The Victorian Premier League home and away season is officially at a close after another fantastic round of football finished off a spectacular year. Northcote City, so dominant from the outset clinched the title they deserved, whilst South Melbourne and Melbourne Knights finally got themselves back to the top of the tree.
Green Gully have done what Green Gully do best (make the finals) and Bentleigh Greens, favourites for so many preseason have got themselves into a position to have a shot. Port Melbourne will have mixed emotions after a great debut season saw them fall just short of a finals berth.
Elimination final for South Melbourne and Green Gully. Credit: Cindy Nitsos.
Southern Stars –
Bentleigh Greens –
Kingston Heath Soccer Complex
Bentleigh Greens forfeited their match against Southern Stars after their match-fixing saga mid-week. The game would end in a “no result” regardless of what occurred, therefore Bentleigh have given themselves a weeks rest before matching up against Melbourne Knights in Week 1 of the VPL finals.
Pascoe Vale finished off their debut VPL season on a high with a 4-1 thrashing of lowly Richmond.
Both of these sides will be glad the season is over after struggling throughout.
Green Gully 3 (Downes 21’ Sanders 46’ Hayne 88’)
Dandenong Thunder 1 (Walker 70’)
Green Gully Reserve
Green Gully have managed to get through to their 13th finals series in a row with a win at home over last seasons champions Dandenong.
The Cavaliers were in cruise control for the most of the game until the Thunder hit back making for a testy last 20 minutes. forever the saviour, Jayson Hayne scored with minutes remaining to send Gully into an elimination clash against South Melbourne at Lakeside Stadium next Sunday.
Northcote City 4 (Lujic 32’ 37’ Kalifatidis 79’ Obradovic 89’)
Hume City 2 (Bonne 64’ Pace 71’)
John Cain Memorial Park
Northcote City were confirmed as the minor premiers on Sunday, after beating Hume City 4-2 at home.
The runaway leaders early in the season faltered just passed the mid-way part of the season but had enough runs on the board to ensure that they won the league by seven points.
A week off is on the cards for Northcote as they await the winner of the Qualifying final between the Knights and the Greens.
Port Melbourne 0
South Melbourne 4 (Holmes 16’ Rixon 70’ 84’ Norton 90’)
SS Anderson Reserve
Port Melbourne and South Melbourne had their fate in their own hands heading into this contest, with the outcome simple – whoever won would compete in the 2013 VPL finals series.
Tyson Holmes gave the hosts the halftime lead and after Lambros Honos was sent off during the second half, it would be a long road back for the hosts.
Two quick goals to Trent Rixon and a late sealer to Brad Norton meant South would finish fourth and earn a home final, while Port Melbourne would have to wait another season for their chance.
South Melbourne host Green Gully at Lakeside on Sunday afternoon in an elimination final.
Melbourne Knights suffered their first loss since Round 18 at the hands of Oakleigh Cannons.
With second place confirmed, Knights were off to an extremely slow start, conceding within two minutes and then never looking likely to take control of the contest.
Dusan Bosnjak was the hero for the visitors, scoring a second half hat-trick to give the visiting fans something to cheer about in their disappointing season.
Adam Zilic and Ben Surey scored late consolations for the hosts, who will be looking to lift their game before next weeks final.
They play Bentleigh Greens on Sunday at Knights Stadium in the Qualifying final with the winner to face Northcote.
FINAL VICTORIAN PREMIER LEAGUE 2013 LADDER
POS
TEAM
P
W
D
L
F
A
GD
PTS
1
Northcote City
22
13
7
2
50
18
32
44
2
Melbourne Knights
22
11
6
5
31
26
5
37
3
Bentleigh Greens
21
9
8
4
39
24
15
34
4
South Melbourne
22
9
6
7
40
33
7
31
5
Green Gully Cavaliers
22
9
6
7
32
28
4
31
6
Port Melbourne Sharks
22
9
5
8
24
28
-4
30
7
Dandenong Thunder
22
8
4
10
28
30
-2
23
8
Oakleigh Cannons
22
7
4
11
33
37
-4
23
9
Hume City
22
7
4
11
26
46
-20
23
10
Pascoe Vale
22
4
8
10
21
30
-9
18
11
Richmond
22
2
7
13
24
48
-24
11
12
Southern Stars
21
0
21
0
0
0
0
0
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