SOCCER JAMIE Skelly is the new senior coach of Langwarrin. The local NPL2 club made the announcement late last week on its facebook page. Skelly replaces Scott Miller who resigned last month. Skelly is a former Langwarrin junior, reserves coach and senior assistant to both Miller and his predecessor Gus Macleod and has held senior coaching positions with Peninsula Strikers, Casey Comets and Noble Park United. His appointment came as no surprise after David Chick accepted the Bentleigh Greens role and Langy decided to honour the succession plan put in place five years earlier when Skelly became Miller’s assistant. “We…
Author: Craig MacKenzie
SOCCER BAXTER has reached a fork in the road and its future direction could decide whether head coach Stephen Fisher remains at the State 4 club. Preliminary talks between club and coach took place last week and got off to a positive start. “If we had won promotion under the current set-up it would have been like going into a gunfight with a knife,” Fisher said. “There wouldn’t have been a happy outcome and we would have been fighting relegation throughout the State 3 season.” That’s a reference to the absence of a playing budget. Simply stated Baxter has to…
SOCCER FRANKSTON Pines remain hopeful of escaping relegation from State 2 South-East despite finishing second bottom after last weekend’s final league round. Goals from Tom Hawkins and Joe O’Connor weren’t enough to overcome second-placed Brandon Park and Pines had to settle for a 2-2 draw at Freeway Reserve on Saturday. The 2023 rules of competition make grim reading for Pines but all promotion and relegation is at the discretion of Football Victoria and a number of scenarios are yet to be played out. “No-one really knows what lies ahead,” Pines head coach Kevin “Squizzy” Taylor said. Rumours abound of a…
SOCCER SCOTT Miller won’t coach Langwarrin next season. The Lawton Park club made the announcement last week after scheduled talks between Miller, president Tanya Wallace and main sponsor Greg Kilner due to be held at the end of the season were brought forward. Miller’s last match as head coach was Saturday’s 2-1 home win over Brunswick Juventus a result that confirmed the visitors’ relegation. Goals from Brad Blumenthal and Tom Youngs sealed Juve’s fate but its cause wasn’t helped by the straight red brandished at Mathew Whatley in the opening seconds of the second half. Miller’s first match at the…
SOCCER MENTONE has secured promotion from State 5 South after Saturday’s 1-0 home win over Mount Martha. Jason Grieve’s men have locked-in a second-placed finish with two rounds to go due to upcoming byes for Rosebud and Seaford. A bullet header from Marcus Spivey in the 7th minute clinched the win last weekend. Grieve believes that player depth was pivotal to the senior team’s success. “When we’ve had players missing we’ve been able to move players to different positions and call on players from our reserves who have more than held their own,” Grieve said. “I put that down to…