WESTVALE Olympic has crept into title calculations in the Football Federation Victoria men’s state league 3.
Little fanfare has been made over the Vales as neighbours Cairnlea and North Sunshine Eagles have hogged the spotlight.
But while Cairnlea has lost two in a row and the Eagles sweat on
the outcome of tribunal hearing that will determine their future in the
league, the Vales have picked up 13 points from their past five matches
to move to within one point of the summit.
“There’s a good vibe around the club,” Vales defender George Koutouleas told the Weekly.“We’re a bit under the radar this year.
“There are we four games to go and anything can happen.”
Westvale made their intentions crystal clear with a 3-0 drubbing of Geelong at McKechnie Reserve on Saturday.
The Vales took the lead in the first half through Francois Bationo and doubled it after the break through Fabio Risi.
But Geelong refused to go quietly and earned a penalty, which was superbly denied by Vales goalkeeper Wes Coles.
James Danos sent home the third goal with 10 minutes to go to round out the scoring.
The Vales, last year’s provisional league 1 champions under John
Kanasoulis, have maintained their standards from last year, despite new
coach George Karkaletsis undertaking his first season in charge.
“The main thing from last year carrying on to this year is the team chemistry and the balance,” Koutouleas said.
“When you go to a different coach, they’ve got their differences, but it’s just his professionalism and what he expects from his players that he is getting.”
Theo Papoutsis was outstanding for the Vales in the win over Geelong.
The defensive midfielder was not even on a playing list just a month ago and has slotted into the line-up seamlessly.
“He worked hard in there, just tracking players and doing as much of his defensive duties as his attacking,” Koutouleas said.
“He wasn’t playing this year and we signed him up just before the transfer deadline.
“We added a bit more cover and depth at the business part of the season.
“He was just playing indoor soccer and wanted to come and help us out.”
