ESSENDONThird plays fourth on Saturday with only three points between them, and both sides are still chasing the same prize.
The Royals make the trip to Bayside Argonauts sitting third in VPL Men 2 on thirty-three points, and they travel on the back of three straight wins. Mick Ferrante’s side put eight unanswered past Springvale White Eagles, then went to league-leading Malvern City and won 4-2 on their own patch, before edging Werribee City 3-2 at Cross Keys. Eighteen games in, the record reads eleven wins, seven defeats and not a single draw all season, a side that has dealt only in clear results one way or the other. Forty-five goals scored is the most in the division, and a goal difference of plus eighteen backs up the attacking numbers.
Bayside Argonauts sit a place and three points back in fourth on thirty, and they arrive in form of their own. They beat Kingston City 5-0 at home and then won 4-3 away at Whittlesea United, so the goals have flowed at both ends of their recent run. With a game in hand on the Royals, seventeen played to eighteen, a win here would lift them level or above, which gives the contest its edge. Their three draws are the obvious contrast with the Royals’ all-or-nothing season, the mark of a side that knows how to take a point from a tight game when the win is not there.
There is recent history to settle as well. Bayside took the reverse fixture 4-1 at Cross Keys back in Round 6, one of the heavier results of the Royals’ season, so this is a chance to correct the ledger against a direct rival. Above them both, Malvern City lead on forty and Goulburn Valley Suns sit second on thirty-six, which keeps the chase for the top two alive but unforgiving. Drop points here and the Royals do not just stall that pursuit, they hand momentum to the side immediately behind them.
Two in-form attacks meeting with the finals race tightening makes this one of the more important fixtures of the run home. The Royals have shown over the past month that they can win the big ones away from home. Saturday asks them to do it again.
Forza Royals.