SOCCER PENINSULA Strikers and Football Victoria are at loggerheads over the decision to play a catch-up game against Mooroolbark at Jack Thomas Reserve in Berwick on Tuesday night. Strikers’ recent match with the Barkers at Centenary Park had to be abandoned after Max Civil of Strikers suffered a badly broken leg late in the first half with the visitors leading 1-0. The loser of Tuesday’s clash will be relegated from State 2 South-East. A draw will be enough to keep Strikers from the drop but it goes into this season-defining battle without Matt Harrington and without both goalkeepers so as…
Author: Craig MacKenzie
SOCCER BAXTER and Rosebud go head to head on Saturday in a local derby that seems certain to relegate the loser. With the bottom two sides in State 4 being relegated Rosebud and Baxter are just a point ahead of second-bottom Monash University. Monash has been resurgent in recent weeks having only lost twice in their last five matches with both losses coming against the league’s top two teams. And while Baxter and Rosebud go toe-to-toe on Saturday Monash is away to already relegated Greater Dandenong and goes into that clash an odds-on favourite. Ashburton is also in the relegation…
SOCCER ASPENDALE is on the verge of clinching promotion from State 7 South-East. Last season Aspendale finished third-last in State 5 but under the promotion and relegation rules in force due to a league restructure it dropped down two divisions to the newly created State 7. It was a bitter pill to swallow but under new coach Jason Grieve it has rebounded in style and has a three-point buffer over fourth-placed Keysborough District with two games remaining. The top three clubs are promoted with the fourth-placed club thrust into a promotion play-off with its State 7 North-West counterpart. Aspendale has…
SOCCER FOOTBALL Victoria dumped Western United from all FV competitions last week effective immediately. The move followed the Federal Court’s decision to order WMG Football Club Limited to be wound up in insolvency. WMG held the franchise for Western United’s A-League participation and was the entity through which it competed in FV competitions. The decision has important consequences for local clubs especially through its impact on promotion and relegation in VPL1 the league in which Langwarrin competes. There will be a flow-on effect of Western United’s demise throughout the State Leagues where most local clubs compete. In a statement released…
SOCCER FOUR games remain for Mornington to cling onto second spot in State 1 South-East and earn a play-off with its State 1 North-West counterpart for the right to play in VPL2 next season. It has been a decades-long saga for the Seagulls as the road to compete at an elite level has proven to be a heartbreaking journey. Mornington’s first tilt at promotion from State 1 came in 2014 when the Seagulls finished second to Eastern Lions and only the champions were promoted. For the next two seasons the then NPL became a closed shop with no promotion or…