Former Heidelberg United teammates Eric Vassiliadis and Lou Acevski will go head to head as opposition coaches this afternoon, when Vassiliadis’ Port Melbourne Sharks travel to Hume City for their round 12 NPL 1 encounter.

With both teams hovering just outside the top four, each coach will be keen for a win which could give their team a shot at the finals.

Both teams will be expecting much tougher opposition than they faced last round when each enjoyed a big win against lowly opposition. Hume took Northcote City apart 5-nil, while the Sharks feasted on Richmond to the tune of 7-nil, no doubt assisted in part by Richmond playing with 10 men for most of the second half.

One person hoping that Port gives Hume a tough, torrid encounter will be Malvern City coach Steve Aivaliotis, whose State League 1 SE leaders will face the daunting task of having to knock out Hume City in round six of the FFA Cup at Jack Edwards Reserve, Oakleigh, this coming Wednesday night.

The last remaining State League team in the competition, Malvern City expected a difficult draw, but it received no favours in drawing last year’s semi-finalist, which will be keen to once again scale the dizzy heights of the latter stages of the national competition. Malvern City will also have to back up from a weekend league match when it travels to Casey Comets this afternoon.

In another round six FFA Cup fixture scheduled this coming week, Heidelberg United visits Green Gully this Tuesday evening. A previous league meeting between the two teams earlier this season produced a scoreless draw. Heidelberg coach George Katsakis will be hoping his side will have emerged from yesterday’s league match away to Oakleigh Cannons relatively unscathed for the Gully clash.

In other NPL action this weekend, Brunswick City and Box Hill United square off in a round 12 NPL2 E Hellenic derby this afternoon at Dunstan Reserve, with third place on the ladder up for grabs for the winner. Box Hill remains undefeated in its last five matches and has overtaken Brunswick City into third place, following City’s recent defeats to the two top teams in the NPL 2 conferences, Dandenong Thunder and North Geelong Warriors.

Both Brunswick and Box Hill trail second- placed Kingston City by a sizeable gap which Kingston will be keen to maintain when it visits Goulburn Valley Suns tomorrow.

To the State Leagues, and in round six action last week, Yarraville scored an excellent 3-2 home win over second-placed Westgate. It will be looking to back it up today with another win in a SL NW 2 derby away to struggling Altona East Phoenix, which will be looking to atone for last week’s loss to bottom of the table Diamond Valley United.

Similar to Yarraville, Western Suburbs will also be trying to back up last week’s good 1-nil win over third-placed Sydenham Park, with another good result in its home match against Keilor Park on Sunday.

In SE 1 action, eighth-placed South Springvale hopes its resurgence continues this weekend with a third consecutive win, when it travels to 11th-placed Mooroolbark.

Sixth-placed FC Clifton Hill will be looking for consistency when it travels to ninth-placed Berwick City.