Soccer
LANGWARRIN made it three wins in a row with Saturday’s 2-1 home success over Manningham United Blues. The result cemented the local side’s grip of the all-important 11th position in VPL1 with the three bottom sides in the 14-team competition relegated at season’s end. But over the closing eight rounds of the season pitfalls remain with the Lawton Park lads facing three top-six sides and 10th-placed Eastern Lions who closed to within two points of Langy with Sunday’s 6-2 mauling of fellow struggler Moreland City. The outcome of the 26 July Gardiner’s Creek Reserve shootout with Lions could turn out to be a pivotal moment in Langwarrin’s season.
On Saturday Langy started brightly with shots on target from Tom Youngs and Brad Blumenthal. In the 7th minute a Tosan Popo corner from the left was headed down by Lucas Portelli and knocked in by Youngs for the opener. Four minutes later Ryo Takahashi’s overhit cross from the right fell to Youngs whose cracking first-time strike was parried at his near post by Manningham keeper Jordan Olds.
The visitors got back into the contest as Langy’s foot came off the pedal and it was no surprise when Ben Everson levelled. He has a fine scoring record against Langwarrin and in the 27th minute Portelli gave the ball away and Manningham broke quickly. Portelli failed to cut out the pass to Everson who skinned Langy defender Luke Adams then hammered a low shot across home team keeper James Burgess and into the far corner.
Adams was unlucky in the 35th minute as his header from a corner was headed off the line by Manningham and two minutes later Ayouba Kanneh got free on the left of the Langy box but Burgess effected a superb smother. Three minutes into the second half Blumenthal was on the end of a precisely weighted and directed Youngs pass as the home team broke brilliantly. Blumenthal rounded Olds and stroked the ball into the unguarded goal to make it 2-1.
In the 55th minute Burgess was lucky after being shut down and robbed by Everson whose cutback came to nothing with a fine block as the Langy defence scrambled to reform. A superb Burgess save denied Everson in the 66th minute and Burgess again was on hand to palm clear from the ensuing corner.
Manningham came close to levelling in the 83rd minute when a corner was misread by Burgess and bounced off the back post before being cleared. And the visitors’ final act of defiance came two minutes into time added but a shot from substitute Ioannis Georgopoulos was blocked as Langy fought hard to cling to all three points. “It was a difficult game against a good opponent pushing for the playoffs so we were pleased with the win,” Langwarrin gaffer Jamie Skelly said. “The mindset of the group has really strengthened in the past month while we have been focusing on a playing style that will win us games in this league.”
Meanwhile we have reached the halfway mark of the State League season and promotion remains uppermost in the minds of a handful of the 12 local community clubs we report on. Mornington (State 1 South-East), Skye United and Peninsula Strikers (State 2 South-East) and Chelsea (State 4 South) look to have the strongest chances of success this season. The major restructure of State Leagues to be implemented during the off-season impacts largely on State 4 and State 5 levels.
In State 4 the top team will be promoted, second through sixth will stay in State 4 and seventh through 10th will be relegated to State 5. The bottom two teams (11th and 12th) will face double relegation and play in State 6 next season. There is no promotion from State 5. The top two teams at that level will retain State 5 status.
Third through sixth will be relegated to State 6 and seventh through 11th (there are only 11 teams in the current State 5 South) will face double relegation and play in State 7 next season. The restructure will add State 6 and State 7 levels into the State League structure and standardise the regionalisation at each level which will consist of North-West and South-East divisions.
While Mornington has lost four games in the first half of its season it remains hot on the heels of the league leader and has genuine promotion aims. “We have put ourselves in a position to push for a top two spot but have also dropped a couple of games we shouldn’t have,” head coach Adam Jamieson said. “Of the ones we’ve lost we have created enough chances in three of those four games but we just need to take them.” Jamieson remains on the lookout to strengthen his squad but has no new players to name as we went to press.
Skye United is the surprise packet of State 2. Under-resourced against some big-spending rivals Skye has done remarkably well to undergo a successful squad makeover while remaining ultra competitive. Strikers are fifth but within striking distance of the top two and most observers would view the quality of Scott Morrison’s squad as good enough to earn promotion.
“We have played some excellent football, we’ve not been outplayed by anyone,” Morrison said. “The points we’ve dropped have been through faults of our own and in every game we’ve created enough to win. “We just can’t take our chances and we seem to get punished for every little mistake. “My belief in this squad is still through the roof because I see firsthand all the time how good they can be and I’m confident we can achieve what we want to. “I know the boys are primed to hit the second half of the year very hard and there’s not one of them who isn’t hungrier than ever to succeed.”
Gus Macleod’s Chelsea is a point behind State 4 South leader Endeavour United and with top scorer James Stinson on track to earn back-to-back league Golden Boot awards must surely be in with a strong chance of playing in State 3 South-East next year. “We’re sitting in a good position at the moment,” Macleod said.
“We’ve yet to play Endeavour and Springvale City (fourth) at home and they are two of the bigger spending clubs who are desperate to get promoted.” “The attitude of our players has been excellent and Stinson keeps scoring. “I’m trying to bring another striker in to help him in the second half of the season but it’s not that easy.”
NEXT WEEKEND
Friday, 20 June, 8.30pm
Skye Utd v Berwick City, Skye Recreation Reserve
Springvale City v Somerville Eagles, Ross Reserve
Saturday, 21 June, 3pm
Langwarrin v Bentleigh Greens, Lawton Park
Mornington v Gippsland Utd, Dallas Brooks Park
St Kilda v Peninsula Strikers, Elwood Park
Frankston Pines v Rosebud, Monterey Reserve
Baxter v Monash University, Baxter Park
Mount Martha v Seaford Utd, Civic Reserve
Bunyip District v Mount Eliza, Bunyip Recreation Reserve
Saturday, 21 June, 5pm
Mentone v Chelsea, Mentone Grammar Playing Fields
Aspendale BYE
