Senior City NPL football has finally arrived!
It’s been a long off-season for our boys since we secured promotion to NPL2, but our season is set to begin on Friday night when we face Northcote City away.
A re-shuffle of the club’s coaching ranks has seen previous NPL Senior Head Coach John Maisano move into an Assistant role with the A-League Men’s squad.
As a result, last season’s U21 Championship-winning Head Coach, Crisdion Krstevski, will take the reins in the NPL2.
City’s squad has been shaping up strongly with plenty of familiar faces returning from last season for another year in the City system, while a number of A-League Men squad members will feature throughout 2023.
The team’s midfield stocks have also been boosted by the return of Academy product Emile Peios, who is now back with the club following a stint in Belgium.
The likes of Arion Sulemani and Max Caputo will again be spearheading the attack after both (12 and nine goals respectively) had no trouble finding the back of the net last season.
City comes into Friday night’s clash off the back of a strong pre-season which saw it record wins over a pair of NPL1 teams in Bentleigh (3-0) and Oakleigh (4-3), while also recently defeating Melbourne Victory U23’s 3-1 courtesy of a Sulemani hattrick.
It faces a tough challenge to begin its season, a Friday night away trip to Northcote City.
Northcote maintained its place in NPL2 after an up-and-down 2022 campaign saw it finish the season in sixth place on the table.
Dennis Menelaou was their danger man in front of goal finding the back of the net 10 times to finish equal fifth in the Golden Boot race.
Boosted by what are expected to be a big couple of signings in Japanese attacker Takeru and English defender Jacob Lever, expect to see a fiery contest as both teams look to begin their seasons with a win.
Match Details
NPL2 Victoria – Round 1
Northcote City v Melbourne City
Friday 17 February, 8:30pm KO (U21’s: 6:30pm)
John Cain Memorial Park
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