Last weekend produced major upsets at the top of the NPL 1 ladder. A resurgent Oakleigh Cannons claimed its second big scalp in succession, downing reigning champion Bentleigh Greens 3-2 at Kingston Heath to climb into fifth spot. Meanwhile league leader South Melbourne suffered a shock second half fadeout to give second from the bottom Richmond its first win of the season. South led 3-1 before conceding five unanswered goals to lose 6-3.
The losses at the top have brought the leaders back to the pack and only three points separate the top 10 teams.
Round six kicks off today with a local Hellenic derby featuring 13th-placed Northcote City against eighth-placed Heidelberg United. City continues to struggle in attack where it has scored just the one goal in six competitive matches this year, including the FFA Cup loss to St Albans Saints. It faces an in-form Bergers which has won three of its last four matches. Kick off is at John Cain Reserve at 3.00 pm
Sixth-placed Port Melbourne Sharks visit fourth-placed Green Gully in what appears to be an even match on paper. The Sharks venture away from home for the first time in five weeks on the back of a hard fought 2-1 win over Pascoe Vale. For Gully, it’s their fifth home game in a row, and although they have the same number of wins as Port this season, both have been at the expense of bottom of the table sides including last weekend’s 5-nil thrashing of Northcote City.
League leader South Melbourne visits third-place Hume City in what looms as the match of the round. Expect South coach Chris Taylor to ring the changes in the South line-up following its shock defeat at Richmond last week. The match kicks off in the evening today at ABD stadium.
In NPL 2 East, Box Hill United, Brunswick City and Kingston City each had good wins in cross conference matches last week. In round six action today, each hosts a side in the top three of the NPL 2 W conference. Box Hill hosts top of the table Whittlesea Ranges, Brunswick City hosts second-placed Melbourne City and an undefeated Kingston City, hosts third-placed North Geelong Warriors. All matches kick off at 3.00 pm except for Box Hill’s which kicks off at 3.15 pm.
This weekend marks the opening of the State League seasons. State League NW 1 champions Western Suburbs launched their title defence last night away to Westgate. Today, in other NW 1 action, Yarraville hosts Keilor Park and Altona East Phoenix hosts Banyule City.
The opening round of State League SE 1 features two noteworthy derbies. The top two sides of last season, Mornington and FC Clifton Hill resume their rivalry at Mornington today whilst South Springvale hosts Malvern City at Warner Reserve.
In round four of the NSW NPL1, Sydney Olympic is still searching for its first win of the season, having lost last week 4-2 away to top of the table Blacktown City FC. Olympic finds itself in unfamiliar territory on the bottom of the ladder and will be hoping for a change of fortune when it travels to ninth- placed Sutherland Sharks today. The game kicks off at 6.30 pm.
Meanwhile there’s a bye in the SA NPL 1 this weekend. Reigning champion West Adelaide sits in fifth place after a tense round five scoreless draw at home to Campbelltown City last weekend.