VPL Round 14 Team of the Week

The deluge on friday night led to the cancellation of two fixtures, Richmond vs Dandenong and Oakleigh vs Green Gully and therefore their players will not feature in this week’s TOTW.

Pascoe Vale vs Port Melbourne did manage to survive the rain, and it was the visitors who yet again managed to win away from home. Evenly matched for most of the contest, Daniel Visevic’s cracking strike proved to be the difference in a 3-2 triumph for the sharks.

Northcote succumbing to their first loss of the season may have come as a surprise to some, but when you look at their recent run of poor form and the Knights’ brick-wall defensive performances over the last month, it makes sense. Andrew Barisic came off the bench to slot home the only goal of the game, which was the first time City had not scored in a match since September last year.

Hume punished the lowly Southern Stars 4-0 thanks to a delightful display from Nick Hegarty. Despite the margin, the Stars appear to be improving and the additions of import players like Cristian Cristea will make them a tricky opponent as South Melbourne found out last week.

On the topic of South Melbourne, they continue to disappoint. A goal up inside two minutes but it all went downhill from there. They finished the game with nine men and four goals against them after Peter Gavalas and Iqi Jawadi were sent off, allowing Bentleigh to return to winning ways.

Probably deserved a clean sheet on his goalkeeping performances alone in recent weeks, Oldfield finally managed to preserve and unblemished scoresheet this week against the Stars.

Northcote’s young but all-important defender stood tall at the back before a nasty blow to the head left the Melbourne Heart Youth player with a broken nose requiring surgery.

Turning goalscoring into a habit after bagging two in two games against Gully and Southern Stars, also helped his side to a clean sheet after recent frailties at the back.

His experience at the back has been a key part of the Knights’ stubborn defence in recent weeks and kept Northcote to their first scoreless match this season.

After joining from Bulleen, the full back has settled in well. On the books at Rangers and representing Scotland at under-16 level, McLachlan was a sound contributor in a complete performance from the Knights who handed Northcote its first loss.

Hegarty demonstrated why he is one of the stars of the VPL with a dominant display. A well-placed penalty, a thumping effort into the top corner and a cross for Steven Pace’s goal were the highlights of his midfield masterclass.

Features again this week after a another good game. He shows why he captains the Greens, bossing the midfield and protecting his back four.

The man who stood out against Melbourne Victory excelled in the middle of the park against South and added a long range strike to his personal highlights reel.

Santilli had a good game; adding a goal and an assist in soggy conditions but couldn’t get Pascoe Vale over the line against the Port Melbourne raiding party.

The Hume forward created a goal and would have a few more assists to his name if not for his teammates spurning the chances he created for them.

James McGarry (Melbourne Knights)
Constant thorn in the side of Northcote, he was the main man when the Knights had possession. Linked up with partner in crime McLachlan quite well.

Bentleigh finally seemed to click following a disappointing month of results but only after South went down to ten men. De Vries won a penalty and added the Greens’ third goal which completely killed off the contest.

Milan Batur (Melbourne Knights)
Laid on the winner for Barisic with a superb cross.

Setup a goal for the Sharks and was sprightly against Pascoe Vale.

Could have had a double early on in the game, but was integral in build up play for the Vale nonetheless.

Former Dandenong youngster Barnes was near the thick of the action for most of the game and setup Josh Knight’s goal.