Round 16 of the Victoria Premier League brings a lot of excitement for supporters of Greek-sponsored clubs, with two Greek derbies on the VPL repertoire this Sunday.
Northcote City will welcome Port Melbourne Sharks, while Oakleigh Canons host Bentleigh Greens. Due to the light works currently at Jack Edwards Reserve, the Cannons-Bentleigh match was re-scheduled from Friday night to Sunday.
Friday night, the bottom-leader Pascoe Vale and struggling Southern Stars will enter their game in a desperate need for a win, after loosing their round 15 matches. Pascoe Vale lost to Green Gully 1-0, while Southern Stars saw four goals in their net when they played Oakleigh Cannons.
In another match Friday night, South Melbourne travel to Richmond. After a magnificent win of 6-2 that South Melbourne carved out against the reigning champion Dandenong Thunder in round 15, the team from Lakeside Stadium seems to be catching up with its rhythm and form.
The match against his former club was also the first one to give the new South Melbourne coach Chris Taylor a VPL win.
Richmond’s form has been unpredictable lately, but one thing is certain – as 11th on the ladder, the side will be entering the game with boosted confidence, after playing a draw with the league leader Northcote City, in round 15.
Sunday’s match between Hume City and Dandenong Thunder will be a big one, with both sides fighting for points. Reigning champions Dandenong Thunder lost 10 players and a coach over the last couple of weeks, and last weekend’s game was a painful loss – 6-2 to South Melbourne.
Hume City, on the other hand, has been playing some decent soccer – after a 1-1 draw away to Bentleigh Greens last week, Hume City is now fifth on the ladder, with the same number of points as Bentleigh Greens and Melbourne Knights (28).
The runaway leader in the biggest part of the season, Northcote City has been struggling to find its momentum lately, finishing their fourth consecutive game without win last weekend, to Richmond (1-1).
In this Sunday’s Greek VPL derby, Goran Lozanovski boys will have to prove their mental strength when they host Port Melbourne Sharks at their ground. The Greek clash will also be of crucial significance for Port Melbourne.
After loosing 1-3 to Melbourne Knights last weekend, Eric Vassiliadis’ side – promoted to VPL after 10 years – will be trying hard to keep its position in the top five and qualify for finals. The Sharks remain undefeated in all their away matches this season.
In what will be a tight third versus sixth local derby, Melbourne Knights will host Green Gully Cavaliers on Sunday. With both teams in a great form, this match is expected to be one of the best in round 16. The Knights won four of their past five matches, while Green Gully has to push harder to secure its spot in the finals.
In another Greek VPL derby, Oakleigh Cannons will host Bentleigh Greens this Sunday at Jack Edwards Reserve. The previous round has seen the Cannons continue their way of form-improving, with their 4-0 victory in an away match to Southern Stars.
The Bentleigh side, who played a draw with Hume City, share second spot on the VPL table with Melbourne Knights. In their previous encounter, in the first half of the season, Bentleigh Greens and Oakleigh played draw (1-1). Out of 13 matches between the two clubs, Oakleigh has won eight.
Coach John Anastasiadis boys will enter the Sunday game without the star goalkeeper Alistair Bray who dislocated his shoulder against Hume City. Bray will be out of soccer ground for the rest of the season.
