SOCCER

SEVEN out of 14 local clubs remain in the 2024 Australia Cup after last weekend’s second preliminary round.

The early stages of the prestigious national competition are regionalised along federation jurisdictions with Victoria using the Dockerty Cup name for its knockout rounds until A-League clubs enter the fray.

Mornington, Peninsula Strikers and Skye United enter the knockout tournament at the next stage joining the survivors from round two – Frankston Pines, Chelsea and Mount Eliza.

Langwarrin enters the Cup at the fourth round stage.

In last weekend’s Cup action Pines came back from a two-goal deficit to overhaul Diamond Valley 3-2 thanks to an Ardi Ahmeti hat-trick, teenager Tully Baker scored the winner in Mount Eliza’s 3-2 victory over Kings Domain while Chelsea had a comfortable 3-1 win over Heidelberg Eagles.

Here are last weekend’s Dockerty Cup results:

Chelsea 3 (James Stinson, Luke D’Alessandro, Nathan Boccari) Heidelberg Eagles 1; Somerville Eagles 3 (Josh Simmons, Conor Mcfall, Marcus Anastasiou) Waverley Wanderers 6; Baxter 1 (Sava Baledrokadroka) Point Cook 4; Diamond Valley 2 Frankston Pines 3 (Ardi Ahmeti 3); Kings Domain 2 Mount Eliza 3 (Callum Drysdale, Nickel Chand, Tully Baker).

Here is the draw for round 3 of the Dockerty Cup:

Lalor Utd v Peninsula Strikers, Chelsea v Mount Eliza, Skye Utd v Fawkner/Templestowe Wolves, Mazenod v Mornington, FC Clifton Hill v Frankston Pines.

These ties must be played between Thursday 7 March and Tuesday 12 March and clubs were arranging venues, dates and kick-off times as we went to press.

In VPL1 news Langwarrin’s 2-1 win over North Geelong at Lawton Park on Saturday evening ensured that the home side stays in the top four and the visitors remain anchored to the foot of the table.

Brad Blumenthal couldn’t convert early chances before a downward Luke Adams header from a corner in the 21st minute was knocked in by Archie Macphee from point-blank range.

Langy’s lead lasted just 11 minutes.

North Geelong keeper Vinith Murugamoorthy launched a long ball downfield to Sergio Escudero who was in a one-on-one with Adams.

Escudero out-positioned the defender and neatly lobbed the ball over Langy keeper James Burgess who was in no man’s land and suddenly it was 1-1.

Ten minutes into the second half Blumenthal was tripped inside the area and Youngs converted from the spot.

But North Geelong pressed hard for an equaliser and in the 95th minute Langy’s six-yard box resembled a pinball machine.

However Langwarrin prevailed to earn a seventh point from its first three fixtures.

It was an important result as the local club now starts a run of six away games in a row and will confront Caroline Springs George Cross, Melbourne City, Werribee City, Brunswick City, Kingston City and Bulleen.

It returns to Lawton Park on Saturday 20 April for its round 10 clash with Melbourne Victory.

Brothers Bareth and Rahul Suresh will miss the Brunswick City fixture after being called up by the Sri Lankan national team for a Four Nations Tournament in Colombo at the end of March.

In State 1 news there has been a coaching change at Mornington.

Former Beaumaris coach Christian Liberona is the new reserves coach at Dallas Brooks Park.

He takes over from Craig Davidson and assistant Mitch Ball.

“We felt a change was needed to move the club forward,” Mornington president Matt Cameron said.

“Craig and Mitch both leave with our best wishes for their future.”

In State 3 news former Mount Eliza player-coach Bryce Ruthven has turned his back on Frankston Pines and signed with State 3 rival Heatherton United.

“I was training with both Pines and Heatherton since November and played in the Wallace Cup with Pines and in another friendly but decided to sign with Heatherton instead.

“I definitely think Heatherton has a squad that will challenge for promotion, plus the way the club runs is super professional.”

In State 5 following the return to action of scoring legend Dave Greening at Rosebud comes news that he has been joined on the training track by ex-partner in crime Mark Pagliarulo.

That gives Rosebud the possibility of fielding the oldest three-pronged attack on the peninsula featuring 42-year-old Greening, 39-year-old Pagliarulo and the “baby” of the bunch in 31-year-old Nathan Yule.

A fan from a rival club cheekily suggested the shire council consider changing the name of Rosebud’s home ground from Olympic Park to Jurassic Park.

Greening and “Pags” were integral to Somerville Eagles’ 2019 championship success and the latter claims that Rosebud fans will see an improved version of the veteran Scottish striker.

“I’ve dropped 10 kilograms since I hit the gym and I’ve been running and I’ve stopped drinking,” he said.

“It’s funny that it’s taken me till the end of my career to look after my body and look after myself both mentally and physically.

“I genuinely feel the best I’ve felt since I moved here eight years ago and I’ve finally realised I can’t just drink and party in the sun.

“I’ve never felt this excited to get playing in years.”

In Football Victoria news its competitions department has presented a submission to the board regarding the impact on Victoria’s National Premier League set-up of a planned second-tier national competition.

At this stage the new national competition is set to kick-off next year involving three Victorian clubs – South Melbourne, Avondale and Preston Lions.

Competitions is recommending that all three retain their NPL status but are relegated to VPL2, the third level of club competition after NPL and VPL1.

That means that three teams are likely to be promoted from VPL1 to NPL at the end of the current season.

That opens up the possibility of Langwarrin becoming only the second club from the peninsula to play at the highest level of competition in the state.

Here are the results of some friendlies involving local clubs:

Baxter 4 (Tom Hawkins, Izaak Barr, Aaran Currie, Sava Baledrokadroka) Mount Martha 1 (Dan Bancroft); Mornington 4 (Rhys Craigie 2, Carlos Abboud, Sam Orritt) Knox City 0; Peninsula Strikers 0 Clifton Hill 0; Ringwood City 4 Skye Utd 4 (Marcus Collier, Keita Ioka, triallist, George Jeffs); Seaford Utd 2 (Ayuen Leuth, Wisey Barakzoi) Mentone 1 (Chris Gibson); Aspendale 4 (Ryan Mravljak 2, Jared Kilmartin, Pablo Borboa) Melbourne Uni 2.

Here are some upcoming friendlies:

Friday 1 March:

Mornington v Boroondara-Carey Eagles, Dallas Brooks Park, 7pm & 8.30pm; Monbulk v Peninsula Strikers, Monbulk Regional Soccer Facility, 6.30pm & 8.30pm; Seaford Utd v Western Eagles, North Seaford Reserve, 7.30pm.

Saturday 2 March:

Frankston Pines v Skye Utd, Monterey Reserve, 1pm & 3pm; Baxter v Falcons 2000, Baxter Park, 1pm & 3pm; Lilydale Montrose Utd v Chelsea, Keith Hume Fraser Reserve, 1pm & 3pm; Somerville Eagles v Bayside Argonauts, Westernport Athletics Track, 1pm & 3pm; Ringwood City v Mentone, Jubilee Park, 1pm & 3pm; Mount Martha v East Bentleigh, Civic Reserve, 1pm & 3pm.

First published in the Mornington News – 27 February 2024