens and Oakleigh Cannons host Heidelberg United.
Kicking off at 7:30PM at Green Gully Reserve, fourth-placed Green Gully host fifth placed Bentleigh Greens at Green Gully Reserve. In the other elimination final, the sixth-placed Heidelberg will travel to Jack Edwards Reserve to take on the 3rd seeded Oakleigh Cannons at 8PM.
Green Gully v Bentleigh Greens
Bentleigh will head into this crucial match with some confidence, having completed the double over Gully this season. With that in mind, the beauty of knockout football is that history counts for nothing and anything can happen once the first whistle is blown.
The Greens have been up and down in recent weeks, winning four of their past seven matches but a 5-0 away win against Dandenong City will provide the perfect lead-in to tonight's fixture.
Yagoub Mustafa's return to the side has provided the Greens a major boost of late. The hero in the Dockerty Cup Final only took 22 seconds to open the scoring on the weekend, leaving the Dandenong defenders stunned. Ajak Riak proceeded to double their lead in the 19th minute as he converted from the penalty spot before Corey Sewell added another.
Lucas Derrick scored Bentleigh’s’ fourth of the game with a classy finish in the bottom-left corner and Pierce Waring iced the cake with a powerful 88th minute finish.
The win was essential for Bentleigh, as was rediscovering their scoring touch as previous 1-0 and 3-0 losses to the Sharks and Magic respectively had Nick Tolios' side limping towards finals.
A strength of the Greens has been their ability to share the load offensively throughout 2022. Waring (8), Riak (7), Mustafa (6) and Painter-Andrews (5) have led the way in terms of goal scoring. Bentleigh's highlights reel throughout the season is full of goal of the year contenders, with three making the final list of nominations.
Fourth-placed Green Gully have also hit a few speed bumps of late,losing two of their last three including a 3-0 defeat to Dandenong Thunder and a 2-0 loss to Melbourne Knights.
Despite this, Gully have had a season to be proud of and have consistently been placed among the top six sides in the league. A recent 7-0 demolition of Eastern Lions proving one of many memorable wins.
The home side will also have confidence in their ability to match it against the best teams in the league consistently. Recent wins against Heidelberg United and a very in-form Hume City were complimented with a draw against runaway league leaders South Melbourne FC.
Gully's Luc Jeggo (9) and Nahuel Bonada (7) have led the way this season, while Alex Salmon (5) Josh Hope (5) have consistently looked threatening. Gianluca Iannucci has been another one to watch scoring a series of screamers this year.
As aforementioned, Bentleigh have the wood over Green Gully this season, winning in rounds 7 and 20 in convincing fashion.
In round 7, Bentleigh defeated Green Gully 3-0 in front of their home fans. The two sides were held goalless in the first half before Thomas Strickland scored a belter of a goal from outside of the box in the 48th minute. Pierce Waring sealed victory for the Greens from the penalty spot with 10 minutes of regular time remaining and Jordie Van Der Laan put an exclamation mark on the win with a goal in the 90th minute.
13 rounds later it was Bentleigh who once again prevailed, claiming a 4-0 victory. Jack Painter-Andrews chipped the ball over the keeper to score the first goal of the game in the ninth minute and in the 42nd minute, the ball found itself back in the Bentleigh goal through Green Gully’s Caio De Godoy scoring an own goal.
Jack Painter-Andrews scored his second goal of the match when he tapped in the ball from point-blank range after capitalising on a keeper defection. In the sixth minute of extra-time, Ajak Riak scored Bentleigh’s fourth goal, getting on the end of an intelligent Painter-Andrews pass.
Both sides will be desperate to finish the season on a high and progress to the Semi-Finals. This promises to be an entertaining match.
Oakleigh Cannons v Heidelberg United
The second-placed Oakleigh Cannons are in danger of an early finals exit having been stretched to full capacity this season. Deep Australia Cup and Dockerty Cup had the Cannons firing on all cylinders but fans will be hoping that the team hasn't run out of steam heading into the finals.
A win against Melbourne Knights in Round 24 is sandwiched between losses two sets of losses. Most recently to Hume City and St Albans, and before that to Bentleigh and South Melbourne.
Despite the recent form, the Cannons have been one of the stories of 2022 and you simply cannot count them out of making a deep run into the post-season.
Led by the dynamic tag team of Joe Knowles and Joe Guest the Cannons have scored 58 goals this league season, the second highest in the league. The aforementioned two have 11 goals each this campaign, while Wade Dekker finished equal second for the golden boot with 15.
Chris Taylor is as good a coach as any in the NPL Victoria Men's and no doubt will have his troops fired up for this clash in front of the faithful at Jack Edwards Reserve.
Their opponents Heidelberg systematically defeated relegation-bound Eastern Lions 5-1 at home to clinch a finals birth last weekend.
Kosta Petratos intercepted a wayward defensive pass to score the opening goal in the 23rd minute and Ajdin Fetahagic scored a second for Heidelberg before halftime, finishing off a clever pass by Kaine Sheppard.
Josh Pin sent the ball flying into the back of the net after the ball fell Heidelberg away in the 55th minute and then Yerasimakis Petratos chipped the keeper for the Warriors' fifth goal.
The Bergers season started with inconsistency, but once they found their form George Katsakis' side were as good as any in the NPL. Highlights of the season include wins against South Melbourne and a double against their opponents tonight, the Oakleigh Cannons, occuring in Rounds 4 and 17.
In the first meeting between the two sides, it was Heidelberg’s Kaine Sheppard who broke the first half deadlock in the 40th minute through a powerful strike from just inside the box. Chudiar Tharjiath ensured victory for Heidelberg with a stoppage-time goal in a brilliant solo effort.
In round 17 it was a much tighter contest with Heidelberg finishing 3-2 winners at Jack Edwards Reserve.
Oakleigh got off to a great start on their quest for redemption as Aryn Williams headed home a perfectly waited set piece from Joe Guest. Heidelberg hit back before halftime with Sean Ellis sending the rocketing into the bottom right corner from outside the box.
In the 52nd minute, Kaine Sheppard delivered once again as he controlled a long pass perfectly and slotted the goal once he was one-on-one with the keeper. Only two minutes later Josh Pin managed to get a boot on a brilliant Sean Ellis pass to give Heidelberg their third for the game.
In the dying minutes, Oakleigh’s Joe Guest sent the ball into the bottom right corner, however, it was all too late as they fell one goal short of their rivals.
Like their opponents, Heidelberg boast a seasoned coach and a squad full of top end talent. The likes of Kaine Sheppard (15 goals and 9 assists), Adrian Zahra, Ivan Franjic, Mallan Roberts and many more have had a fantastic season. The stage is set for a thriller elimination final.
While we encourage all fans to get down to the grounds and support your team, if you can't make it we've got you covered. All games will be streamed LIVE & FREE on NPL.TV.