A huge thanks to Jellis Craig for presenting this weekend’s match report.
A week earlier a four-goal lead had very nearly been thrown away, and the question of whether this side could win comfortably and keep a clean sheet at the same time was a fair one to ask. The answer at Melbourne University ran to six, with nothing conceded.
The best attacking record in VPL Women did exactly what its numbers promise. Isobel Berks scored twice to continue the form that brought her a hat-trick the week before, Claudia Dimasi was on the mark again, and Ally Giovino, Aimie Adcock and Stephanie Katiforis all added their names to the sheet, six goals spread across the front line and a reminder that the threat does not begin and end with one player. Against a Melbourne University side that had conceded freely all season, Eltham were ruthless from the front and patient enough to keep adding to it.
The clean sheet was the part that will have pleased Jonathan Barrientos most. The 5-4 win over Manningham that preceded this had shown the attacking ceiling and the defensive wobble in the same afternoon, and the response was a back line that gave the hosts nothing. In a title race this tight, keeping the other end shut is worth as much as the goals at the top.
That race remains a single point wide. Eltham stay first on thirty points from thirteen games, nine wins, three draws and one defeat, with a goal difference now sitting at plus thirty. Bundoora United keep pace immediately below them, second on twenty-nine and still unbeaten across the entire season after their own 4-0 win over Ringwood City, so there is no margin to relax into. Every result Eltham post is matched, which makes a six-goal afternoon and a clean sheet the ideal way to keep the pressure exactly where it belongs, on the side in second.
Elsewhere in the division the chasing pack stayed busy, Geelong Galaxy United edging FC Clifton Hill 1-0 and Brunswick Juventus seeing off Southern United 2-1. Next opponent Bayside Argonauts beat Manningham 2-1 at home, a result that says the leaders will need to travel to Shipston Reserve with their focus intact rather than expect a quiet afternoon against a lower side.
For now, the job on the road was done and done well. Top of the table, the best attack in the league firing across the board, and the clean-sheet habit rebuilt at exactly the right time. Eltham travel to Bayside Argonauts next Sunday with top spot to protect and a side behind them that simply will not go away.