Two of the best sides in VPL Women, one league loss between them all season, and a Friday night under lights that could decide where the title goes.
The Redbacks women return to The Web on Friday to host Bundoora United in the fixture the whole division has been circling. Eltham sit first on thirty-seven points from sixteen matches, beaten just once all year, with a goal difference of plus thirty-four that no one else can live with. Bundoora sit second on thirty-three, and their record carries its own warning, still unbeaten after fifteen rounds with nine wins and six draws, and a game in hand on the leaders. This is first against second, the two most in-form teams in the competition, with a genuine six-pointer at the top of the table.
The maths sharpens it. Win, and Eltham stretch clear at the summit and put real daylight into the run-in. Lose, and Bundoora close to within a single point with that game in hand still to play, and the momentum swings their way with the finish line in sight. There is not much between these two on paper, and there may be even less on the night.
Eltham arrive in the form of leaders who keep answering the question. The 4-1 win at Banyule last week, with Isobel Berks striking twice within four first-half minutes, followed the 4-3 thriller against Geelong Galaxy and the 6-0 demolition of Melbourne University before it. Berks has been irresistible, and when the division’s most potent attack is humming, Eltham take some stopping.
The problem is that Bundoora have a matchwinner of their own, and a serious one. Addison Steiner has scored twenty-four league goals this season, comfortably the most in the competition bar Berks’ 26, and she is the single biggest threat the Redbacks will face all year. Keep Steiner quiet and Eltham go a long way to winning the night. Give her a yard, and the visitors have the finisher to punish it. Much of the contest will come down to that duel, the league’s best attack against the league’s deadliest striker.
The Web’s synthetic surface should suit the hosts, who live on it week to week, and a home crowd for a title decider is an edge worth having. Eltham have set the pace all season. One more big night, and they take a firm grip on the lot.
Kick-off is 8:30pm Friday at Eltham North Reserve.
Up the ‘Backs.