Friday, 13 August 2010 9:32 AM
By John Kyrou
South Melbourne FC travels to Knights Stadium to play Sunshine George Cross in the final round of the 2010 Victorian Premier League this Sunday afternoon. Three points is vital to both sides for contrasting reasons, with South needing a win to give itself hope of finishing in the top five and Sunshine needing a win to try and avoid relegation.
South goes into the match in winning form, having recorded an excellent 0-1 victory away to the Oakleigh Cannons last Friday. South is now unbeaten in four matches and will travel to Knights Stadium with confidence. Awaiting them will be a Sunshine side that have also recorded excellent results in recent weeks. George Cross came from behind to defeat Oakleigh two weeks ago, before taking the lead away to Dandenong Thunder last weekend and leaving George Andrews Reserve with a draw. Despite these results, the Georgies currently sit in the bottom two and need to rely on a positive result against South and Bentleigh dropping points at home to Richmond in order to stay up.
The last time the two sides met, South played some beautiful football on the way to a hard-fought 3-1 win against George Cross at John Cain Memorial Park. If Vaughan Coveny’s side can produce the same performance on the weekend then the three points could very well be for the away team, however this will be easier said than done with the Georgies’ survival in the VPL on the line on Sunday afternoon. Ironically, the two sides also met in the last round last season, with Fernando De Moraes’ cheeky goal giving South the three points it needed to confirm a finals appearance. South will be hoping for a similar situation come the final whistle on Sunday.
With all matches in the League kicking off at 3pm on Sunday afternoon, there is no doubt that all fans will be keenly checking the scores from around the state in the hope that everything falls into place for their team. For the South and Georgies players the instructions from their coaches will be simply to win the match at Knights Stadium before worrying about other results that could affect their 2010 seasons.
Round 22 matches, all games to kick off at 3pm on Sunday afternoon:
Dandenong Thunder v Heidelberg United (SS Anderson Reserve)
Green Gully v Melbourne Knights (Green Gully Reserve)
Northcote City v Hume City (John Cain Memorial Park)
Bentleigh Greens v Richmond Eagles (Kingston Heath Soccer Complex)
Oakleigh Cannons v Altona Magic (Jack Edwards Reserve)
Sunshine George Cross v South Melbourne FC (Knights Stadium)
* Please note that the round 19 catch-up match between Dandenong Thunder and Northcote City is set to be played next week