Round Six of the VCL kicked off over the weekend with mixed weather conditions depending on where games were played. Some were treated to glorious sunshine while others played in the rain, but they were always the most enjoyable games as a player weren’t they?

Regardless of the weather, we saw most teams trying to stick to the National Curriculum and play technical football which is encouraging.

Southern Bluetongues continued their excellent run in the Under 13 Boys with a 4-1 win over North East Diamonds, though from all accounts North East didn’t play badly at all. Loddon Mallee drew with South East Cougars in a tense 1-1 game in Bendigo. Northern All Stars had a 2-0 win over Central City and Eastern enjoyed a 3-0 win over Gippsland.  Wimmera South Coast chalked up their second win of the season, defeating North West 3-1 up in Ballarat and Western Wolves played superbly in their 3-0 win over Rivers, with excellent implementation of the 4-3-3 system.

Eastern FC were clinical in their finishing against Gippsland Knights in the Under 13 Girls, winning 5-1. Wimmera South Coast Eagles had a very even match with North West Wanderers, eventually winning 1-0 as did South East Cougars in their match against Loddon Mallee Lightning. Rivers FC played excellently to come from 3-1 behind at half time to draw 3-3 with Western Wolves, though Wolves were electric in the first half. Northern All Stars had a tidy 5-0 win over Central City while Southern Bluetongues defeated North East Diamonds 3-1.

In a similar vein to the 13s, the Western Wolves Under 14 Boys team appeared to be implementing the National Curriculum effectively, enjoying a 7-2 win over Rivers FC in Wangaratta. Nicholas McBride was on the end of some great build-up play from the South East Cougars team as they had a 5-1 win over Loddon Mallee Lightning. The remaining matches were much more even affairs with Central City edging past Northern 2-1, North East defeating Southern 1-0, Eastern overcoming Gippsland 1-0 and North West and Wimmera South Coast playing out an entertaining 2-2 draw.

It was a fairly high scoring week in the Under 15 Girls with most teams playing an attacking brand of football. Western Wanderers and Wimmera South Coast Eagles had a 3-3 draw while Southern Bluetongues drew 4-4 with North East Diamonds. Loddon Mallee were impressive despite losing 3-1 to South East Cougars, that being the only goal conceded by the Cougars so far this season. A goal either side of the break saw Gippsland Knights overcome Eastern FC, Western Wolves defeated Rivers 6-1 and Central City and Northern drew 1-1.

It was a round of great defending and goalkeeping in the Under 15 Boys with five teams keeping clean sheets. One goal was enough for North East Diamonds and North West Wanderers to defeat Southern Bluetongues and Wimmera South Coast Eagles respectively. Eastern and South East Cougars also had solid defensive displays, defeating Gippsland and Loddon Mallee 2-0. Western Wolves had a high scoring match defeating Rivers 7-0, though credit must be given to the Rivers players for the heart they showed throughout the match. In the only match to yield goals for both sides, Northern All Stars overcame Central City 3-1.

Containing the rampant Loddon Mallee Lightning was always going to be a big task for South East Cougars in the Under 17 Girls and despite going down 9-0, there were plenty of positives to take from the game. Western Wolves and Rivers FC traded goals in an incredibly engaging match, the scored reading 5-5 at the final whistle. North East won their match against Southern 6-1, Wimmera South Coast also defeated North West 6-1, Northern defeated Central 4-2 and Gippsland overcame Eastern 3-1 in other games.

Hats are off to the Wimmera South Coast Eagles Under 17 Boys who defeated North West Wanderers 9-0 over the weekend. The high praise isn’t from the score line, but more so for the way the team played. It was a near perfect display of the National Curriculum and a fine example to what can be achieved when playing the right way! South East came out on top in a 10 goal thriller, winning 6-4 while there was also plenty of attacking going on in Rivers’ 5-2 win over Western. Central City defeated Northern while Southern Bluetongues defeated North East 1-0 and Eastern defeated Gippsland 1-0 to finish up the round.