Tara Murray
Melton Phoenix’s destiny in FV state league 5 west is in its own hands in the final three rounds.
The Phoenix sit in third spot, two points behind West Point and seven points behind Balmoral.
With West Point having a bye in the final three rounds and the Phoenix playing both the top teams in the run home, the fight for promotion is on.
Phoenix coach Darren Traynor said the top two teams will be promoted, while the team that finishes third will face a state league 4 team in a play off.
“We never do it easily at Maccy Park,” he said.
“We play Balmoral which is the top team on August 11 at home and then the last game we play West Point.
“It’s exciting to be at this point with three games remaining and playing two games against the top teams.
“There’s some big challenges and we’re looking forward to it.”
For the Phoenix it’s the second straight season its promotion hopes have gone down to the final rounds.
Last season it finished second, only goal difference behind Barwon, but missed out on promotion with only one team going up last season.
Traynor said that had made the group determined to seal promotion this season.
“It was a kick in the backside and we are hopefully going to turn that around this year,” he said.
With a catch up round on the weekend, the Phoenix had the weekend off.
Traynor said he would have been happy to keep on playing with the side on a winning run.
“We are in some good form,” he said. “Since Balmoral the first round when we lost, we had had one draw and won the rest of our matches.
“But the whole league had the weekend off.”
Traynor said the playing group was feeling pretty positive heading into the last three rounds.
With the two games against the top two sides both at home, he said they were hoping to see a big crowd down at MacPherson Park.
“I really think it will be effort from the boys that will get us across the line,” he said. “We play two really good sides and we don’t take anything away from them.
“It’s a big challenge and something we are looking forward to as a team, as a club. Hopefully we’ll get the Nix family down there and bring our best.”
