By: Lachlan SHIRLEY

ROUND 15 of the Geelong Region Men’s Division 1 competition kicks off on Friday night (tonight) with ladder leaders Geelong Rangers looking to get back to winning ways when they travel to Village Park to take on second last placed Barwon Heads.

PHOTO: The pitch at Village Park in Barwon Heads will be the scene of tonight’s Round 18 showdown between Barwon Heads and Geelong Rangers

It is expected to be a tough game for the Hammerheads, despite the Rangers’ recent form slump as the home team won’t be carrying too much confidence going into this clash following their devastating 13-1 loss to Surf Coast last round.

Added to that, the last time the two teams met, back in Round 6, the Rangers spectacularly came out from the clash 17-0 victors!

At the moment, table toppers Rangers are still ahead of the pack with 32 points and have a game in hand on second placed Surfside Waves, while Barwon Heads remains second last with 7 points.

Drysdale will play host to the visiting Surf Coast at Drysdale Sporting Precinct to kick off the Sunday aftrenoon games.

Ten points separates the two teams as Surf Coast occupies 4^th spot on the league table with Drysdale down in lowly 8^th position with 15 points.

Last time the two teams met, it was a close encounter at Banyul Warri Reserve with Surf Coast winning the encounter 3-2.

At Lara Recreation Reserve, Corio will take on Lara United. Corio currently sits 3^rd on the table with 24 points, while Lara is seven points behind them in 7th position on the table.

Corio was the winner of the last game played between the two teams when the Eagles won 2-1 at Hume Reserve back in Round Six.

Bottom of the table Breakwater Eagles will host Deakin Ducks at the White Eagle House in Breakwater.

The Eagles still have not won a game so far this season and will most likely struggle against the visitors who defeated Drysdale 2-1 last week.

The memory of the last time the teams met won’t help Breakwater’s confidence either as they were defeated by the Ducks 7-1.

The Ducks will be hoping to extend their resurgent run of late to three consecutive wins after they have won their last two games quite convincingly.

The Eagles have accumulated only one point so far this season, but will be keen to improve on that against Deakin who are 5th on the current league table with a total of 22 points.

In the final match to complete Round 15, Surfside Waves are set to host Barwon at its Shell Road Reserve complex in Ocean Grove.

Surfside has won four and lost one of its last five games and sits second on the table. Last round they were defeated 2-1 by Corio.

Barwon currently sits in 6th position on the table with 20 points, however they are two games behind and did not play last round due to the cancellation of their washed out match against Breakwater.

Last time the two teams met, Surfside was the team that came away with all three points as they easily won that game 4-2.

Surfside will be hoping to return to winning ways after their defeat last round and will be aiming to catch up to the current league leaders Geelong Rangers.

Lachlan Shirley is a young SEDA student, currently doing work experience with FFV Geelong. He will be compiling regular weekly reports on the Geelong Region Men’s and Women’s Division 1 competitions.