Jonathan Barrientos was asked after the Southern United win what a night like that tells him about his group, and his answer had nothing to do with the title. The goal has been the same all year, he said, but it is week by week, and there are still three games to go.
He is right to hold that line, because the top of this table is tighter than six points suggests. Eltham lead the VPL Women on 43, with Bundoora United second on 37 from 19 matches. Brunswick Juventus sit level with Bundoora on the same 37, except they have played 18. Win the game in hand and the chase is three points behind with two rounds left, and Brunswick are the one side in this division the Redbacks have not worked out. Both of Eltham’s two defeats this season came against them, 6-3 at Eltham North in April and 4-2 at CB Smith in July. The mathematics have stayed this close all season.
Friday’s job is the more immediate one. Ringwood City sit eighth on 21 points, and the reverse fixture in May finished 4-1 to Eltham at home, so the reputation of this one is settled before anybody kicks a ball. The detail underneath is less obliging. Ringwood have drawn six of their 19 matches, the second most in the competition behind Bundoora’s seven, and a goal difference of minus four says they are usually still in the contest when it matters. They took Brunswick Juventus to 3-2 at CB Smith in Round 19 and held Banyule to a draw the round before. This is a side that does not get beaten out of sight, on their own patch, under lights, at half past eight on a Friday night.
Then there is the honest tension in Eltham’s own numbers. Seventy goals is the best return in the division by 21, with Bundoora next on 49, and that attack is the single biggest reason the Redbacks are top. The other column is less comfortable reading. Thirty-five conceded is the highest of any side in the top six, and it is not close: Bundoora have shipped 23, Southern United and Geelong Galaxy 24 each, Brunswick 25, Clifton Hill 32. Eltham have won plenty of shootouts, taking a 4-3 off Geelong Galaxy in July and a 5-4 from Manningham in June, and they have the forward line to keep doing it. Three matches from a title, though, the cleaner path is not needing to.
What Saturday showed is that the group can handle the untidy version. Eltham trailed Southern at half time, Paige Foa levelled on 62 and Izzy Berks won it on 71, and Barrientos said afterwards that knowing his side will not give up from a goal down adds confidence every week. He also said they would focus on their recovery and on Ringwood, which is the whole message in one sentence.
Ballarat City at The Web and Clifton Hill away follow this one. Three weeks, and nobody at the club is counting anything yet.
Kick-off is 8:30pm Friday at Jubilee Park.
Up the ‘Backs.