A five-star performance from Northcote City lifted them off the bottom of the NPL Victoria ladder. In celebration, we have dished out the Team of the Week love, with no less than five players making the cut for this week’s edition. See who made the cut along with all the other players in the Round 16 NPL Victoria Team of the Week.
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GK: Chris Oldfield (Hume City)
Outstanding in the draw with Bentleigh Greens, Hume’s English custodian was on form to deny his opponent on a number of occasions. He was near impenetrable on the night despite conceding to a Matt Thurtell flick-on early in the piece and was sublime in the first half in particular, where he made upwards of seven first-class saves.
RCB: Michalis Karvouniaris (Northcote City)
The Northcote City centre back was crucial to both his side’s third clean sheet and win of the season. While a certain teammate will get most of the plaudits for his individual performance, the defensive stability the Greek defender offered shouldn’t be undersold.
CB: Adam Nakic (Pascoe Vale)
Tasked with keeping a potent Heidelberg United forward line quiet on Friday night, the younger of the Nakic brothers was an important figure in defence and was central to keeping all the usual suspects for the Bergers off the scoresheet. Held things together when the pressure mounted in the second half.
LCB: Michael Eagar (South Melbourne)
Was a solid performer for South Melbounre, making a number of crucial interceptions as well as providing the assist for substitute Leigh Minopoulos to tap home a second half sealer. A welcome return to form for South’s captain fantastic.
RM: Anthony Ramzy (Northcote City)
Ramzy has offered plenty since re-establishing himself in the starting line-up of Goran Lozanovski’s Northcote City, and he was electric once again, supplying two good assists for Braedyn Crowley in the mammoth 5-0 win over Melbourne Knights.
CM: Matthew Foschini (South Melbourne)
Complimented well by the hard working Steve Hatzikostas, Foschini did as he always does and played a smart, composed game of football, on hand to help break down the counter attacks of a pacy Port Melbourne side as well as recycle possession forward to the more creative players in good areas.
AM: Marino Gasparis (Pascoe Vale)
Netted a brace in a brilliant solo performance to defeat Heidelberg United on Friday night. Took his opportunities well – including a wide free-kick that evaded everyone – and has looked right at home since his move back into the NPL from the State Leagues.
AM: Josh Baressi (Bulleen Lions)
Playing as a number 10, Josh Baressi was Bulleen’s standout outfield player on Monday night, netting once and providing plenty of attacking intent between the lines. His goal came via a textbook glancing header, while his only downfall was seeing his penalty saved in the dying embers of the contest.
LM: Christian Cavallo (Bulleen Lions)
Given licence to roam forward for his new club, Christian Cavallo excelled in midfield against former outfit Melbourne Victory. Looked dangerous on the break and hit the post in the second half while providing the assist for Ersin Kaya’s goal. Did most of his best work down the right wing, but played on both flanks at times throughout the game.
ST: Braedyn Crowley (Northcote City)
Was it one? No. Was it two? No. Was it five? Yes, and Crowley certainly made it look easy with one of the more outstanding individual performances of the NPL Victoria season. He was deftly clinical, putting away chance after chance against a sub-par Knights outfit. The former Newcastle Jets forward showed his A-League class in this fixture.
ST: Liam Boland (Green Gully)
The Gully forward strung together another bright performance in a narrow 3-2 in over Avondale, with Boland directly involved in all three goals for his side.He netted twice and provided an assist for Kliment Taseki in an all-round performance.
Bench:
Griffin McMaster (Bulleen Lions)
The third Lion to make the Team of the Week, McMaster had a fantastic game in goals, and were it not for Chris Oldfield’s Herculean performance between the sticks, he’d have been in the starting XI. Other notable keeping performances this week came from Wyatt Chant (Melbourne Victory), Rani Dowisha (Green Gully) and debutant Anthony Bouzanis (Northcote City)
Ross Archibald (Bentleigh Greens)
Did his best to limit Hume’s threat in the forward third and did it quite well, despite being out-bodied for Hume’s only goal of the contest. Put together a composed game of football and played out well from the back.
Davey van ‘t Schip (Pascoe Vale)
A tidy performance with the ball at feet, van ‘t Schip looked dangerous going forward and produced a neat bit of skill in the build up to Gasparis’ second goal, which he claimed the assist for.
Craig Carley (Hume City)
The mid-season recruit from Goulburn Valley Suns looked busy in the forward line for Hume and showed his strength and composure in scoring an equalising goal at Kingston Heath in the 1-1 draw against Bentleigh.
Zachary Drake (Northcote City)
While both fullback’s were strong performers for Northcote City, we’ve given the new boy Drake a debut berth in the Team of the Week for his exploits at left-back. Like Marcus Duncan, both fullbacks kept things tidy and contributed in the forward third.
Borbor Sam (Northcote City)
Looked dangerous on the left flank all afternoon and provided an assist for Crowley as well as winning a penalty, which Jonathan Bounas was unable to convert.
Milos Lujic (South Melbourne)
Despite netting just the penalty in the 2-0 win over Port Melbourne, Milos Lujic led the line well and could’ve had a few more goals were it not for some wayward finishing and good keeping from Luke Gavalas.