VPL Wrap - The half way mark

The Victorian Premier League has hit the half way mark of the competition and apart from first and last, it remains as tight as ever. Team’s such as Northcote and Bentleigh are fighting hard for home final slots while high-profile clubs South Melbourne and Heidelberg United are in fact fighting for their VPL survival.

Southern Stars, favourite for relegation are sitting comfortable in mid-table, undefeated in four matches and despite a loss this week Melbourne Knights are experiencing a renaissance under club legend ‘Stabba’ Marth.

Oakleigh Cannons 2 (Krncevic 50’, Zac Walker 51’)
Bentleigh Greens 1 (O’Dea 78’ pen)
Jack Edwards Reserve

Oakleigh gave their new coaches a perfect start to life in the Victorian Premier League with a 2-1 win over the high-flying Bentleigh Greens.

With former Heart player Peter Zois taking the reins along with Bill Theodoropoulos, two goals in two minutes saw the Cannons leap-frog Bentleigh on the competition table. The Greens were unlucky with a flurry of chances late on, but in the end Luke O’Dea’s penalty was not enough to get a result.

Richmond 1 (Eterovic 26’)
Dandenong Thunder 1 (Sherbon 35’)
Kevin Bartlett Reserve

Luke Sherbon showed once again why he is the hottest visa player outside of the Hyundai A-League with a sweetly struck shot to keep Dandenong Thunder undefeated and on track for a second VPL Minor Premiership.

Richmond are the king of draws at the moment with almost half their matches this season ending in a stalemate. While they are not losing too often, the dropped points are costing them dearly and the Eagles are nearing closer and closer to the relegation zone, now sitting just one competition point away from the drop.

Green Gully Cavaliers 1 (Munoz 21’)
Northcote City 1 (Kalifatidis 44’ pen)
Green Gully Reserve

A huge match for both clubs as Northcote were on four straight wins and Green Gully trying to avoid four straight losses for the first time in over a decade. Ultimately both sides could have won the match but spurned numerous chances each to walk away with a point.



Southern Stars 2 (Leech 19’, Fitzpatrick 90’+)
Melbourne Knights 1 (Sweeney 17’)
Kingston Heath Soccer Complex

Southern Stars have made it four wins without defeat with a last-gasp win over the in-form Melbourne Knights. The Knights looked on track to continue their winning ways early after Craig Sweeney scored the opener, but a quick Stars reply along with the second half sending off of Ben Surey saw their winning run come to an end.

Moreland Zebras 2 (Faherty 8’, Radojici 16’)
Hume City 1 (Hegarty 66’)
Epping Soccer Stadium

Moreland made it two wins in a row as they disposed of Hume City at Epping Soccer Stadium, the ground that both clubs call home.

Hume were confident going into the match after claiming ten points out of their past four matches but the Zebras, who still remain in a relegation position, crashed the party with two early goals enough to claim the points.

Despite a second half Hume goal and some late pressure, the Zebras were good value for their win and will look to climb out of the bottom two when they host struggling South Melbourne next round.

South Melbourne 2 (Jason Trifiro 20’, Norton 54’)
Heidelberg United 1 (Griffiths 2’)
Lakeside Stadium

South’s new signings finally combined as Trent Rixon laid-off for Jason Trifiro to score an equaliser to cancel out Heidelberg’s early opener in the Traditional Derby. There was more than a hint of off-side, but the home fans didn’t care as they went on to taste victory for the first time in five matches.

Heidelberg are now looking more and more likely to drop to State League One; unthinkable at the start of the season. The return of Kristian Sarkies has not yet changed the clubs fortunes and they will be hoping the acquisition of the Hyundai A-League midfielder can turn their year around.

Ladder after Round Eleven

POS		TEAM	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1		Dandenong Thunder	11	8	3	0	24	4	20	27
2		Oakleigh Cannons	11	6	2	3	17	13	4	20
3		Northcote City	11	6	2	3	17	16	1	20
4		Bentleigh Greens	11	6	1	4	19	15	4	19
5		Hume City	11	5	2	4	12	12	0	17
6		Green Gully Cavaliers	11	5	1	5	15	15	0	16
7		Southern Stars	11	4	3	4	13	17	-4	15
8		South Melbourne	11	4	2	5	14	13	1	14
9		Melbourne Knights	11	4	0	7	11	14	-3	12
10		Richmond	11	2	5	4	11	13	-2	11
11		Moreland Zebras	11	3	1	7	14	20	-6	10
12		Heidelberg United	11	1	2	8	9	24	-15	5

Goals
8 – Nate Foster, Dandenong Thunder
8 – Luke Sherbon, Dandenong Thunder
7 – James Kalifatidis, Northcote City
5 – Jason Hayne, Green Gully Cavaliers
4 – Scott Bullock & Luke O’Dea, Bentleigh Greens
4 – Ricky Diaco & Jesse Krncevic, Oakleigh Cannons
4 – Liam Kearney, Dandenong Thunder
4 – Mathew Sanders, Green Gully Cavaliers
4 – Mark Leech, Southern Stars
4 – Nicholas Hegarty, Hume City

Yellow Cards
5 – Steven Topalovic, Richmond
5 – Daniel Jones, Green Gully Cavaliers
5 – Brian Bran, Dandenong Thunder
5 – Jonathan Voulgaris, Northcote City
4 – Andrew Viola & Daniel Visevic & Nicholas Marinos, Richmond
4 – Frankie Lagana, Oakleigh Cannons
4 – Adam Zilic, Melbourne Knights
4 – Saso Alexovski, Heidelberg United


Red Cards
3 – Richmond (Liam Cannell, Michael Ferrante, Mate Medjedovic)
3 – Southern Stars (Lean Williams, Ridvan Saglam, Halil Gur)
2 – Green Gully Cavaliers (Patricio Vargas, Mile Medjedovic)
1 – Heidelberg United (George Papadopoulos)
1 – Melbourne Knights (Ben Surey)

Round Twelve Fixtures