Melbourne Victory looks to continue its strong form in the NPL2 West when it hosts Langwarrin on Sunday.
Victory is on a three-match winning streak heading into the Round 15 encounter at Epping Stadium.
Its latest success was a 5-1 thrashing of City in the Melbourne Derby at La Trobe University.
Jack Palazzolo, 18, scored a brace to take his tally to five goals this season – equal with Birkan Kirdar, the 16-year-old having also netted in the Derby.
Brandon Lauton also netted twice in the win to move onto three goals this campaign.
Victory saw 18-year-old winger Nicholas Sette make his return from injury during the win over City.
The club has also made three changes to its squad, with Liston Diaz, Jack Morton and Matthew Bozinovski promoted from the under-20s, replacing Cameron McGilp, Pierce Waring and Jonathan Vakirtzis.
Diaz, 16, has scored an equal league-high 14 goals in the NPL2 West Under 20s competition this season
After four wins in five matches, Victory sits fifth on the table, while Langwarrin is fifth in the NPL2 East.
Head coach Gareth Naven
“I think the progress has definitely been forward. The understanding and the bridging of the gap between youth football and men’s football brings similar challenges every match and I think the biggest challenge is trying to play the right football at the right time, at the right moments.
“I think that’s always going to be a challenge but a good challenge and we’ve just realised how important it is to make sure we’re flexible and adaptable and the one thing that always stays constant is our effort – it must be the same every week. Those things are always important for the group and we’d like to think we can get better at those things at the halfway stage and moving into Round 15 against Langwarrin this weekend.”
This week
NPL2 West 2018 Round 15
Melbourne Victory v Langwarrin
Sunday, June 3, 3.00pm AEST
Epping Stadium, Melbourne
U20 NPL2 West 2018 Round 15
Melbourne Victory v Langwarrin
Sunday, June 3, 12.30pm AEST
Epping Stadium, Melbourne
U18 NPL West 2018 Round 14
Avondale v Melbourne Victory
Sunday, June 3, 1.45pm AEST
Avondale Heights Reserve, Melbourne
U15 NPL West 2018 Round 14
Avondale v Melbourne Victory
Sunday, June 3, 12.15pm AEST
Avondale Heights Reserve, Melbourne
Last week
NPL2 West: City 1 Victory 5 (Kirdar 26′, Lauton 50’/71′, Palazzolo 79’/83′)
U20 NPL2 West: City 3 Victory 1 (Diaz 44′)
U18 NPL West: Victory 4 (Ciantar 9′, Serra 21′, Havales 80′, Tsafkas 87′) Sunshine George Cross 1
U15 NPL West: Victory 0 Sunshine George Cross 1
