This Sunday’s Dockerty Cup final between South Melbourne and Oakleigh Cannons gives most NPL and NPL1 clubs a chance to rest and recharge the batteries in readiness for the run home.
There’s no rest, however, for the Port Melbourne Sharks, who last night hosted relegation-threatened North Geelong Warriors in a catch-up game.
The Sharks, who have secured their place in the NPL with recent wins, last weekend pushed league leader Bentleigh Greens all the way in an exciting 2-2 draw at JL Murphy reserve.
Port led the Greens from early in the match, until Tyson Holmes squared the tie in the 81st minute for the Greens.
In other catch-up action, Heidelberg United will complete a busy schedule on Monday night when it hosts a resurgent Green Gully.
The second-placed Bergers will be hoping for a better result than the previous week’s 2-1 away loss to Melbourne Knights, when a 75th minute goal from Knights sub Marijan Cvitkovic proved to be the winner after Dan Heffernan had equalised minutes earlier for United.
South Melbourne began a hectic week’s schedule by missing a chance to take over second spot outright from traditional rival Heidelberg, when it just managed a scoreless draw away to Pascoe Vale. South keeper Nicola Roganovic kept the Vales at bay in the second half with a man-of-the-match display.
South, which has a busy week of cup action with the FFA Cup and Dockerty Cup, resumes NPL action at home this Friday evening with a match against neighbours Port Melbourne.
In NPL1 E catch-up action, Kingston City hopes to regain some lost ground when it hosts Springvale White Eagles on Monday night.
Last Monday, third-placed Kingston City lost ground to second-placed Richmond when the two promotion contenders met at The Grange.
Kingston lost 1-0 after going down to 10 men early in the game. Caniglia scored a 33rd minute winner for the visitors.
Meanwhile Box Hill United retains a faint chance of promotion after its 4-1 home win over Dandenong City in a Round 22 match last Saturday.