Sydenham Park claimed its most important win of the FV state league 1 north-west season on Friday night.
The Reds approached Friday night’s game with ladder leaders Keilor Park as a mini final even though there were still another seven rounds remaining in the season.
For the Reds, a win would bring back the gap to the Eagles to just two points meaning the promotion battle was well and truly alive.
It was a performance that the Reds would have dreamed of, winning 4-0.
Reds coach Mate Dugandzic said the playing group were all aware of how important the match was in the context of their season.
“They were five points ahead and if they won it would have been eight points and it would have been almost impossible to achieve,” he said.
“We had our best game of the season and everyone played really well. Everyone knew it was our final and it was a must win for us.
“The guys were talking about it during the week. We knew the situation and that it was a big game and it helped.”
Dugandzic said they’d had some really good patches of play on occasions throughout the season, without putting it together for the whole 90 minutes.
This time there were able to do that.
“We were relentless and kept going and going,” he said. “It would have been nice to score another goal or two which we had a chance to do.
“It was good to do it for a long time over the whole game.”
Raul Rodrigues scored a hat-trick in the win, which was the Reds third in a row.
The top three is now separated by just two points with Banyule City in the middle of Keilor Park and Sydenham Park.
Top spot gains automatic promotion while the second side will play off for promotion against the side that finishes second in the south-east competition at the end of the season.
Dugandzic said the aim is to finish second at the bare minimum.
“The top two teams still have to versus each other,” he said. “We have to continue to play the way we have played so far and we could finish on top with them playing each other.
“The top two is the bare minimum but we would love to win it.”
The Reds are at home to Corio this weekend.
Dugandzic said Corio had proven to be a team that is hard to beat this season.
Meanwhile, FV Westgate’s match with Upfield will have to be replayed after the game was called off.
The lights went off in the 32nd minute on Friday night, causing the game to be called abandoned. It will now be played during the catch up round.
In other results, Brimbank Stallions lost to 3-1, Westvale Olympic had a 0-0 draw and Western Suburbs beat Yarraville 2-0.
