Finals ahoy for Green Gully Cavaliers

By David Manuca of Football Federation Victoria.

Green Gully Cavaliers have at last secured a finals spot and are still within a shot of securing the minor premiership after a comfortable 2-0 win over the Springvale White Eagles on Saturday afternoon.

In windy conditions as normal at Green Gully Reserve, Jason Hayne had Gully up 1-0 at the break with a well converted spot-kick before a rare Jeffrey Fleming strike in the second half sealed the deal for the Cavaliers.

If results go their way in the final round this weekend, Green Gully could finish top of the table. Gully need to defeat the Bentleigh Greens and hope Oakleigh, Hume and Heidelberg all lose or draw to secure top spot.

Green Gully made one change to the side that defeated VTC mid-week with Graham Hockless given a rest and Joel Nikolic given a rare start up front.

Springvale player/manager Bojo Jevdjevic made five changes to his side that lost last weekend to Northcote City, naming a very defensive line-up.

His intentions were evident early on as Springvale had five in defence, lining up in a 5-4-1 formation. They often had 10 men behind the ball with James Karanicolas a lone figure in attack.

Green Gully pushed for an early goal but found it hard to break down a resilient and crowded Springvale defence. Andy Vargas had the first real opportunity of the match on 12 minutes but he dragged his shot wide of the post.

The game didn't provide many opportunities until it was brought to life on 35 minutes when Green Gully were awarded a penalty. Andy Vargas played in a low ball to the centre and Mathew Sanders was fouled from behind by Daniel Paunov as he was about to shoot, and Paunov was shown a straight red card for his challenge by referee Shaun Evans.

Jason Hayne stood up in the absence of Graham Hockless and neatly tucked away the spot-kick for his 12th goal of the season.

Green Gully continued their dominance of the match in the second half but couldn't capitalize on their chances with many gone begging.

Mathew Sanders was the culprit for wasting a number of chances for the Cavaliers, missing three good chances in the space of three minutes early in the half.

But up stood Jeffrey Fleming on 69 minutes, blasting a rocket of a strike from outside the area into the top left-hand corner of the goal. It was his first goal in almost three years in the VPL, and one which was well worth the wait.

Mathew Sanders blew another opportunity seven minutes later when he blasted the rebound from Pasquale Vizzari's strike way over the bar.

Despite missing a number of chances Gully held out for a 2-0 win with a finals spot finally sown up no matter what happens this weekend.

Springvale will play their last match this weekend against Heidelberg United at home before being relegated back to State League 1 along with the St. Albans Saints.

Full-Time: Green Gully 2 (Hayne 36' (P), Fleming 69') Springvale White Eagles 0.

Green Gully: 1. Nikola ROGANOVIC, 2. Daniel JONES, 3. Dean KERR, 4. Cameron DRAKE, 6. Stephen DOWNES, 7. Jeffrey FLEMING, 8. Jason HAYNE, 12. Mathew SANDERS, 16. Mile MEDJEDOVIC, 17. Andy VARGAS, 18. Joel NIKOLIC.

Springvale White Eagles: 23. Nebojsa VUJIC, 2. Vojislav MILOJEVIC, 4. Boris VAJIC, 5. Jason CORBETT, 8. Gordan MRDIC, 16. Dominic D'ANGELO, 20. Stojan MILOJEVIC, 22. Daniel PAUNOV, 21. Dejan ERAKOVIC, 24. James KARANICOLAS.