As we round the last corner and head towards the home straight of the 2022 NPL Victoria race, positions in the table are starting to become more clear. Everything on the line as we hit Round 20 for the first time since 2019.
The top two are keeping the rest at arm’s length the top seven have some breathing space from the chasing pack as they jostle for finals places. Rounding out the bottom of the table and the battle to avoid relegation increasingly looks like it will be a three team tussle.
Green Gully has had a challenging few weeks. A convincing win over Dandenong City in Round 17 was followed by two cagey draws against Avondale and South Melbourne in the league.
Then on Tuesday, Gully was handed its first loss in a cup competitions this season, going down 3-2 to Heidelberg United in the Dockerty Cup. They will hope to turn things around tonight when they welcome Bentleigh Greens to town.
The Green’s themselves are looking for a spark of late, having failed to score in their last two league matches, playing out stalemates against St Albans and Hume. After sitting in the top six for a large part of the season, the recent red hot form of Heidelberg has seen Bentleigh drop out of the finals places.
Gully will be wary of the fact that Bentleigh beat them convincingly 3-0 in the reverse fixture earlier this season. Livewires Mamadi Kamara and Luc Jeggo have looked the most threatening of late, and the Cavaliers faithful will hope the two can help secure their position in the top six.
Sitting seventh, three points behind the Bergers and four behind their hosts, tonight’s trip to Green Gully Reserve is a must win to stay in contention for a finals berth.
Perhaps the excitement of being drawn against interstate team Wollongong United in the Australia Cup on Wednesday will be enough to spark a return to form.
The Greens will also be buoyed by the Australia Cup draw, as they were pitted against Northern NSW side Broadmeadow Magic. With a Dockerty Cup semi-final against Heidelberg on the 12th of July to look forward to as well, Bentleigh will be desperate to rekindle their league form to continue chasing silverware on three fronts.
Dandenong City couldn’t capitalise after beating their relegation rivals Eastern Lions two weeks ago, as they went down 3-1 to the Thunder in the Dandenong Derby on Saturday.
The loss saw them drop back into the relegation zone after Hume picked up a handy point over Bentleigh. In the second match of tonight’s double header, they travel to Jack Edwards Reserve to take on title hopefuls Oakleigh.
While their visitors sit second last in the NPL Victoria table, the Cannons are sitting pretty in second. They kept their foot on the gas last weekend with a comfortable 3-1 win over third placed Port Melbourne to keep them just two points behind league leaders South Melbourne
A brace from Dan Clark took his tally in all competitions to 10 this season while Joe Guest netted his eight of the campaign. The depth of Oakleigh’s attacking talent on full display as league top scorer Wade Dekker wasn’t needed to dispatch the Sharks.
All three are sure to pose a serious threat to the Dandenong defence all night long.
One the flip side, City haven’t enjoyed the same level of success in front of goal this season. Nick Kalmar leads his side with five, and will be a key figure if Dandenong are to cause an upset tonight.
With the rest of the pack drifting further away, it’s looking ever more likely that Dandy City will battle it out with Hume and Eastern Lions for the last spot of safety.
The Cannons could potentially have one eye on their Dockerty Cup semi-final against Avondale on Tuesday, so if ever there was a time for Dandenong to take a top six scalp, it could be tonight.
Speaking of Avondale, they enjoyed a return to winning ways on Saturday with a resounding 5-1 victory over bottom of the table Eastern Lions. A few days later they were treated to more exciting news, as the Australia Cup Round of 32 draw saw the Avengers tee up a trip to Darwin to take on Northern Territory champions Mindil Aces.
This weekend they welcome Dandenong Thunder to Avenger Park.
The Thunder snapped a four game run without a win on Saturday as they proved too good for their neighbours in the Dandenong Derby. The three points came as a relief after picking up just one in their past four games, but that lean spell has seen them drop down the table.
Sitting in eighth, they are seven points off the top six will need to hit a purple patch from here to book a spot in the finals.
New signings Anthony Frangie and Scott Lochhead could be the catalyst for just that however, as the latter netted a brace in his derby debut over the weekend.
They will be faced with a tall task this Saturday though, against an high scoring Avondale side. Manny Aguek’s hattrick against the Lions took his season tally to 11 in all competitions, and it was his last minute header that stole a point at Green Gully the week prior.
However, Avondale have a three day turnaround to their Dockery Cup fixture against Oakleigh on Tuesday. Sitting comfortably in fourth they may be tripped up by looking ahead that fixture too early, which could open the door for the Thunder.
South Melbourne allowed Oakleigh close the gap on them at the top to two points over the weekend when they were held to a scoreless draw at home to Green Gully. This week the leagues leaders travel to Gardiners Creek to take on an Eastern Lions side whose task of staying up gets tougher every week.
It’s been a long, hard slog of a season so far for the Lions. Flashes of progress throughout the season have been followed by lapses the following week, or even sometimes later in the same game. Their game against Avondale on the weekend perfectly encapsulated this.
After Kosta Emmanuel’s effort put them ahead in the opening five minutes, they almost doubled their lead shortly after. The positive start was wiped out in the second half, however, as Avondale piled on four second half goals to run out 5-1 victors in the end.
A similar turn of events happened two weeks prior at Port Melbourne. They can take solace in that if they can turn their starts into consistency over 90 minutes there is life in the season yet.
Sitting seven points from safety and with only seven games to play the relegation battle is a daunting one, but stranger things have happened.
As for South, a return to winning ways is crucial should they wish to remain in pole position, with the Cannons breathing down their necks at every turn. With no Cup distractions, however, they can focus solely on the league while the chasers spread themselves across multiple competitions.
In the two matches prior to drawing a blank on the weekend, they had scored a combined seven goals, so they will hope last Friday was just a outlier.
Altona Magic continued an turbulent trend of results that have transpired over the past two months when they were narrowly defeated by Heidelberg on the weekend.
Since the start of May the Magic have played eight matches in the league. In that time they have followed a pattern of results that reads: won two, lost two, won two, lost two. Consistently inconsistent is what some would call it, but head coach Savvas Patikkis would probably just call it frustrating.
If the trend continues, however, it would mean a win this week for Altona which would be a welcome change after their past two outings.
Standing in their way is a Port Melbourne side who travel to Paisley Park this week also in search of a return to winning ways.
After a string of strong performances, the Sharks were convincingly beaten by Oakleigh last weekend. A 90th minute consolation was all they could do to save their blushes as they went down 3-1 to the Cannons.
Despite the loss, they still sit comfortably in third on the NPL Victoria table, three points behind the Cannons in second and three points ahead of Avondale in fourth. A win against the Magic on Saturday night would see them take a big step toward solidifying their finals position.
Jackson Courtney-Perkins has been the inform player for Port Melbourne in recent weeks, having a hand in both goals in the Sharks win over Dandenong Thunder in Round 18.
The Magic have failed to score in their last two games, and own the unwelcome statistic of having scored the least amount goals in the league this season, with 14.
The most likely candidate to finally find the breakthrough this weekend is Cherif Aidara, who leads his side with six league goals this campaign.
While the Magic hold a 10 point buffer between themselves and the relegation places, they would do well not to let that gap get any smaller.
Hume City edged back into safety on the weekend, albeit only on goal difference, when they managed to hold Bentleigh Greens to a 0-0 draw at Kingston Heath.
This weekend, the welcome Melbourne Knights to Valley Park as they look to push away from the bottom two.
The Knights are a hard team to figure out. After beating league leaders South Melbourne back at the start of June, they are now without a win in their last three. Two weeks ago, they took it to the red hot Bergers, missing a golden opportunity to steal a point, before last week letting a first half lead slip to share the points with St Albans.
They now sit in ninth, nine points off the top six, and must wonder what might have been if they could have just strung a few good performances together. There is still hope of a finals berth, but a lot would need to go their way for that outcome to eventuate.
One player who might help that cause is new signing George Ott. The forward has looked lively since joining, netting twice in three games.
As for Hume, after a mid-season resurgence that soar them climb out from next to bottom placed Eastern Lions, they are now without a win in their last four. Heartbreaking losses to Dandenong City and Avondale were followed by a convincing defeat at the hands of South Melbourne.
The clean sheet away to Bentleigh was a step in the right direction and defensive stoutness will be imperative if they are to survive the drop. With their relegation rivals playing the top two sides this weekend, now is the perfect time to create some breathing space.
Heidelberg United can’t seem to put a foot wrong at the moment. Their victory over Green Gully in the Dockerty Cup on Tuesday took their unbeaten run in all competitions to 11, as their hugely impressive second half of the season rolls on.
This Sunday, they travel to Churchill Reserve to take on a St Albans side looking for their first three points since the end of May.
The four game slide without a win has seen the Saints drop to 11th in the table, making them the team closest to the bottom three. While the form is hardly inspiring for the Saints faithful, they still hold a nine point buffer between themselves and Hume in 12th, but life can come at you fast in football sometimes.
Since their 2-1 defeat of Dandenong City in Round 15, Kruni Razov’s side have managed just one goal over their next four matches. An Adam Hodor effort in the second half to earn a point at Knights stadium last weekend.
Things will not get any easier against the most inform team in the league on Sunday.
The Bergers undefeated streak has taken them into the top six, and with their defeat of the Cavaliers on Tuesday they are now in the semi-finals of the Dockerty Cup. The celebrations then continued at Olympic Village on Wednesday when they were drawn against A-League powerhouse Brisbane Roar in the Round of 32 of the Australia Cup.
Kane Sheppard’s winner on Tuesday took his tally in all competitions to 19, while captain Adrian Zahra has netted in his last two league appearances for the Bergers.
The prospect might seem daunting for Saints fans, however, when these two sides last met, St Albans ran out 2-0 winners at Olympic Village. Saints top scorer Zander Guy found the back of the net that day, and he will hope to do so again this time around.