Tara Murray
Caroline Springs George Cross’ aspiration of returning to the National Premier League competition is on hold for at least another 12 months.
The Georgies had put themselves in a strong position in Football Victoria state league 1 north-west, when the COVID-19 pandemic bought the season to a halt for a third time.
There would be no restart, with FV announcing that all NPL, state league and metropolitan competitions had been cancelled due to the uncertainty around when lockdown would end.
The cancellation also meant that there would be no promotion and relegation, nor premierships.
It wasn’t the news the Georgies wanted to hear.
The Georgies, who set high ambitions at the beginning of the State League 1 north-west season, were sitting on top of the ladder, one point clear of Brimbank Stallions.
Georgies’ coach Eric Vassiliadis said the season ending was a disappointing outcome for the whole sporting community.
“It’s an extremely disappointing outcome for us as a football club,” he said.
“There’s a number of clubs in the same situation as us.
“We had a lot of things going right and we were fighting for promotion. We were on the right track doing a lot of good things.
“We were on our way to achieving our goal.”
Vassiliadis said hewas proud of what the side had achieved in the first 14 rounds.
He said it started at the defensive end with the likes of Joseph Franjic, George Tsiakalakis, Gian Tapia and Tyler James.
“We understood where we were at and where we could improve and get better,” he said.
“There were lots of good things and we were happy with how we were going.
“We had the best defence in the competition conceding just six goals. We set targets and we were achieving them.
“We could have scored a few more goals and we’ll look to improve in that area. “
Vassiliadis said the club’s aspiration to return to the NPL competition was still really strong.
The Georgies were last in the NPL competition in 2018, when they finished bottom of the NPL 2 west competition.
He threw his support around a competition restructure ahead of next season, to assess a number of things including which division clubs are in after two years of interrupted football.
“You have massive aspirations in life and you have to reward those aspirations,” Vassiliadis said.
“We’ve got so many showing the right attitude. As a club we know what we are doing is right.
“We have so many people showing the right attitude.”
