Hoppers Crossing has been awarded all three points from its season opening clash with Sydenham Park in the Football Federation Victoria men’s state league 1 at Grange Reserve on March 24.
The Reds were notified last week that Sydenham Park had used an ineligible player, so their 1-0 loss was overturned to a 3-0 victory.
The player in question was Sydenham Park star Koce Delev, who actually scored the winning goal in the game.
Delev had accumulated a fifth yellow card towards the end of last season, which carries a one-game suspension the following league game, which happened to be the round one clash with Hoppers Crossing.
“It’s a little mix-up on their behalf,” Hoppers Crossing coach Shaun Barbara said.
“To be fair, I don’t think there was any malice in it from Sydenham Park.
“I think that they thought he had served his suspension in the FFA Cup, which could’ve been a simple mistake made unfortunately.
“Like anything, you’ve just got to abide by the rules, and we’ve been given the three points.”
It is the first time in Barbara’s career that he has been involved in a game where his team has been awarded points on a technicality.
Barbara is not comfortable with the manner in which the points were received, but he felt that Hoppers Crossing did enough in the game to get something out of it.
“Realistically, you never want to take points off somebody in this kind of way,” he said.
“You always want to be able to do that on the park.
“To be fair, I thought over the course of the game we deserved something out of the game anyway.”
It was Hoppers Crossing’s first game since being promoted to state league 1.
The Reds went in as underdogs but took it up to a Sydenham Park team that has been a strong club in this division for a long time.
“I think we’d feel like a thief if we played terribly, they had absolutely smashed us and here we are taking three points from them, I would’ve felt embarrassed almost,” Barbara said.
“But the fact we put in an absolutely ripping performance for our first game against what is a top five side in state 1 and had them on the ropes for a little bit, maybe it’s a bit of good karma coming back our way.
“They had the equal amount of chances, but I thought over the course of the game, we were the better side, we played some really good football.”
It was a big day for Hoppers Crossing with a huge turnout to see how their side would fare in a new division. Barbara reckons his newly-promoted team showed it will be no pushover this campaign.
“It was a fantastic day to be a part of,” Barbara said. “They’re certainly one of the better sides in the competition and to be able to compete with them in our first game was really positive.
“The Sydenham Park fans were brilliant, they dug deep … Our fans were second to none as they always are, so it was an absolutely ripping day and a good introduction into the league.”
Sydenham Park said “the club has no comment on this matter” when contacted by Star Weekly.
Meanwhile, both sides won through to the fifth round of the FFA Cup.
Sydenham Park was on song against Ringwood City on Saturday, winning 7-0, while Hoppers Crossing overcame local rival Point Cook, 3-1.
