By Rory Flanagan (@Rory_Flanagan)

The fixture between Bentleigh Greens & Ballarat Red Devils has been postponed until August 30 due to lighting and lightning issues.

With the two squads raring to go, Melbourne's infamous weather set in and knocked out the power to half of Kingston Heath's floodlights. At the same time, constant flashes of lightning forced the Under 20s game to be abandoned around the hour mark with the Greens leading 2-0, much to the anger of both sides.

Despite travelling all of 135km, the cancellation is probably a blessing in disguise for the visitors who were missing some crucial players in the unregistered Danny O'Donnell, suspended Dane Milovanovic and injured player-coach James Robinson.

Speaking after his side's cool down, Robinson was still looking to finalise his squad.

"I've still got a bit of space. It's got to be the right person, that's the biggest thing for us; we've got to have the right people to come into our squad. If no-one is ready to come into our environment then we'll just give one of our local boys a chance because that's what we're about," Robinson said.

Counterpart John Anastasiadis was disappointed the fixture didn't go ahead.

"100 percent, we were fully prepared, the boys were really pumped up for the start of the season...I feel a bit sorry for Ballarat having to travel all this distance so I apologise to them on behalf of the club, unfortunately it's machines that we couldn't do anything about," Anastasiadis said.

A comment from his grand final press conference was that the Greens' 2014 squad would have a more youthful look. The departures of Dom D'Angelo, Aron Wilford, Dane Milovanovic and Luke Sherbon have been met by the arrivals of Luc Jeggo (20), Lewis Foster (17), Christian Cavallo (17) and Andre McNamara (16).

"There's some good talent coming up now and it's good to see that the NPL will expose that. I'm pretty happy because for too long kids have been lost at that age (16-17), they have the A-League now and we (NPL clubs) will provide that stepping stone for them," Anastasiadis said.

The match has been rescheduled for August 30, Dockerty Cup Grand Final weekend. Should either side make it through to the final, the fixture will be played midweek.