Round 14 of VPL has brought bad and good results for Greek-sponsored teams. Last weekend, Bentleigh Greens took away home points for South Melbourne at Lakeside Stadium leaving them pointless, while Port Melbourne Sharks won over another newly promoted side, Pascoe Vale.
The biggest surprise came from the top of the ladder, when Northcote City suffered their first loss to Melbourne Knights (0-1). The match between Oakleigh Cannons and Green Gully was postponed.
Round 15 of Victorian Premier League starts tonight (Friday), with what can be characterised as the match of the round – second placed Bentleigh Greens and third-on-the-ladder Hume City. It won’t an easy task for John Anastasiadis’ team, as Hume City has won three of its past five matches.
In the previous round, the Greens carved a 4-1 victory over South Melbourne, while Hume City did the same when they encountered bottom of the ladder, Southern Stars (4-0).
Before the start of the game last night, Bentleigh Greens and Hume City were on 27 points each. Both sides entered the game desperate to grab a win and strengthen their spot in the top three.
Bentleigh Greens must be happy with the transfers they made lately, as three of their new signings – Dane Milovanovic, Ryan De Vries and Thomas Matthews – scored three of their four goals against South Melbourne last weekend.
In another match tonight, Port Melbourne Sharks welcome Melbourne Knights at their ground. Port Melbourne is still undefeated in all its away matches this season after carving out another victory against Pascoe Vale last week (3-2).
Melbourne Knights will enter the Friday night match confident, after their three consecutive wins were topped by the most awaited one – being the first side to defeat league leader Northcote City (1-0).
Green Gully Cavaliers will host Pascoe Vale tomorrow (Saturday) after taking some extra rest in round 14, when their match to Oakleigh Cannons was postponed last Friday. It seems that this round’s encounter won’t be a repeat of the previous one in the first half of the season, when Pascoe Vale celebrated with win 2-1.
Though it sits in tenth position and has been held winless in past seven matches, Pascoe Vale has been having numerous scoring opportunities in the past two weeks.
Greek-sponsored Oakleigh Cannons will travel to Southern Stars tomorrow, for a game with the last on the ladder. The only question is will Cannons be able to continue where they stopped when their match with Green Gully was postponed in round 14. Their form has been improving and finally Cannons looked like the side that played last year’s VPL Final.
In tomorrow’s game, Southern Stars will still be looking for their first ever win in 2013 season.
It must be a daunting game to play, when the 11th on the ladder meets the first. This Sunday, Richmond will travel to Northcote.
For the first time this season, Northcote City will enter the match without the confidence of the only undefeated side in the competition, after it was defeated by Melbourne Knights.
In round 4 of the competition when the two sides met for the first time, Richmond lost 7-2 at home. Last weekend, Richmond’s game with Dandenong Thunder was postponed.
An enthralling game to see will be at the Lakeside Stadium this Sunday, as Thunder’s former coach will now be revealing reigning champion’s secrets to his new team, South Melbourne.
South Melbourne signed Chris Taylor as its new coach from Dandenong Thunder a month ago and has since brought in five players from his old club – Luke Hopper, Anthony Bran, Shpetim Mala, Iqbal Jawadi and Nicholas Epifano. On Sunday, his new club will host his old one.
“We are very keen to actually turn the form around and pick up a win. We have recruited a number of new players, so hopefully it will give us the spite that we need,” Chris Taylor told Neos Kosmos.
“When a new coach comes in he has different styles and characteristics. At the moment, we are trying to change a game punt a little bit, and become more proactive when we go forward, scoring more goals. But also, to the same extent, we need to start shoring up our defence which has been affected in a number of goals over a period of time,” he said.
The hosting side will be playing without Jawadi and goalkeeper Peter Gavalas, who got red cards in the game to Bentleigh Greens last Sunday. If they win, it will be Taylor’s first victory with his new club. When it comes to his former club strenghts, head coach Chris Taylor said that the most attention should be paid to Thunder’s Nate Foster.
“They have always had a very good team spirit, and they play well for each other; it’s a club proud of what they do. Probably the main player for me to pay attention to would be Nate Foster, who has always caused South Melbourne problems,” Taylor said.
Last time the two sides, met: Dandenong Thunder won 3-0.
VPL Round 15 fixtures:
Bentleigh Greens v Hume City, Friday 26 July, 8:15pm, Kingston Heath Soccer Complex – Pitch 1
Port Melbourne Sharks v Melbourne Knights, Friday 26 July 8:30pm, JL Murphy Reserve
Green Gully Cavaliers v Pascoe Vale, Saturday 27 July 3:00 pm, Green Gully Reserve
Southern Stars v Oakleigh Cannons, Saturday 27 July 8:00 pm, Kingston Heath Soccer Complex
Northcote City v Richmond, Sunday 28 July 3:00 pm, John Cain Memorial Park
South Melbourne v Dandenong Thunder Sunday 28 July 3:00 pm, Lakeside Stadium