ESSENDON
The fixture list says third against thirteenth. April said something rather different.
When these two last met at HC Kim Reserve, the Royals spent eighty minutes trying to prise Altona City open and got nowhere, before Jordan Adeyemi finally found the breakthrough in the 81st minute and Dean Clarke settled it late with a free kick from distance. A 2-0 win reads comfortably enough in a results column, but it was nothing of the sort on the night, and Friday brings the return at Cross Keys with the same problem to solve.
The equation at the top is straightforward. Thirteen wins from twenty-two rounds has the men third on 41 points with four to play, seven behind Goulburn Valley Suns and five behind Malvern City, both of whom hold a game in hand. Behind them, Bayside Argonauts sit three back on 38 with a game of their own to make up. There is no room anywhere in that picture for a slip against a side in the bottom three.
The attacking numbers, at least, are the best in the division. Fifty-four goals from twenty-two rounds is more than Malvern have managed and more than the Suns, and the last outing was a fair advertisement for it, four past Kingston City with Clarke taking two, Frank Mulhern powering through the middle for another and Takumi Niwa producing the pick of them. The men have not lost since the end of May, five wins and two draws across seven rounds.
Altona City arrive without a win since the 8th of May, ten rounds ago. That is the headline, and it is also slightly misleading, because five of those ten ended level. Altona are a genuinely awkward side to play against, their eight draws are the joint most in VPL Men 2, and they have conceded thirty-one goals across the season, which is fewer than the Royals have. Their trouble sits at the other end, where eighteen goals is the lowest tally in the competition. They will come to Cross Keys to make the night slow, tight and frustrating, and they are good at it.
Which makes patience the whole game. The Royals have scored freely at Cross Keys all year and will get their chances, but the side that cracks first will be the one that forces it. Take the openings when they come, stay honest at the back against a team that will sit deep and break, and the three points look after themselves.
Kick-off is 8:30pm Friday at Cross Keys Reserve.