Caroline Springs George Cross moving up and eyeing a slice of history before season’s end
Caroline Springs George Cross is storming back up the Victorian football ranks with back-to-back promotions and has silverware firmly in its sights.
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The iconic George Cross is climbing the ranks of Victorian football once more.
Caroline Springs George Cross’ resounding 5-1 win over Doveton on Sunday set a new club record 12-game winning streak and secured it back-to-back promotions.
After sliding back to State League 1 in 2018, the former National Soccer League club and home of Kevin Muscat has stormed back up the ranks and will return to NPL2 in 2024.
The Georgies will look to set another club record in the final three weeks of the season as they vie for the NPL3 championship against the might of Melbourne Victory.
It would be the first time the club has won consecutive championships.
President Mark Sultana took has overseen the club’s resurgence and couldn’t have been prouder.
“It’s been enormous,” he said.
“We think we’re an iconic football club, a club that fell down to the lower leagues and found ourselves literally without a ground.
“We sat down with Melton Council and were given the opportunity to be homed at a beautiful facility and for the first time in a long time the club has been able to train our juniors out of the same venue as the senior group, which is really important.
“We’re an aspiration football club but you can’t do it on your own, you need people, you need fans and
“We need to thank all the past people, like all clubs we’ve had our ups and downs, and I think we’ve been able to rebuild our brand is very important.
“I think we were sitting third last and to achieve this with three games to go is an amazing feat.”
After a difficult start to the campaign, George Cross found itself at the bottom of the table.
However, a 4-1 win over Beaumaris in early May triggered a stunning turnaround.
The Georgies have since knocked off the likes of North Sunshine Eagles 6-3, Melbourne Victory 2-0 and Australia Cup Round of 32 qualifier Goulburn Valley Suns 4-1 to rocket to the top of the table.
George Cross now has a one-point lead on Victory in the championship race with a game in hand, finishing the season against third-placed Nunawading City and relegation battlers Ballarat City and Essendon Royals.
Sultana said hiring former Heidelberg United player and Melbourne Knights coach Eric Vassiliadis as manager had proved a godsend.
“We were fortunate enough to engage Eric, a high-calibre coach, who understood the club wanted to get out of state league and become part of the NPL,” Sultana said.
“Methodically we put a team together to do that, we were on top of the ladder when Football Victoria cancelled the season (in 2021).
“That was a real kick in the guts but we put a plan together to do it again and we did win promotion to NPL3.
“You try and grow your successes, we all know when you put a winning culture in place the expectation is you try to continue that. Everyone likes to jump on board when you’re winning and the momentum grew.
“The first few games we struggled but it’s a testament to our coach, he put the plan in place, turned it around and we’ve been promoted again.
“We’ll go for the championship now.
“It brought a bit of a tear to the eye when I was at home reading some of the Facebook comments, of what is means to people.”
While Caroline Springs has gone from strength to strength, in contrast, State League runner-up Essendon Royals is starring down an immediate relegation.
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Josh Whiteley’s form as been integral to George Cross’ success with the striker bagging 13 goals this season to sit third on the league goalscoring charts.
Daniel Brammall has scored nine goals, while Omar Ammache and Otman Benhaddou have six apiece, as the club has the equal most goals scored in the competition.
At the other end, it has been forced to use three goalkeepers this season, starting with skipper Gian Tapia before Matthew Sesto took over and Aydin Sayan has been between the posts for the last five games.
The Georgies have conceded 21 goals, the second fewest in the competition.
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