Photo: Graeme Furlong/Graphic: Wayne Unwin
A warm congratulations to both Heidelberg United’s Les Doumbalis (fan-voted) and Oakleigh Cannons’ Adrian Chiappetta (media-voted) who took out TCF’s Player of the Month honours. The final three months of the season were a defenders dream as the pair combined for a total of two goals conceded and a whopping four clean sheets from six fixtures.
***
Fan Voted: Les Doumbalis (Heidelberg United)
It’s a second Player of the Month honour for Heidelberg after Kenny Athiu claimed the second gong for the month of April. Doumbalis often goes flying under the radar for Heidelberg’s solid defensive showings, but there’s a reason he is currently leading the appearance tally at Olympic Village amongst the current crop with well over 100 league appearances. Notably he kept his side of defence tidy against Bentleigh Greens away, also holding his own against a competent Oakleigh side – that’s two clean sheets against two Semi-Finalists – and then he got on the scoresheet against Victory with a great solo effort. Finishes the month with 35.55% of the total monthly vote, with Richmond’s Bryan Bran a distant second with 21.88%
Media Voted: Adrian Chiappetta
A couple of other names were bandied around in the selection of the media-voted Player of the Month but in the end, we collectively agreed on Oakleigh’s commanding centre-half, who’s had a brilliant final month of the season. After a horrendous run of injuries, this will act as vindication for Chiappetta, who is slowly reaching his peak form as he gets a regular run of games, where under his watch, Oakleigh have conceded just the one goal from their final three rounds. Chiappetta held Gully well despite a 1-0 loss, before putting together a great performance against Heidelberg to nullify debutant Archie Thompson’s impact on the tie and keep a clean sheet. He also played his part against the dangerous Braedyn Crowley-led Northcote City on the final day to consign Northcote to relegation.