NPL preview: Moreland Zebras v Victory

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Melbourne Victory looks to continue its good run of form when it visits the Moreland Zebras in the NPL2 West on Saturday.

Summary

Victory has won three of its past four matches ahead of the Round 9 encounter at CB Smith Reserve.

Rahmat Akbari’s first-half goal was enough to see Victory past the North Geelong Warriors 1-0 at Elcho Park last time out.

Akbari, 18, has scored three times in his past two starts, having netted a brace against the Bulleen Lions last month.

Victory goalkeeper Branko Skocic, 20, also impressed in the win over the Warriors.

The encounter will mark Victory’s sixth away game in nine to begin the season, and it has three wins from the previous five.

The Zebras are in fifth on the table, while Victory is fourth heading into the clash.

Victory and the Zebras last met in July 2018, with Moreland recording a 2-1 win.

Head coach Gareth Naven’s pre-match thoughts

“Home or away, for us, the more we are competitive in our own training environment, the more we are competitive in every match that we play. It’ll put us in a better position to perform week in, week out, in the NPL competition and that is and will be our focus continually, how competitive can we be in training against each other and create good standards? And how competitive we can be on matchday through the season will define us a lot for this year.”

This week

NPL2 West 2019 Round 9
Moreland Zebras v Melbourne Victory
Saturday, April 13, 3.00pm AEST
CB Smith Reserve, Melbourne

U20 NPL2 West 2019 Round 9
Moreland Zebras v Melbourne Victory
Saturday, April 13, 1.00pm AEST
CB Smith Reserve, Melbourne

U18 NPL West 2019 Round 8
Werribee City v Melbourne Victory
Saturday, April 13, 10.15am AEST
Galvin Park, Melbourne

U15 NPL West 2019 Round 8
Werribee City v Melbourne Victory
Saturday, April 13, 1.30pm AEST
Galvin Park, Melbourne

Last week

NPL2 West: North Geelong Warriors 0 Victory 1 (Akbari 22′)
U20 NPL2 West: North Geelong Warriors 1 Victory 0
U18 NPL West: Victory 4 (Duratovic 1′, Anastovski 31′, Thomason 36′, Cooper 73′) Avondale 1
U15 NPL West: Victory 4 (Gust 35′, Karvounis 48’/52′, Theodorou 56′) Avondale 0

Round 25 tickets