Doncaster Rovers FC - Down Under

IS THE SPOON CALLING?

Victoria League Division One: Week 14

Doncaster Rovers 0 Westvale Olympic 2

Rovers moved closer and closer to second division football on the weekend as a three minute spell from promotion hunters, Westvale Olympic saw two goals scored in a matter of minutes to hand Westvale three points while Rovers just wondered where it all went wrong.

Rovers went into the match without Adam Pongho and Zoran Romanovski and elected to leave Daniel Tribuzio on the bench after returning from injury. Westvale also had a number of players out and viewed this game at The Creek as a danger game knowing what Rovers can do to teams if they take the game too easy. Rovers started brightly and should have been 1-0 ahead after some beautiful play led to an Inglese shot at goal that was nicely saved by the Olympic goalkeeper.

Westvale's only avenue to goal for most of the match was the long searching throws by an Olympic defender that resembled a corner. Rovers seemed to struggle clearing the ball in the air when the big Olympic defenders met the ball, however, Rovers were holding their own and looked forward to the second half. Westvale dangerman and also player-coach Angie Goutzioulis was kept quiet by the Rover defence and all was in ready for a big second half.

But as usual at The Creek this season, the big second half did not go to plan as a three minute spell of Olympic dominance and a lack of concentration on Rovers part saw Westvale hit two quick goals and the game seemed to be over. Those long searching throws this time penetrated the Rover defence as a flick on by an Olympic defender and another nice header from Goutzioulis saw him score his 14th of the season and give Westvale a 1-0 lead. Only minutes later, Westvale made it 2-0 when an Olympic midfielder found himself on his own outside the box and he duly slotted the ball home.

Rovers were in trouble and brought on Daniel Tribuzio and Nick Cunningham up front but again chance after chance went begging for the Rover side. A free kick to D.Tribuzio went way over the bar, and a point blank header from S.Tribuzio fell straight into the arms of the Olympic keeper. The Olympic keeper almost gifted Rovers a goal when he dropped a cross that bounced towards goals, however, he buttered up and saved the ball on the line just before D.Tribuzio was about to blast it in the net. A penalty claim was then rejected as it looked like D.Tribuzio was held back by an Olympic defender but much to the dismay of the Rover faithful, Doncaster's last chance saw a beautiful flick on from Cunningham fly across goal and just avoid the foot of Iain Scott.

Doncaster now have to pick themselves up for the biggest game of the season so far, away to Springvale White Eagles. Both teams are on the same amount of points and both have aspirations to stay up but certainly the loser of this game will be odds on favourite for the drop. Let's hope Rovers are on their game for this huge game for the club.

League News

The Essendon Royals and Westvale Olympic provided the best entertainment for round 14 as both teams won against relegation threatened Springvale White Eagles and Doncaster Rovers respectively. As South Dandenong looks to be coasting towards the championship, one position remains up for grabs to join South in the Premier League next season and the two candidates will be the Royals and Olympic. The Royals hold a four point gap over Westvale however, Olympic's win last week against the Royals looks to have given them a new lease of life as the championship comes to a close.

The other side of the table sees a huge fight to avoid the two relegation spots. Westgate looked to have cleared the relegation spots but are not safe yet as anyone from Yarraville Glory down are still in danger of playing second division football next season. It should be very interesting.

P W D L F A GD PTS 1 South Dandenong 14 12 1 1 48 14 34 37
2 Essendon Royals 14 10 1 3 28 12 16 31
3 Westvale Olympic 14 8 3 3 36 22 14 27
4 Lalor United 14 7 4 3 21 14 7 25
5 Frankston Pines 14 7 2 5 29 26 3 22
6 Western Suburbs 14 7 2 5 24 26 -2 22
7 Yarraville Glory 14 4 4 6 23 30 -7 16
8 Westgate 14 5 0 9 20 34 -14 15
9 Richmond 14 4 1 9 16 27 -11 13
10 Doncaster Rovers 14 2 3 9 22 34 -12 9
11 Springvale White Eagles 14 2 3 9 12 25 -13 9
12 Sunshine Georgies 14 3 2 9 16 30 -14 8