Nothing had separated the sides for sixty-eight minutes at STRUC Steel Stadium, and then the Redbacks won the game inside eight.
Billy Romas scored in the sixty-eighth minute and Josh Dennett added the second in the seventy-sixth. Abdulkerim Koc kept the clean sheet, the first half had finished goalless, and 2-0 away from home was what the afternoon needed to produce. Back-to-back wins now, after back-to-back defeats before them.
The scoreline is more modest than the reverse fixture, and that is worth noting rather than glossing over. Eltham beat this same Port Melbourne side 8-0 at Eltham North Reserve in May. Port have won four games all season, sit bottom on sixteen points with a goal difference of minus thirty-nine, and have scored twelve goals in twenty-three matches. A 2-0 with a goalless first half is three points and not much more, and at this stage of a season that is the entire point of it.
Because what the Redbacks are actually playing for is now very simple to state. Third through sixth contest the promotion play-off in September. Eltham are sixth on thirty-five points from twenty-three games, and Saturday was the result that kept them there.
Above them the door has closed. Bulleen Lions are fifth on thirty-nine, and with one round remaining the Redbacks can reach thirty-eight at most, so fifth is gone and there is no use pretending otherwise. What Saturday protected was the position itself. FC Melbourne Srbija are seventh on thirty-three and can finish on thirty-six, which is one more than Eltham have right now.
That leaves the last round carrying everything. Melbourne Knights come to Eltham North Reserve on Sunday 30 August, and a single point is enough. A draw takes the Redbacks to thirty-six, level with the best Srbija can manage, and goal difference settles it comfortably in Eltham’s favour at plus sixteen against level. A win removes the question entirely. Only a defeat opens the door, and even then Srbija have to win their own match to walk through it.
There is a difficulty in the fixture that nobody at the club will need explaining. Melbourne Knights sit top of the division on forty-eight points, with the meanest defence in the competition at seventeen conceded, and they arrive with their own reasons to finish well. Getting a point from that at home, with a play-off place resting on it, is a proper afternoon’s work.
What the Redbacks have in their favour is the thing that has defined the season. Fifty-one goals scored is the joint-highest tally in VPL Men 1, level with Melbourne Victory and ten more than the Knights have managed. This is a side that has scored six at Langwarrin, five at home to Manningham a fortnight ago and eight against Saturday’s opponents in May. Thirty-five conceded is the number that has cost them, and it is why sixth rather than third is the conversation, but a team that scores this freely is not one you want to need a result against.
Ten wins, five draws and eight defeats from twenty-three is a promoted side’s first season at this level holding its own and then some. One home game left, one point required, and a promotion play-off on the other side of it.
Eltham North Reserve, Sunday 30 August. Up the ‘Backs.