For a team yet to win a Greek Derby this season, league leader Bentleigh Greens will have numerous opportunities to do so in the coming weeks when they take on Heidelberg United, South Melbourne, and Oakleigh Cannons in successive rounds. Last round, John Anastasiadis’s team bounced back from their 3-0 defeat against Port Melbourne Sharks a fortnight ago to defeat Avondale 2-0 in a top of the table clash, before brushing aside State League opponent Morwell Pegasus 6-0 midweek to progress to the 7th round of the FFA Cup.

This Sunday at Olympic Village, the Greens take on a Heidelberg side who hasn’t beaten the Greens in the league in the past five meetings; their last win coming in May 2014.

After a scoring spree of 13 goals in three games, the Bergers have gone back into their shell somewhat in the last fortnight and it will be interesting to see the approach coach George Katsakis uses on Sunday against the league leaders. The last time these two met, the Bergers used a direct, physical approach in an attempt to disrupt the free flowing, possession-based game of the Greens, and it seemed to be effective with the two playing out a scoreless draw at Kingston Heath.

Midweek, the Bergers announced the signing of 19-year-old attacking midfielder Alusine Fofanah. At age 16, the Sierre Leone born Fofanah became the youngest player to debut in the A-League when he played for Western Sydney Wanderers. He went on to play seven games for the Wanderers and also eight games for the Australian U20 National team.

Speaking on the Heidelberg United website, Bergers coach Katsakis said of the club’s new signing, “It gives us another dimension to our game and it is what I wanted. I wanted a bit more speed in attack and this player is offensive-minded. He is one of those players who will always create the first challenge high up the park.”

“He is good at running pass players and I would not mind seeing him starting for wide areas and running inside,” said George Katsakis.

Together with Adrian Zahra, Katsakis hopes that Fofanah will give the Bergers more of a cutting edge up-front, and more avenues to goal.

Apart from the derby between the Bergers and Greens, there are some other interesting clashes this round. Nick Tolios’s Kingston City visit second-placed Avondale FC on Saturday with both teams having mixed results over the last few rounds. Kingston will have to make do without the services of suspended regular keeper Kile Kennedy, who was red-carded in last round’s 2-2 draw to Port Melbourne. Kingston looked to be headed for a win after a go-ahead goal from defender Simo Jovanovic. However a contentious late penalty to Port denied Kingston three points which left coach Tolios fuming. In what is a busy week ahead for Kingston, they’ll be backing up on Thursday evening to play Heidelberg United at Olympic Village in a 6th Round FFA Cup match.

A resurgent South Melbourne is on a three-match winning streak, which has taken them to the threshold of the top six. Last round they ended the winning streak of another in-form team: Hume City, before winning their midweek cup tie against Box Hill United 2-1.

The reigning champions will try to keep the wins coming when they host fourth-placed Pascoe Vale FC on Sunday, a side who has lost just once this season and has the league’s leading scorer Davey Van’t Schip in good form.

Oakleigh Cannons broke through for their first away win of the season last week with a 6-0 win at Melbourne Knights inspired by a Dusan Bosnjak hat-trick. Unfortunately for the Cannons, they failed to take that momentum into the midweek cup match, bowing out of the competition 4-2 away to NPL 2 club Moreland City. This Saturday, the 10th-placed Cannons travel to fifth-placed Hume City.

In NPL2 action on Saturday, Brunswick City hosts Goulburn Valley Suns and league leader Northcote City travels up the Hume to take on an Archie Thompson-inspired Murray United in a cross conference round. On Sunday, Box Hill United travels to Werribee City FC.