VPL: Signed, Sealed, Delivered

As predicted, Dandenong Thunder have won the Victorian Premier League Minor Premiership after securing a 0-0 draw at home to second placed Oakleigh. South Melbourne pushed closer to a finals spot at the expense of Northcote while Richmond and the Knights dropped valuable points in the chase for a finals spot.



Bentleigh Greens 3 (Batsis 39' De Vries 73' Wallace 78')
Heidelberg United 0
Kingston Heath Soccer Complex

Bentleigh showed no mercy to the hapless Heidelberg on Friday night cruising to a 3-0 win which lifted them into third spot. It would take some amazing results for Bentleigh to miss the finals from here but with two tough games to go anything is possible.

Hume City 3 (Hegarty 6’ 79’, Harrison 12’)
Richmond 3 (Cahill 43’ 49’, Purcell 69’)
Epping Soccer Stadium

This entertaining draw helped neither side's push for a finals spot. Hume with a relatively easy last two fixtures look the most likely to steal the last remaining spot while it would take something special for Richmond to do so especially seeing as they face the rampant Dandenong on the final day.

Dandenong Thunder 0
Oakleigh Cannons 0
George Andrews Reserve

As we predicted here at The Football Sack many weeks ago, Dandenong Thunder have capped off the home and away season with the Victorian Premier League title, doing what they needed to do against the second place Oakleigh to secure the cup. The Thunder have been by far the dominant side this season and thoroughly deserve to have the title wrapped up with two games remaining. Oakleigh now face a nervous two weeks as they come up against sides that will be battling to finish in the top five.

Moreland Zebras 3 (Recchia 24’ 86’, Delev 32’)
Southern Stars 3 (Stirton 14’, Fitzgerald 48’, McCormack 72’)
Epping Soccer Stadium

The promoted teams fought out a fantastic 3-3 draw meaning Southern Stars are mathematically still a chance to make finals. This was Moreland's season in a nutshell as they again failed to capitalise in-front of goal and made costly mistakes at the back.

Melbourne Knights 0
Green Gully Cavaliers 0
Knights StadiumA goalless local derby was of the benefit of neither side as the Knights' small chances of making the top five were dented. Green Gully on the other hand will rue the dropped points in their chase for a double chance come season's end.

Northcote City 0
South Melbourne 1 (Burton 73')
John Cain Memorial Park

South Melbourne's miserable season might have just turned the corner with a win over arch enemy Northcote on Sunday. South now find themselves two points shy of Northcote (5th) with an arguably easier final two rounds to come.

POS		TEAM	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1		Dandenong Thunder	20	13	5	2	43	13	30	44
2		Oakleigh Cannons	20	11	4	5	33	23	10	37
3		Bentleigh Greens	20	10	4	6	35	23	12	34
4		Green Gully Cavaliers	20	10	4	6	28	22	6	34
5		Northcote City	20	8	6	6	26	28	-2	30
6		Hume City	20	8	4	8	25	23	2	28
7		South Melbourne	20	8	4	8	28	28	0	28
8		Richmond	20	6	8	6	29	28	1	26
9		Melbourne Knights	20	8	2	10	24	28	-4	26
10		Southern Stars	20	6	6	8	24	36	-12	24
11		Moreland Zebras	20	3	3	14	24	40	-16	12
12		Heidelberg United	20	2	4	14	20	47	-27	10

Goals
17 – Luke Sherbon, Dandenong Thunder
11 – Nicholas Hegarty, Hume City
9 – Nate Foster, Dandenong Thunder
8 – Tom Cahill, Richmond
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
7 – David Stirton, Southern Stars

Yellow Cards
6 – Steven Topalovic, Richmond
6 – Jonathan Voulgaris, Northcote City
6 – Kristian Konstantinidis, Northcote City
6 – Nicholas Marinos, Heidelberg United
6 – Saso Alexovski, Heidelberg United
6 – Alan Mulcahy, Southern Stars

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 Twenty-One Fixtures
Oakleigh Cannons v Northcote City, 8:30pm Friday 7 September, Jack Edwards Reserve
Richmond v Melbourne Knights, 8:30pm Friday 7 September, Kevin Bartlett ReserveGreen Gully Cavaliers v Dandenong Thunder, 3pm Saturday 8 September, Green Gully Reserve
Southern Stars v Hume City, 7pm Saturday 8 September, Kingston Heath Soccer Complex
Moreland Zebras v Heidelberg United, 3pm Sunday 9 September, Epping Soccer Stadium
South Melbourne v Bentleigh Greens, 5pm Sunday 9 September, Lakeside Stadium