Local derbies set season alight

SOCCER

THREE local derbies highlight this weekend’s kick-off to the 2025 State League season.
Chelsea and Mentone go head-to-head on Friday night, Seaford United and Mount Martha clash on Saturday afternoon and Rosebud hosts Frankston Pines in a Saturday evening showdown at Olympic Park.

Get used to derbies stealing the limelight in State 4 South where six local clubs are in the same league, unprecedented in the modern era. To add even more interest to these games local clubs in State 4 and State 5 are fighting tooth and nail to maintain their league status given the major restructure Football Victoria is implementing next year in a bid to standardise the entire State League set-up.

When the 2026 league season rolls around there will be seven State League levels regionalised into South-East and North-West divisions. Finish on top in State 4 and State 5 and you win promotion but to maintain your status in both leagues clubs must finish in second to sixth spots. Clubs finishing seventh to 10th are relegated and finishing 11th or 12th means you drop down two divisions from State 4 to the new State 6 and from State 5 to the new State 7. Good luck avoiding that nightmare scenario.

In VPL1 news head coach Jamie Skelly remains confident that Langwarrin can turn around its poor start to the season despite losing 2-0 away to league leader Bentleigh Greens on Friday night.
It took until the 65th minute for the home side to break through courtesy of veteran Leigh Broxham and in the 80th minute Chris Droutsas put the contest out of Langy’s reach.
“We need to continue to stay positive and trust that the situation will turn around if we continue to keep playing the way we are,” Skelly said.
“We went head-to-head with the best team in the league and for long periods were the better team.
“Our inability to convert our chances in key moments has meant we haven’t got the results we have deserved but we are all extremely confident that it will turn around if we keep working hard.”

In other news Thursday’s friendly between Rosebud and Peninsula Strikers at Olympic Park was abandoned after Rosebud striker Ethan Sanderson was injured. Sanderson suffered a badly broken collarbone in August 2023 that required corrective surgery and sidelined him for a year. He broke that same collarbone on Thursday with Rosebud leading 1-0 thanks to a fine Connor Wharton finish.
Rosebud has set up a gofundme account to support Sanderson and details can be found on the club’s facebook page.

The third preliminary round of the Australia Cup was held last weekend and just two local clubs remain in the national competition.

Mornington won its way into the next round while Langwarrin’s league status now brings it into the knockout tournament at this stage.

Australia Cup third preliminary round results:
Old Ivanhoe 4 Aspendale 4 (Pablo Borboa, Jared Kilmartin, Ryan Mravljak, Lewis Marco) AET. Old Ivanhoe won 4-1 on penalties; Mornington 4 (Max Civil 2, Will Giddings 2) Northcote 2; Lalor Utd 5 Skye Utd 1 (Ben Lund).

Friendly results:
St Kilda 0 Mornington 3 (Dylan Thomas, Jacob Brito, Keiran Dover); Peninsula Strikers reserves 1 (Josh Costa) Mount Eliza 0; Chelsea 1 (Christian Murray) Sandringham 0; Rosebud 1 (Connor Wharton) Peninsula Strikers 0 (abandoned after 35 minutes due to player injury); Frankston Pines 3 (Nick Chand, Ali Mujtaba) Casey Comets reserves 0; Baxter 1 (Logan Wilson) Seaford Utd 0.

Here are the senior squads of local clubs with the last registered club of new players in brackets after their name:
ASPENDALE
GOALKEEPERS: Tom Carter, Mathew Self. DEFENDERS: Jordy Athanassiou, Lewis Marco, Mathew Leggett (captain), Callum Norris, Charlie Barclay, Ollie Clark, Liam Norris. MIDFIELDERS: Felix Hampson, James Macnab, Blake Rosenberg, Samuel Timuska-Carr, Harry Salisbury (Chelsea) Nathan Drozdek, Pablo Borboa, Samuel Curtis. FORWARDS: Jared Kilmartin, Ben Garside, Kailan Smith, Ryan Mravljak, Alec Bunn, James Pilcher (Brighton), Dean Mamos.

BAXTER
GOALKEEPERS: Hugo Paulsen (Frankston Pines). DEFENDERS: Aiden McKenna, Duncan McPherson, Daniel Jones (Skye Utd), Ali-Zamer Noor (Skye Utd), Aaron Credlin (Knox Utd), Cameron Leopold (Skye Utd), Logan Wilson, Jackson Roberts. MIDFIELDERS: Brody Taylor, Niko Juric, Declan Seca, Davide Sbalchiero, Jack Bradbury (Frankston Pines), Charlie O’Connell (Bayside Argonauts), Robbie O’Toole. FORWARDS: Daniel Bancroft (Mount Martha), Alex Giordano (Casey Comets), Morteza Hashemi (Springvale White Eagles), Hassan Nazari (Frankston Pines).

CHELSEA
Goalkeepers: Luke Wright, Rhys Davies. Defenders: Marcelo Burgos (Frankston Pines), Adam Dunsford (Bayside Argonauts), Alex Namar (Nunawading City), Nathan Gondelle (Elwood City), Luca Fidanza (Glen Eira), Tom Flavelle, Nathan Boccari, Luke D’Allesandro, Liam Pavlov, Jake Ross. Midfielders: Dylan Scott, Ryan Scott, Daniel Lewis, Lachie Davies, Adam Bartosy, Lucas Ryan (Glen Eira) , Yodishtra Jagatheson (Mount Eliza), Matthew O’Neil (Springvale White Eagles), Liam Burford (Hampton East Brighton). Forwards: Matteo Barba (Bentleigh Greens), Daniel Vella, Christian Murray, James Stinson.

FRANKSTON PINES
GOALKEEPERS: Alfonso Cardinale, Caleb Parr. DEFENDERS: Nikesh Singh, Baqir Rahimi (Greater Dandenong), Hamed Merzaee (ex-Richmond), Anish Bittu (Knox Utd), Shivneel Krish Pillay, Hayayyaan Arsalaan Khan (Bentleigh Greens). MIDFIELDERS: Ali Mojtaba (Greater Dandenong), Arbaaz Hafiz (Centenary Stormers, QLD), Mujtabba Mohammadi (Richmond), Omid Mirzaie (Football Development Australia Academy, NSW), Jack Maguire (Peninsula Strikers), Nick Chand (Mount Eliza), Amish Chandra (Mount Eliza), Aloysio Ferreira Neto (Morwell Pegasus), Patrick Finnegan (Noble Park Utd). FORWARDS: Davey Jones (Mount Martha), Anish Khem (Mount Eliza), Jai Narayan (Knox Utd).

LANGWARRIN
GOALKEEPERS: James Burgess, Branten Kindler. DEFENDERS: Ryo Takahashi, Luke Goulding, Kameel Khan, Charlie Fry, Lucas Portelli, Jeremy Min Fa, Luke Adams, Andrew Mullett (Nunawading City). MIDFIELDERS: Mark Deacon (from U23s), Dante Avian, Kosta Apostolopoulos (Kingston City), Muhamed Huseinovski (Bentleigh Greens), Tosan Popo (Nunawading City), Rogan McGeorge, Cal Goulding, Barath Suresh, Arjuna Surya-Peddell (from U23s). FORWARDS: Brad Blumenthal, Archie Macphee, Tom Youngs, Cooper Legrand (Kingston City).

MORNINGTON
GOALKEEPERS: Kane Runge, Guido Guerrieri (Heidelberg Eagles), Jarrod Nardino (Baxter). DEFENDERS: James Clark, Ziggy Razuki (captain), Ryan Paczkowski, Kameel Khan (Langwarrin), Jack McDonald (Bentleigh Greens), Jack Geddes (Langwarrin), Aaron Hagland, Nelson Powell (Langwarrin). MIDFIELDERS: Jay Davies (Bentleigh Greens), Liron Azizi (Mazenod), Rhys Craigie, Shaun Kenny, Jacob Brito (Langwarrin), Kyle Johnson. FORWARDS: Tom Wood (Peninsula Strikers), Halil Reki, Dylan Thomas (Doveton), Max Civil, James Kelly (Langwarrin), Keiran Dover (Bentleigh Greens).

MOUNT ELIZA
GOALKEEPERS: Luke Armao, Jake Hill. DEFENDERS: Cooper Tossavainen, Callum Drysdale, Riley Van Zanden, Darcy Purcell (Peninsula Strikers), Marley Shachar. MIDFIELDERS: Fraser Keon, Lachie Mitchell, Trevor Smith, Callum Gray. FORWARDS: Jackson Tossavainen, Ray Amiri, Austin McEwen, Harris Battison.

MOUNT MARTHA
GOALKEEPERS: Dez Elliott, Dylan Elliott. DEFENDERS: Conner Gibbs, Jacob Platt, Adam Steele, Howie Anderson (Somerville Eagles), Heath Salter (Casey Comets), Finn Vemis, Charley Hunt ( Seaford United). MIDFIELDERS: Josh McMillan, Daniel Bennet (Casey Comets), Tom Brewster (Mornington), Tom Oswell, Cooper Whitehead, Zac Foad. FORWARDS: Jayden Taberner, Mitch Hawkins (Seaford Utd), Seth Bakos Sims (Peninsula Strikers), Lenny Tate, Marcus Poda.

PENINSULA STRIKERS
GOALKEEPERS: Faraz Zenoozi, Ben Caballero. DEFENDERS: Stevie Elliott, Jaiden Madafferi, Jordy May (promoted), Dave Petty, Kyron Kerr, Jamie Davidson, Cody Storton French (promoted). MIDFIELDERS: Wayne Gordon, Danny Brooks (Mornington), Matt Harrington (Reigate Priory FC, England), Kyle Eichenberger, (Langwarrin), Ethan Goulding, Alex Whyte, Jacob Pay. FORWARDS: Riley Anderton, Jai Power, Noah Musso, Cooper Andrews, Sammy Maggs (Berwick City), Campbell Steedman, Josh Botha.

ROSEBUD
GOALKEEPERS: Colin McCormack, Enzo Rosenblum (Peninsula Strikers). DEFENDERS: Stef Papaluca, Jack Wyer, Lewis Pendleton (City Of Liverpool, England), Louis Bisogni, Billy Painting, Ethan Hunt. MIDFIELDERS: Barney Johnson, Ben Symonds, Sebastian Siegl (Mount Martha), Sam Ruddy (Mount Martha), Mark O’Connor (Skye Utd). FORWARDS: Sean Smith (Doveton), Ethan Sanderson (Mount Martha), Connor Wharton (Mornington), Kori Weetch (Akimos FC, WA), Ashton McMahon (Thornton Redbacks, NSW), Cal Hughes (Peninsula Strikers), Alfie Harris (Peninsula Strikers).

SEAFORD UTD
GOALKEEPERS: Hayden Hicks, Bayleigh Caulfield, Desitney Kweyama (Knox Churches). DEFENDERS: Tristen Stass (Baxter), Sean Crespo (Casey Panthers), Mayom Athiu (Casey Panthers), Shubhdeep Sandhu (Peninsula Strikers), Callum Norton, Anthony Acampora (Melton Phoenix), Adam Martin (Somerville Eagles), Jonas Harrasser, Rosh Livera, Zach Johnstone. MIDFIELDERS: Cory Osorio, Anthony Kipchirchir (Rowville Eagles), Backy Barakzoi, Conor Mcfall (Somerville Eagles), Matthew Cobb, Matthew Davis (White Star Dandenong), Luke Murray, Khalil Bahrami, Wise Barakzoi, Marcus Haringcaspel. FORWARDS: Blake Hicks, Abraham Leuth, Andrew Mazzone (Westside FC, Canada), Zain Ahmad (Casey Panthers), Dylan Waugh (Frankston Pines), Naseer Mohammad, Keegan Bell, Logan Johnston, Brahian Valdez, Mitch Lander, Nazif Mohammad.

SKYE UTD
GOALKEEPERS: Steven Hadjikakou, Travis Mitchell, Jonathan Crook. DEFENDERS: Emmanuel Scarlett, Jason Nowakowski (Endeavour Utd), Arash Sadeghi, Paul Aitchison (Seaford), Nic Millar. MIDFIELDERS: Benjamin Lund, Ali Hazarah (White Star Dandenong), Nhan Than, Solomon Scarlett (Phillip Island). FORWARDS: Daniel Attard, Mitch Blake, Elliot Craig (Mornington), Tapiwa Kufakurowa (Hampton East Brighton), Shameit Sharma (Frankston Pines), Varmah Mgoneh (Knox City).

SOMERVILLE EAGLES
GOALKEEPERS: Nick Bucello, Nathan Brown (Casey Comets). DEFENDERS: Tom Hennessy, Thomas Pollock, Jack Gorbert (Graham Street Prims, England) Joel Wade, Ben Schmidt, Jake Meggs, Corey Riddle, Alexander Hall (Mount Martha). MIDFIELDERS: Josh Simmons, Nick Simmons (Captain), Eli Masterson, Connor Phillips. FORWARDS: Marcus Anastasiou, Max Watson (promoted), Joe Simmons, Alessio Izzo, Guil Ribeiro.

NEXT WEEKEND’S GAMES

Friday 21 March, 7.30pm
Northcote City v Langwarrin, John Cain Memorial Reserve
Friday 21 March, 8.30pm
Chelsea v Mentone, Edithvale Recreation Reserve

Saturday 22 March, 3pm
Gippsland Utd v Mornington, Baxter Park (Warragul)
Peninsula Strikers v St Kilda, Centenary Park
Berwick City v Skye Utd, Jack Thomas Reserve
Somerville Eagles v Springvale City, Westernport Secondary College
Monash University v Baxter, Monash University Playing Fields
Seaford Utd v Mount Martha, North Seaford Reserve
Mount Eliza v Bunyip District, Emil Madsen Reserve
Barton Utd v Aspendale, Barton Recreation Reserve

Saturday 22 March, 6pm
Rosebud v Frankston Pines, Olympic Park