Just like their previous two games under Brebner, Richmond took the lead, but failed to go on and earn their first points of the season, as the Eagles missed inspirational skipper Erhan Karahan and goalie Rani Dowisha.

Josh Groenewald gave the Eagles an early lead with a simple header, but the hosts let Hume back into the game as 18-year-old debutant goalkeeper Oscar Vonk – in for Dowisha who walked out on the club during the week − fumbled a free kick gifting Turhan Sumbul an easy tap in.

City controlled the majority of the second half with Jarryd Barnes giving the visitors a deserved lead, before captain Nick Hegarty added the third with his first goal of the season.

Credit to Richmond who kept going and pulled a late goal back through Kliment Taseski, but Taseski’s first for his new side couldn’t stop the Eagles from losing their seventh game of the season from seven rounds.

For Hume, the victory was their fourth from the seven rounds played so far.

In a fairly even first-half Richmond started the brightest with Groenewald giving the Eagles the lead after just 14 minutes.

Enes Sivic whipped in a quality cross to the back post which found Nicholas Krousoratis and the young forward was composed enough to head the ball across the face of goal for Groenewald to nod in from a couple yards out.

Richmond midfielder Timmy Purcell was a constant threat from the dead ball with some super crosses and free kicks and the Irishman almost set up Groenewald’s second but the former Heart youngster headed over.

Just after the half hour mark Hume equalised from a horrendous goalkeeping error.

Vonk fumbled Naum Sekulovski’s free kick allowing Sumbul to poke home from a few yards out.

Sumbul was a huge threat all evening and got onto the end of a long Barnes throw in, only for Vonk to clutch onto Sumbul’s glancing header.

City’s start to their second-half was an enormous improvement from the first with Sumbul’s vicious strike clattering off the crossbar.

But the visitors didn’t have to wait long to double their lead.

Hume hit Richmond on the counter attack with Ersin Kaya found in space down the right. The Heart youngster then sent in an inch-perfect cross for Barnes to comfortably fire a header past Vonk.

Krousoratis was Richmond’s most dangerous player with two good chances for the hosts, but Hume ‘keeper Chris Oldfield was up to the task with two stop saves to deny the 19-year-old.

In an end-to-end second period Hume were looking for the third to put the result behind the Eagles with Kaya dangerous once again, but the wide man’s ferocious half volley was kept out by Vonk.

With just under 20 minutes left Hume did grab their third.

After Mate Eterovic clipped Kaya just outside the area on the right flank, Hegarty stepped up to the dead ball and magnificently curled his free kick into the corner without a touch.

Richmond continued to fight in the dying moments and pulled one goal back with just stoppage-time to be played.

Former Melbourne Victory defender Sam Gallagher – playing in the unusual position of central midfield − played a nice ball over the top of the Hume defence onto the foot of Taseski and the former Heart midfielder made no mistake cushioning his volley into the bottom corner.

And Richmond could have snatched their first point of the season with the last kick of the game, although Purcell failed to head in at the back post from Krousoratis’s miscued volley.

Next weekend Hume City travel to Jack Edwards Reserve to take on Miron Bleiberg’s Oakleigh Cannons, whilst Richmond host Green Gully.

Jacob Colosimo got the scoring underway after just two minutes, before Cvitkovic added his first just before the half-hour mark.

Substitute Josh Kweifio-Okai cut the deficit in half to give the Eagles some hope.

After Hamlet Armenian’s penalty was saved by Knights ‘keeper Chris May, Shayan Alinejad and Cvitkovic completed the scoring, which means the Knights have started the season with two consecutive wins.

Richmond’s evening didn’t start too well, with Kliment Taseski feeling tight in the warm-up, so Didier Imbert replaced the midfielder in the starting eleven.

The Knights got off to a fantastic start, but from the help of Richmond’s Giddie Sweet.

The defender butchered his clearance right onto the boot of Jacob Colosimo and the young forward was composed enough to cushion his volley into the bottom corner past Eagles ‘keeper Rani Dowisha.

With drizzle coming down, both sets of players weren’t afraid to execute some poorly and fantastically timed sliding tackles.

Just before the half-hour mark the Knights doubled their lead through Cvitkovic.

The attacking midfielder was found by Abdoulaye Diallo with a low cross, before Cvitkovic coolly slotted his strike past Dowisha.

The Knights could have added a third late in the first-half, and from another Eagles mistake, as Haris Vrbovac’s first-time clearance fell for Cvitkovic, but Cvitkovic blasted well over.

Diallo was causing havoc down the left flank, and just before the break the Ghanaian tried the spectacular with a sweetly struck volley, although he failed to hit the target shooting into the car park.

Richmond coach Jean-Marc Imbert tried to change up the game with Giddie Sweet and Didier Imbert coming off for Peter Sawan and Enes Sivic at half time.

Kweifio-Okai made an instant impact after coming on for Ariel Ritz as the tall striker pulled the deficit to one with a fantastic glancing header from Sawan’s free kick.

Two minutes later Armenian went to ground from Ryan Filipovic’s challenge and was rewarded a penalty giving he hosts a perfect chance to equalise.

Armenian took the spot kick himself, however Knights ‘keeper Chris May was up to his finest getting down to his left to deny the former Dandenong and Heidelberg forward.

The Eagles would pay for their missed penalty as the Knights added the their third and fourth goals in the space of two minutes.

Cvitkovic found Alinejad with a quality ball with gaps in the Richmond defence, before Alinejad pushed towards goal and buried his effort into the bottom corner.

Just after the restart, Cvitkovic found space in front of the Richmond back four, touched terrifically and thumped the ball into the bottom corner with a rasping drive to seal the points for the Knights.

PHOTO: Anita Milas

Dandenong Thunder are current Champions after winning the treble last season under the tutelage of Chris Taylor and will threaten once again this season. While at the other end of the table Heidelberg United and the Moreland Zebras were relegated to State League One. Coming up into the VPL are Pascoe Vale and Port Melbourne as Vitale Ferrante’s Pascoe Vale were promoted as State League One Champions five points clear of Eric Vassiliadis’ Port Melbourne side.

BENTLEIGH GREENS

The Greens have recruited superbly over the offseason bringing in Dandenong stars Like Sherbon and Stuart Webster and Southern Stars trio Luke Fitzpatrick, Liam McCormick and David Stirton. Meanwhile coach John Anastasiadis has kept Melbourne Heart youngster Evan Batsis and Young Socceroos Luke O’Dea with the experienced Wayne Wallace and Aron Wilford ensuring Bentleigh have a squad ready to compete for the title.

But have Bentleigh made too many changes to their squad? It’ll take time for the squad to gel, so Anastasiadis will hope his squad find their grown quickly in such a competitive league.

BENTLEIGH GREENS 2013 SQUAD: Jamie De Abreu, Jonathan De Biase, Luke Fitzpatrick, Liam McCormick, David Stirton, Wayne Wallace, Jack Webster, Andy Brennan, Milos Ridesic, Stuart Webster, Luke Sherbon, Luke Pilkington, Aron Wilford, Dominic D’Angelo, Stephen Hatzikostas, Alastair Bray, Kristopher Kioussis, Evan Batsis, Max Ertherige, Danny Kelly, Luke O’Dea, David Chick. 

DANDENONG THUNDER

VPL Champions Dandenong Thunder will start their defense of their title on negative three points, after FFA deducted three points for crowd behavior problems at last season’s VPL Grand Final and will also play their first five home games behind closed doors.

The Thunder lost 2012 Goalkeeper of the Year Stuart Webster and 2012 Golden Boot winner Luke Sherbon both to Bentleigh, but coach Chris Taylor didn’t waste time in strengthening the side with Steven Topalovic, Zac Walker, Afghan defender Safa Fasial and Heart youngster Nick Epifano all joining in the offseason.

With a squad probably as strong as last season the Thunder will certainly be title defenders and could well defend their crown. On a sourer note, midfield dynamo Mathew Theodore will miss the start with hip and groin problems.

DANDENONG THUNDER 2013 SQUAD: Luke Hopper, Zaim Zeneli, Shane Rexhepi, Iqbal Jawadi, Nate Foster, Alon Blumgart, Duncan Short, Liam Kearney, Joao Makiadi, Brendan Elmazovski, Steven Topalovic, Bryan Bran, Shpetim Mala, Feston Azizi, Fernando Perez Martin, Andrew Mullett, Zac Walker, Craig Elvin, Sean McIlroy, Mathew Theodore, Veton Korcari, Afrim Avdulai, Safa Fasial, James Robinson, Nick Epifano

GREEN GULLY

There’s been plenty of change at Green Gully with Dean Hennessey taking over from club legend Ian Dobson and the ex-Stars coach has made some interesting changes.

Mile Medjedovic, Joel Nikolic, Scott Robson, Graham Hockless and Nikola Roganovic all moved on, whilst the Cavs’ brought in the highly rated Tom Cahill from Richmond and goalie Kieran Gonzalez from Queensland. But Gully regulars Mathew Sanders, Osagie Ederaro, captain Jeff Fleming and the Vargas brothers all stayed on to maintain the core of the side.

With a strong squad and Gully’s knack of performing well the Cavs’ should be able to comfortably make the finals, but how will Gully perform under Hennessey? Only time will tell.

GREEN GULLY 2013 SQUAD: Michael Anderson, Hamid Basma, Mitchell Bissinger, Liam Brian, Tom Cahill, Dean Campelj, Muhamad Chawk, Christopher Dib, Stephen Downes, Brent Fisher, Jeffrey Fleming, Kieran Gonzalez, Sean Harding, Jason Hayne, Daniel Jones, Scott Muirhead, Michael O’Farrell, Osagie Ederaro, Mathew Sanders, Andy Vargas, Rodrigo Vargas, Brian Vanega

HUME CITY

Hume were disappointed with last season’s finish of ninth despite doing well in the early half of the season and coach Lou Acevski has made several changes to his squad so City can seal a top six birth this time round.

2012 Gold Medalist Nick Hegarty, Atilla Ofli, Chris Oldfield and experienced defensive duo Izzy Erdogan and Steven Pace were retained, but Phillip Riccobene and Howard Fondyke departed.

Former Perth Glory fullback Naum Sekulovski scraped under the transfer radar and should spur Hume on and with other additions, Alan Mulcahy, Deejay Firth, Kiwi Dakota Lucas, Englishman Sean Canham and Heart’s Ersin Kaya adding to an already strong squad.

HUME CITY 2013 SQUAD: Chris Oldfield, Martin John, Evan Van Der Byl, Sean Finn, Izzy Erdogan, Jarryd Barnes, Steven Pace, Sam Dehaini, Naum Sekulovski, Craig Sives, Albert Zoranello, Ersin Kaya, Shaun Romein, Alan Mulcahy, Deejay Firth, Cem Cil, Josh Knight, Jack Turner, Atilla Ofli, Nick Hegarty, Dakota Lucas, Ryan Baldaccino, Ernie Simsek, Sean Canham, Turhan Sumbul

MELBOURNE KNIGHTS

In their 60^th year the Melbourne Knights will be hoping to challenge for a finals spot after missing out last season and that could be a good possibility under Andrew Marth.

The crust of the squad was kept from last season including captain Adam Zilic, Ryan Filipovic, Tomislav Uskok, Marijan Cvitkovic and the Colosimo brothers. But the Knights couldn’t keep hold of top goalscorer Jake Nakic and brother Adam who both moved onto Port Melbourne. Chris May comes in from Heidelberg between the sticks with English midfielder Thomas Fraser and former Dinamo Zagreb academy player Josip Konyit to add quality to yet another young Knights side.

MELBOURNE KNIGHTS 2013 SQUAD: Christopher May, Bobby Vidanoski, Ryan Filipovic, Adam Zilic, David Kustura, Tomislav Uskok, Thomas Fraser, Craig Sweeney, Jacob Colosimo, Marijan Cvitkovic, Anthony Colosimo, Joseph Konyit, Hassan Daramy, Ben Surey, Antonio Ivanisevic, Djibril Diallo, Christopher Talajic, Brandon Zezovski, Shayan Alinejad, Matthew Hrastov, Abu Konteh, Joshua Berrios, Sam Torrens

NORTHCOTE CITY

2012 Semi Finalists Northcote City have been one of the quieter sides in the transfer market, but have done well to keep significant players from last season which saw the club finish in fifth and a finals spot should certainly be the minimum requirement. But coach Goran Lozanovski has brought in Frazer Siddall from Southern Stars to bolster his goalkeeping stocks.

Centre-backs Kristian Konstantinidis and skipper Adriano Chiappetta need to continue their form from last season with Milos Lujic and James Kalifatidis responsible for bagging the goals.

NORTHCOTE CITY 2013 SQUAD: Frazer Siddall, Adriano Chiappetta, Tremayne Sadler, Kristian Konstantinidis, Nick Tzoulis, Bonel Obradovic, Jonathan Voulgaris, James Kalifatidis, Milos Lujic, Alex Rojas, Dean Piemonte, Hayden D’Agostino, Michael Catalano, Wade Dekker, Michael Eagar, Ricardo Gonzales, Chris Di Bartolo, Ilker Kuyucu, Evan Kounavelis, Nick Terezakis, Chris Theodoridis, Rashid Mahazi, Kris Oghanna

OAKLEIGH CANNONS

2012 Grand Final Runner-ups Oakleigh Cannons will hope to go one further this season, but this time coach Bill Theodoropoulos will have to do it all on his own as his 2012 co-coach Peter Zois didn’t return to the Cannons for 2013.

The Cannons have kept the majority of their squad last season which saw the club finish second in the league and finals, but have added former Perth Glory youngster Reece Vittiglia, Werribee’s Simon Zappia, Bulleen’s Dusan Bosnjak and ex-Roar and Phoenix ‘keeper Griffin McMaster.

With one of the strongest squads, Oakleigh are one of the favourites and should finish in the top two or three, and just maybe 2013 will be their year.

OAKLEIGH CANNONS 2013 SQUAD: Ari Drakos, Jamie Cumming, Casper Andersen, Steven Gray, Frankie Lagana, Luke Walker, Hayden Doyle, Evan Christodoulou, Ricky Diaco, Jesse Krncevic, Goran Zoric, Recce Vittiglia, Simon Zappia, Chris Frangou, Stelios Konstantinidis, Dusan Bosnjak, Ian Kamau, Jamie De Smit, Griffin McMaster, Alex Connell, Andrea Stoilovic, Evan Kraloglou

PASCOE VALE

State League One Champions Pascoe Vale enter their inaugural VPL season with Vitale Ferrante in charge and former Adelaide United and Wellington assistant Luciano Trani by his side.

Andrew Le Page, Marco Santilli, Gregory Lombardo, Michael Ferrante, Liam Flynn and Mark Lepre were all keys for Pascoe Vale in achieving promotion and with the addition of Tomislav Milardovic from Richmond, Daniel Chaabani and Hernan Espindola from Melbourne Victory and Will Abbott from Melbourne Heart, the new boys might cause a stir.

PASCOE VALE 2013 SQUAD: Andrew Le Page, Marco Santilli, Jake Vandermey, Bale Micovski, Daniel Chaabani, Rosario Mancuso, Codey Larkin, Gregory Lombardo, Hernan Espindola, Matthew Lazarides, Mark Pistininzi, Stefaan Sardelic, Frank Serratore, Liam Flynn, Tomislav Milardovic, Joseph Youseff, Mark Lepre, Davey van ‘t Schip, Evan Karavitis, Adrian Talarico, George Mcheileh, Rylan Sadler, Cody Sellwood, William Abbott, Michael Ferrante

PORT MELBOURNE

Port Melbourne return to the VPL for the first time in a decade and have splashed the cash to, not only ensure survival, but also to shock a few and push for finals.

Chris Grossman, Graham Hockless, the Riccobene and Nakic brothers, Kamal Ibrahim, Kristian Sarkies, Ross Honos and Daniel Visevic are just a few signings the 2012 State Knockout Runner-ups have brought in.

And with the outstanding Eric Vassiliadis in charge the Sharks could cause a real upset.

PORT MELBOURNE 2013 SQUAD: Adam Hrehoresin, Aaron Romein, Dennys Martin, Peter Roberts, Martin Mason, Tim Paton, Felix Rosman, Chris Grossman, Amadu Koroma, Paul Miller, Luke Bowen, Graham Hockless, Nick Kalombokis, Phillip Riccobene, Kamal Ibrahim, Luka Prevlovic, Kristian Sarkies, James Riccobene, Daniel Visevic, Tony Ouliaris, Adam Nakic, Darryl Roach, John Lazaridis, Damien Peters, Ross Honos, Jake Nakic, Michael James

RICHMOND SC

Richmond go into the season under the guidance of French-Mauritian Jean-Marc Imbert after the departure of Michael Chatzitrifonos and many key players like Daniel Visevic, Tom Milardovic and Stjepan Gal. The Eagles however, were able to hold onto key duo Erhan Karahan and Hamlet Armenian.

But Imbert has recruited well with the likes of former Melbourne Heart midfielder Kliment Taseski, Melbourne Victory defender Petar Franjic and Chilean Samuel Valdeveiso joining the Eagles.

With a blend of quality youngsters and experience campaigners Richmond should be happy with a finals spot and certainly will be in the mix come September.

RICHMOND SC 2013 SQUAD: Rani Dowisha, Oscar Vonk, Erhan Karahan, Ben Osei-Safo, Haris Vrbovac, Giddie Sweet, Petar Franjic, Sam Sheppard, Tim Purcell, Kliment Taseski, Mate Eterovic, Didier Imbert, Ari Ritz, Nicholas Krousoratis, Peter Sawan, Josh Kweifio-Okai, Hamlet Armenian, Josh Groenewald, Samuel Valdeveiso, Damir Lokvancic, Enes Sivic

SOUTH MELBOURNE

South under Peter Tsolakis didn’t have the best of seasons in 2012 with an inconsistent campaign finishing just outside the six and will hope to at least push for a finals spot in 2013. With quality recruits like Tyson Holmes and Rhys Meredith from the Queensland State League, Alan Kearney from Southern Stars and Dutch striker Renco Van Eeken adding to an already strong squad, a finals spot is definitely achievable.

SOUTH MELBOURNE 2013 SQUAD: Peter Gavalas, Tom Matthews, Rhodri Payne, Philip Petreski, Dimitri Tsiaras, Joe Keenan, Fernando De Moraes, Trent Rixon, Tyson Holmes, Bradley Norton, Rhys Meredith, Luke Byles, Andy Vlahos, Dimitri Hatzimouratis, Alan Kearney, Carl Recchia, Andrew Cartanos, Sebastian Mattei, James Karvelis, Matko Budimir, Renco Van Eeken

SOUTHERN STARS

Since Dean Hennessey moved onto Green Gully, the Stars appointed ex-Richmond Assistant and Preston Lions player Zaya Younan.

The majority of last season’s squad has departed onto greener adventures with the likes of Alan Kearney, Alan Mulcahy, Luke Fitzpatrick and David Stirton moving on, as Younan deals takes a control of a younger squad. Key recruit and captain Ramazan Tavsancioglu is the oldest in the squad at 28, while Andrew Viola and Devon Bonne join from Richmond and Heidelberg respectively.

With the inexperienced Younan in charge the Stars can’t expect to challenge for the title, but with a couple outstanding youngsters like Tom Lino and Josh Wood with the likes of Tavsancioglu leading the side the Stars could be a dark-horse for a finals spot.

SOUTHERN STARS 2013 SQUAD: Kerim Koc, Ramazan Tavsancioglu, Halil Gur, Joshua Bowen, Joshua Wood, Andrew Viola, Luke Burgess, Sait Guler, David Obaze, Vincent Bontemps, Tom Lino, Marvin Hamilton, Devon Bonne, Nicholas McKoy, Ali Hameed, Ali Turgut, Rudvan Saglam, Dogan Dagli, James Walker, Ryan Herval, Deang Aguek, Jason Ricciuti

The 2013 VPL season is going to be yet another exciting season in Victorian football as the Dandenong Thunders, Oakleigh Cannons and Green Gullies push for the Minor Premiership. But there could also be a few surprises with Southern Stars and newly promoted Port Melbourne and Pascoe Vale causing a few problems for the so-called ‘bigger’ clubs.

This is first (and quite possibly the last) post about the life and times of myself and the upcoming football leagues around Victoria.  I’ve made a committment along with my fellow sidekick, Kip Riptide, to watch as many football games, whether it is the Victorian Premier League, Division 2 or the Christian League.  There are a few reasons why this could be my final post:

• A very bad gourmet hot dog
• Wearing a Serbian jersey at a Croatian aligned club
• Hurling abuse at a linesman
• And getting myself lost in the Western Suburbs

Along with commentary on the game, I’ll be also be keeping tally on the number of hot dogs and beers consumed, along with any subsequent attacks of diahorrea that may fall upon me.  Now on the with the first game!

Richmond SC vs Northcote City

Sunday, 28th of February 2010 at Kevin Bartlett Reserve

It was about six months ago when I was in Altona watching supposedly my mate’s final game.  Fingers, my mate, had long-lived in the shadows of Steve Horvat, and never ever gave up on his dream in representing the Socceroos.  But when you have a broken body and heading towards the wrong side of thirty, you eventually have to give up.  So there he was, helping Altona City defeat Westgate by 7 goals.  I thought it would be a laugh to watch Fingers troll around the ground with the younger kids.  But he was easily holding his own, and was even rewarded with a goal (although this is debatable, I didn’t think he touched the ball at all).  But what captivated me the most about the day (besides that maniac of a car attendant chasing us around the car park demanding money), was watching a game without the frills of an MCG or Etihad Stadium.  I didn’t half to fork out dollars for a mid-strength beer, an extremely horrible hot dog and atmosphere that can be so annoying at times.  Here I was, drinking full-strength beer (VB, best cold beer ever), a tasty cervapi and enjoying the entertaining surroundings.  I found enjoyment in watching a fat kid try to outrun the last defender, being mesmerized by his manboobs and watching him fail miserably.  I couldn’t help but laugh at his misery.

So now I was on my way to meet up with Kip at the Kevin Bartlett Reserve in Richmond.  I get a bit lost getting to the ground, what with the road not being on Google Maps (tip to getting to this ground, you see the GE building, you walk straight down the private road towards the building).  It’s the first round of the Victorian Premier League, so there is a bit of buzz around the ground where Richmond plays host to the newly promoted Northcote City.  I catch up with Kip, and we start to admire the pitch.  It’s what all football pitches should look like, green and smooth.  I was thinking how much Melbourne Victory would have appreciated this surface after playing on Etihad a couple of weeks ago where the ground was destroyed by the AC/DC gig.  The game starts a frantic pace, with Northcote City dominating possession.  Northcote’s captain, who was playing up front, was struggling to finish off the good work that his team was providing.  Thirty minutes of pressure from Northcote was undone with a foul outside the box at Richmond’s goal.  Richmond scored with an impressive free kick.  I start to kick myself thinking that the quality of these matches would be poor.  My stomach begins to rumble, and gave the nod to Kip to test out the food provided by the Richmond Soccer Club.  We were not disappointed with the hot dogs.  A tad pricey for what it was ($6.50), but nevertheless, it was went down a treat along with the five dollar VB.  The club is of German descent, so I was hoping for a German lager of some sort.  But no, just the standard CUB beers.

Back to the second half, and Richmond scores with a decent counter attack.  They have clearly dominated the first 20 minutes, and looked like it was cruising to victory.  But the boys in white began to tire and Northcote came back again.  Northcote got a deserved penalty in which they scored.  From then on, it was all Northcote City.  With their supporters chanting ‘Northcote’ (which was quite weak), they had two great opportunities in which their impotent strikers could not convert.  And just like that, the game was over.  The score was 2-1, in favor of Richmond with Northcote rueing a missed opportunity.

Game Summary:

Notable attendees – John van’t Schip (Melbourne Hearts manager)

Number of Hot Dogs consumed – 1

Number of beers consumed – 2

Food Poisoning – Negative