VPL: Foregone Conclusion?

With four games to go, we here at The Football Sack are going to stick our neck out and say that Dandenong will finish on top and Heidelberg will be relegated. We will even go as far to say that Moreland will be the team joining them in the State League next season. Hume blew its chance to make up some points while Richmond were the big movers of the weekend; up to sixth with a bullet.

Hume City 0
Oakleigh Cannons 1 (Zoric 3')
Epping Soccer Stadium

Hume dropped vital points at home and lost touch with the top five after going down to Oakleigh on Friday night. The Cannons consolidated second spot with Goran Zoric's early strike enough to give Oakleigh the points. Hume drop to 8th, missing the chance to join Bentleigh (5th) on points in what could be crucial in a months time.

Green Gully Cavaliers 1 (Sanders 12')
Southern Stars 0
Green Gully Reserve

With Dandenong and Oakleigh flying, Green Gully are sliding under the radar as another win on the weekend courtesy of 'Colonel' Sanders has the Cavaliers in third place and in striking distance with four games to go.

Green Gully have made a habit of this of late, finding form at the right time of year with Grand Final results over the past two seasons as proof that they know how to get it right when it counts.

Northcote City 1 (Lujic 12' )
Bentleigh Greens 1 (Batsis 76')
John Cain Memorial Park

The shared points helped neither team in this clash. Northcote took the lead early but were unable to capitalise as Bentleigh hit back with 15 minutes remaining. As it stands these two will meet in the elimination final in a month but there is plenty of water to go under the bridge before that happens



Dandenong Thunder 5 (McIlroy 7' 78' Kearney 25' Jawadi 34' Sherbon 57')
Heidelberg United 0
George Andrews Reserve

Two surprises here; Dandy kept to five goals and Sherbon only scoring one. Nothing much else to report upon. Dandenong will finish top and Heidelberg will finish last. Move along, nothing to see here.

Moreland Zebras 1 (Kaya 30')
Richmond 2 (Cahill 33' Purcell 69')
Epping Soccer Stadium

Grant Brebner took charge of the relegation bound Moreland and on half an hour had the Zebras in the lead in their vital clash with Richmond. But, as has been the case for most of the season, the Zebras defence leaked goals to be left empty-handed again. One wonders what Moreland's many quality players will do come seasons end?

Melbourne Knights 2 (Nakic 33' 54')
South Melbourne 2 (Keenan 2' Kelly 75')
Knights Stadium

An old skool classic at Sommers St on Sunday when these two former giants of Australian football locked horns again. Our man on the ground David Manuca claims that he witnessed the goal of the season when Jake Nakic smashed home from beyond 20 metres. The Knights had Cvitkovic sent off just after hitting the lead which didn't help their cause in holding on for all three points.

POS		TEAM	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1		Dandenong Thunder	18	12	4	2	41	12	29	40
2		Oakleigh Cannons	18	11	3	4	32	20	12	36
3		Green Gully Cavaliers	18	10	3	5	28	21	7	33
4		Northcote City	18	8	5	5	25	26	-1	29
5		Bentleigh Greens	18	8	4	6	31	23	8	28
6		Richmond	18	6	7	5	25	23	2	25
7		South Melbourne	18	7	4	7	26	26	0	25
8		Hume City	18	7	3	8	21	20	1	24
9		Melbourne Knights	18	7	1	10	21	27	-6	22
10		Southern Stars	18	5	5	8	19	32	-13	20
11		Moreland Zebras	18	3	2	13	21	36	-15	11
12		Heidelberg United	18	2	3	13	19	43	-24	9

Goals
16 – Luke Sherbon, Dandenong Thunder
9 – Nate Foster, Dandenong Thunder
9 – Nicholas Hegarty, Hume City
8 – Mathew Sanders, Green Gully Cavaliers
7 – James Kalifatidis, Northcote City
7 – Mark Leech, Hume City
7 – Ricky Diaco, Oakleigh Cannons
7 – Osagie Ederaro, Green Gully Cavaliers
7 – Scott Bulloch, Bentleigh Greens

Yellow Cards
6 – Steven Topalovic, Richmond
6 – Jonathan Voulgaris, Northcote City
5 – Daniel Jones, Green Gully Cavaliers
5 – Brian Bran, Dandenong Thunder
5 – Adam Zilic, Melbourne Knights
5 – Craig Sweeney, Melbourne Knights
5 – Saso Alexovski, Heidelberg United
5 – Nicholas Marinos, Heidelberg United
5 – Kristian Konstantinidis, Northcote City
5 – Alan Mulcahy, Southern Stars
5 – Isiyan Erdogan, Hume City

Red Cards
4 – Melbourne Knights (Ben Surey, Tomislav Uskok, Shaun Romein, Marijan Cvitkovic)
3 – Richmond (Liam Cannell, Michael Ferrante, Mate Eterovic)
3 – Southern Stars (Lean Williams, Ridvan Saglam, Halil Gur)
3 – South Melbourne (Thomas Matthews, Trent Rixon, Shaun Kelly)
2 – Green Gully Cavaliers (Patricio Vargas, Mile Medjedovic)
1 – Heidelberg United (George Papadopoulos)
1 – Bentleigh Greens (Jack Webster)

Round Nineteen Fixtures
Bentleigh Greens v Moreland Zebras, 8:15pm Friday 17 August, Kingston Heath Soccer ComplexOakleigh Cannons v Melbourne Knights, 8:30pm Friday 17 August, Jack Edwards Reserve
Richmond v Southern Stars, 8:30pm Friday 17 August, Kevin Bartlett Reserve
Green Gully Cavaliers v Hume City, 3pm Saturday 18 August, Green Gully Reserve
Heidelberg United v Northcote City, 3pm Sunday 19 August, Olympic Village
South Melbourne v Dandenong Thunder, 5pm Sunday 19 August, Lakeside Stadium