Tara Murray
Uni Hill Eagles are exactly where it wants to be at the pointy end of the FV state league 3 north-west season.
While only in their first season at this level, the Eagles are well and truly in the promotion mix, sitting in the top two with three rounds remaining.
President Firass Ibrahim said it would be an interesting last month to the season.
“That win yesterday [Saturday] got us back on top of the ladder with a game in hand,” he said.
“The five to six is separated by five or six points. After losing a couple of games the win was really important.
“The good thing is the top two go up and that is what we are looking at.”
The Eagles had lost their last two games heading into Saturday’s match with the Westside Strikers.
The club hadn’t lost two games in a row for a couple of years, nor lost at home before that period.
The Eagles scored in the 12th minute through Danny Barakat and they would ultimately be the only goal in the game, with the Eagles winning 1-0.
“It’s been intense the last few weeks,” Ibrahim said. “We’ve had a lot of injuries and we lost two in a row.
“The results went our way on the weekend with the teams we wanted to lose, losing and the teams we wanted to win, winning.”
The Eagles fate and promotion could rest with a couple of matches against Heidelberg Eagles in the last four weeks.
The two teams play a catch up match this Saturday and then again in the final round of the season.
Heidelberg was sitting equal on points with the Eagles as of Sunday, but still had their round 19 match to come on Monday night, after deadline.
Ibrahim said it’ll be a pretty big end to the season.
He said they weren’t looking too far ahead about what a second promotion would mean for the club with the closeness of the competition.
He said they would only look back once the season is done.
In a pleasing sign, their women’s side, which also claimed a state league 4 title last season, is also in the mix for a second straight promotion.
“They are two points from top spot and play Pascoe Vale in a few weeks. They’re beating everyone and we had a draw against them and we’ve only lost one game for the year.”
Meanwhile in state league 1 north-west, Whittlesea United, Whittlesea Ranges and Upfield all suffered losses on the weekend.
