We're back into a full round of Victorian Premier League football this weekend following last weekend's "catch up" round.
This round looks to be one of the most exciting to date. Traditional rivals South Melbourne and Heidelberg United are going head-to-head on Sunday, top teams Richmond and Hume City will battle it out, and there’s the Grand Final rematch between Dandenong Thunder and Altona Magic.
With only six games to go in the home and away season, every club, from the bottom to the top of the table, is feeling the pressure to win all six games. The competition is so close that nearly all clubs are still in with a chance to make the finals, and they are also still in danger of being in the bottom two, the relegation zone.
On Saturday, Northcote City comes up against Sunshine George Cross at John Cain Memorial Park.
Northcote City has effectively had two weeks off because of their round 16 match against Bentleigh being postponed. They will be fresh and ready to go, eager to capitalize on Sunshine’s poor performances of late. However, Sunshine George Cross will go into this match with confidence from their win when they last met in round six at Knights Stadium.
Sunshine George Cross are currently sitting eleventh on the ladder, six points out of the top five. Coach, Theo Constantinou admitted this match is do or die for his team.
“It’s getting tougher and tougher with six rounds to go,” Constantinou said.
“I think this week is the big Grand Final for us, a win this week will put us into good finals contention, a loss will put pressure on the team (to stay out of relegation zone).”
Constantinou said he probably has one of his better lists to choose from for this weekend’s match.
The other Saturday afternoon match sees the Green Gully Cavaliers hosting the Bentleigh Greens at Green Gully Reserve.
Green Gully are one of the teams who would’ve preferred not to have the break, following their recent good form where they won three matches in a row.
Gully’s coach, Paul Harris, said there are a couple of players in his side that have minor injury concerns that they are managing, but the side should be similar to the one that defeated Altona Magic in round 16.
“We’ve had a run of some good results but we’re still looking over our shoulder until we get a further six points, you can’t really see yourself as safe.”
The Bentleigh Greens played in the “catch up” round against Heidelberg United last Friday night, and again just missed out on taking home much-needed points.
They are currently ninth on the ladder on 18 points.
On Saturday night it’s the blockbuster Grand Final re-match between Dandenong Thunder and Altona Magic at George Andrews Reserve.
When these two sides met earlier in the year, the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
Both teams benefited from the mid-season transfer period, and were able to turn their terrible early season form around.
Dandenong Thunder has won their past four matches in a row, with three of those wins against the tops teams - Richmond, Oakleigh Cannons and Hume City.
Dandenong’s coach, Stuart Munro, said his main concern was whether the pitch would hold up.
“Our biggest concern is hoping that the rain stays away, our pitch has been battered with the weather recently.”
Munro predicted the match would be a very close affair.
“Both teams are coming into the game with a bit of confidence, we’re at home, we want to continue with our good form.
“It’s a different type of pressure on the players, the last four games we played against teams at the top of the ladder, now we’re playing against teams at the bottom, it’s just a different pressure,” Munro said.
Altona Magic’s coach, Sash Becinovski is understandably disappointed with the club’s recent results, losing 7-5 to Northcote City, 4-1 to Green Gully in round 16, and 3-1 to South Melbourne last weekend. Despite this, he is hopeful his team will turn it around.
“I’m disappointed, I guess the fact that we’ve lost three in a row, we expected a lot more, we have fallen away in the second half of those matches,” he said.
“But I don’t think it’s a fitness thing, its concentration, and the chopping and changing with suspended players and injuries.”
Becinovski know this match will be one of the toughest challenges since he took over as coach mid-way through the season.
“It’s not an easy place to get results (George Andrews Reserve), they’ve got a couple of new players, we just have to be positive.”
Two of the VPL’s top three teams will battle it out at Broadmeadows Valley Park on Sunday afternoon, Hume City and Richmond.
Despite being consistent performers all season, both teams know a victory this weekend is crucial for their confidence going into the final rounds of the home and away season.
Hume City’s last match was a victory against Sunshine George Cross in round 17, while Richmond drew 1-1 with the Melbourne Knights, also in round 17.
The last time these two teams played was in round six, when they drew 1-1.
At Knights Stadium on Sunday afternoon, the Melbourne Knights host the Oakleigh Cannons.
Melbourne Knights coach, Ivan Duzel, was pleased with their performance against Richmond in round 16.
“It was good, if we perform like that week in, week out we can go a long way,” he said.
Duzel said the break did wonders for his squad, and for the first time this year, he has all his players available.
The Oakleigh Cannons played a friendly against Melbourne Heart at Jack Edwards Reserve last Friday.
Despite the score line, Oakleigh Cannons’ coach, John Anastasiadis said he was very impressed with his team’s performance against the A-League’s newest club.
Anastasiadis played a full strength team in the first half, and made a number of changes in the second to give his younger players an opportunity against their more experienced counterparts.
“In the first half the senior team performed so well.
“At half time I said to them it’s a mental thing, it’s not in your legs, it’s in your head. We certainly take confidence from this for our next six games.”
“For us its six Grand Finals, we’ve got to really perform otherwise we won’t make the finals.”
Anastasiadis expects Nick Kalmar, Michael Curcija and Billy Damianos to return to the squad.
The final match of the round sees traditional rivals South Melbourne and Heidelberg United go head-to-head.
In what is a remarkable statistic, South Melbourne hasn’t defeated Heidelberg in four years.
Their controversial round six match ended in a draw, after the pitch was invaded and the match referred to the Tribunal.
Heidelberg United continued their amazing run of form last Friday night, defeating the Bentleigh Greens last weekend in their catch up round.
“We had a four or five day turn around, and to back it up and to get six out of six points in five days is just phenomenal,” Heidelberg United coach George Katsakis said.
“There’s good signs that we’re a very fit mob, and the preseason work that we did is paying off.”
Katsakis also credits their recent results to consistency within the team.
“We’ve been playing the same players in the last six weeks; it certainly does bring positive results.”
Heidelberg will probably be without Harry Matkovic, after he hyper-extended his knee against the Bentleigh Greens.
South Melbourne’s captain, Ramazan Tavsancioglu returns from suspension for this big match, and he can’t wait to get out there and play this weekend.
“We’ve got the confidence up from the Altona game, it’s a big game, it’s the big derby against our arch rival Heidelberg. I can’t wait to get out there.”
For all the latest Victorian Premier League news, log on to the VPL website or Facebook page.
Last updated: Thursday July 8, 2010 6:18PM
Back