After travelling sides dominated round 12 of the Gippsland Soccer League the final four looks set to go down to the wire as clubs jostle for position.

Last Sunday Moe United and Traralgon City had crucial wins over fellow finals aspirants Sale United and Monash respectively whilst in the twilight last Saturday night pre season fancies Falcons and Traralgon Olympians played out a pulsating 4-4 draw.

Ladder leaders Churchill United had a day out against the bottom placed Newborough-Yallourn 7-0 highlighted by four goals from coach Luke Cheney. Hot on the Rams heels in second place Fortuna posted a 3-0 win against Tyers at the Trafalgar Recreation Reserve after Tyers home ground was deemed unplayable.

Falcons 4 dr Traralgon Olympians 4

Falcons goal scorers: Jerry Daniels, Sam Amaira, Owen Newbury, Conor Clarke (pen) 

Olympians goal scorers: Clayton Bell (2), Ivan Vekic, George Demetrious

Sale United 0 lt Moe United 2

Moe goal scorers: Nick Dastey and Kevin O’Farrell

Monash 0 lt Traralgon City 1

Traralgon City goal scorer: Mark Fairbrother

Newborough-Yallourn United 0 lt Churchill United 7

Churchill goal scorers: Luke Cheney (4), Stephen Riess, Taylor Jackson and Tim Dawson

Tyers 0 lt Fortuna 3

Fortuna goal scorers: David Vitale, Josh Tanti and Rayvel Whiting

Round 13 Preview

Churchill United vs Tyers

In a rare Friday night fixture Churchill United is at home to Tyers Lightning.

Hazelwood South Reserve is extremely heavy under foot which should see the Rams passing game curtailed and better suit Tyers counter attacking style.

Last time out Churchill was victorious 5-1 but with club 30^th anniversary celebrations planned for Saturday night expect Tyers to be gunning for an upset.

Traralgon Olympians vs Newborough-Yallourn

On Saturday night Olympians will be hoping in form striker Clayton Bell can give them a winning edge, absent when the Blues drew 0-0 with NYU the last time they met.

The Olympians push most teams but lack consistency and will view this match as the chance to start a run toward an outside chance of a finals berth. 

Fortuna vs Sale United

 

In the match of the round second placed Fortuna hosts third placed Sale United on Sunday afternoon.

 

The Swans have been undermanned in recent weeks and should be back to full strength and they will aim to repeat the dose from round 4 when they defeated Fortuna 2-1.

 

The midfield battle of Sale’s Tommy Nguyen and Ashley Ross against Fortuna’s Joel Baldwin and Owen Kelly will be a highlight.

 

Fortuna should hold the advantage with attacking players Josh Tanti and George Fkaris in great form but Sale’s Jon Piefke cannot be underestimated.

 

Moe United vs Monash

 

Moe and Monash have a long standing derby rivalry stretching back over fifty years and with both teams needing to win to be a finals contender this has the makings of another classic.

 

Last time it finished all square 2-2 but the Red Devils are in a rich vein of form winning four on the trot and drawing with Fortuna.

 

Monash have been up and down and simply must win this match to get its season back on track.

 

Traralgon City vs Falcons 2000

 

The two youngest sides of the competition meet on Sunday with Falcons needing a win to have any chance of making finals.

 

Traralgon on the other hand are outside the four by goal difference and with a game in hand against Tyers the Roosters are a strong chance to claim third place by season’s end.

 

Last time they played City appeared a class above with a 5-2 thumping of the Birds after trailing 2-1 at half time, however Falcons were severely depleted in the goal keeping ranks at the time so too much cannot be read into that result.

 

This should be an end to end slug fest with both teams keen to show case their young runners.