Green Gully travel to Somers St to face a desperate Melbourne Knights side on Friday night, with the hosts staring down the barrel of relegation to VPL1.
After two successive scoreless draws, Green Gully’s focus will be on converting their opportunities in front of goal. Gully will still be rueing their missed chances away at Dandenong City in Round 18, after Aamir Abdallah was denied from the penalty spot by a sprawling Pierce Clark before halftime. The rebound fell kindly to the reigning FV Gold Medallist, but Abdallah was unable to direct the bouncing ball on target as Hajduk defenders converged on him.
Gully also struck the woodwork through Gianluca Iannucci, and had a credible shout for another spot kick waved away in second half stoppage time, as Jackson Lino appeared to handle the ball inside his own six-yard box.
The early return of Jacob Eliopoulos from a serious knee injury has emboldened the Gully backline, who have not conceded once since their captain stepped back onto the pitch for the first time since Round 1.
In the midst of a horror season, the Knights sit dead last, with just 10 points from 17 games, and six points from safety. The Knights have a game in hand on the rest of the competition after their R17 fixture against Oakleigh was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch, but have gone nine games without a win in the league.
If Croatia go down, it would be their first relegation from Victoria’s top flight since 1972, when the club finished 7th on points, but was disqualified from the competition due to crowd trouble. The last time the Knights were relegated on sporting merit was 1963.
New head coach John Markovski looked set for his first win in charge when Kaine Sheppard gave them the lead away at Port Melbourne with 10 minutes to play, but were left heartbroken by a 93rd-minute leveller from Aiden Brown.
The Cavaliers are winless in their last four trips to Tompsett Stadium, but defeated the Knights convincingly in their last meeting. Josh Hope, Scott Lochhead and Iannucci all netted in a sublime second half at Green Gully Reserve to seal a 3-0 victory, in a result that marked a turning point in Gully’s season.
Preston’s defeat to South Melbourne and Hume City’s draw with Altona over the weekend means a spot in the finals remains a realistic target for Gully, with the gap to Preston closing to just five points, and Hume remaining eight points ahead.
Gully will be buoyed by the return of Jalil Regague and Paul Hodges from suspension, but Lochhead will miss out after receiving his fifth yellow card of the campaign.
Kickoff is set for 7:45pm at Tompsett Stadium, with the U23s in action on Sunday at 3pm. We hope to see as many of the Gully faithful as possible make the trip to Sunshine in a game that shapes as pivotal for the destiny of both clubs!
