ESSENDON
Six months of football can come down to a fixture that means nothing to one side and everything to the other, and Campbell Reserve on Saturday was exactly that kind of afternoon.
Moreland City had two wins to their name all season and were already certain to finish bottom. The Royals arrived needing a win to have any chance of catching Bayside Argonauts in third. Marcus Kotronis put them ahead inside four minutes, which was the ideal beginning and, as it turned out, not much of a guide to the next eighty-six. Charles Hollingworth levelled for the hosts in the twenty-third minute, the game finished level at two apiece, and a season that has spent most of its second half climbing came to rest one place lower than it wanted.
The arithmetic was unforgiving. Bayside won 1-0 away at Springvale White Eagles on the same afternoon to finish on fifty, so nothing short of three points at Campbell Reserve would have done. The Royals close the regular season fourth on forty-eight, with fifteen wins, three draws and eight defeats. Goulburn Valley Suns take the title on fifty-seven and Malvern City finish second on fifty-six, and both go up automatically.
There is no reading of that table which makes this a disappointing season. Sixty-three goals is the second best attacking return in the division, behind only Malvern City’s sixty-six, and a goal difference of plus twenty-one is bettered only by the two automatically promoted sides. The Royals took two wins from their opening seven rounds and then won fifteen of the next nineteen, which is the sort of run that turns a mid-table team into a promotion contender inside a single season. Finishing fourth rather than third changes the seeding and nothing else about that.
What it does change is the opponent. Fourth plays fifth in the play-off for the third promotion place, and fifth is Keilor Park, who beat the Royals 4-1 at Cross Keys eight days ago. That was the heaviest home defeat of the year and it arrived in the one week the Royals could least afford it. Bayside and Box Hill United meet in the other tie, and the two winners play off for the final promotion slot behind the Suns and Malvern City.
A rematch that quick is a strange gift. There is no scouting to do, no wondering how the other side sets up, and no way for anyone in a Royals shirt to pretend the last meeting did not happen. Keilor Park have the more recent evidence and the confidence that comes with it. The Royals have a fortnight to prepare and the memory of what fifteen wins in nineteen games felt like before that Friday night.
The season split neatly in two, and the second half is the one that matters now. This is a side that has been difficult to beat and occasionally difficult to put away, and both of those things tend to count for more in a one-off match than they do across twenty-six rounds. Campbell Reserve was a reminder of the second part, because a bottom side with nothing to play for took two points off a team with everything to play for.
The date and the venue for the play-off are not confirmed yet. Football Victoria has the promotion play-offs down for the weekends of 13 and 20 September, and the fixture listing for the first tie is still carrying placeholder detail, so the only thing worth stating for now is the opponent. Keilor Park, one match, and a season that started with two wins in seven still has the thing it spent six months chasing sitting one result away.
Fifteen wins, forty-eight points and fourth place. The part that decides everything has not been played yet.