By Marcus Uhe
A massacre of Sandringham saw Noble Park United emphatically punch its ticket into the State League 2 South East competition in 2025, earning promotion from State League 3 in convincing style on the final afternoon of the season.
Needing a win to maintain its miniscule one-point advantage over Heatherton United and hold on to second place, Noble Park left nothing to chance with a 7-0 hammering at Parkfield Reserve to secure its place up the grades.
Elite forward pressure from Noble Park saw Sandringham cough up the ball in its defensive penalty area in the fifth minute, with Shane Tagliaferro poking home a simple finish at close range.
He grabbed a second five minutes later for an early 2-0 lead, and after half an hour the home side made it 3-0, with Victor Poblete turning a sloppy back pass from a Sandringham defender into an easy one-on-one opportunity.
Sebastian Castano made it 4-0 in the 41st minute with a difficult finish under closing pressure from an opponent, before Poblete made it 5-0 in stoppage time with his second of the afternoon.
Poblete completed his hat-trick in the 55th minute to make it 6-0, and a brilliant header from recently-activated substitute Keita Ioka put United into seventh heaven.
They finished the second with 65 goals to be the most potent team in the competition, winning 14 games, losing four and drawing in two.
On just two occasions in 2024 they failed to find the back of the net, averaging a whopping 3.25 goals per contest.
After opening the season with a disappointing loss to Heatherton, Noble Park then went undefeated in its next eight games, which included seven wins, and a 3-1 result over eventual premiers St Kilda.
An awkward three weeks in June saw them lose twice and draw once, before winning seven of its final eight games, and scoring 25 goals in that period.
Noble Park and St Kilda replace Greater Dandenong in State League 2, relegated after bagging just 17 points in 22 matches this season.
Greater Dandenong finished last on the table with four wins, five draws and 13 losses.
Endeavour United will contest a play-off bracket to determine which team joins Hampton Park in moving from State League 4 South to State League 3 South East, while Nole Park Hurricanes will jump from State League 5 South to State League 4 South, having finished second in the fifth tier behind Rosebud.
