By Tonci Prusac

Second-placed FC Bulleen Lions will look to keep its unbeaten home record intact when its hosts league leader Avondale Heights in a mouthwatering top-of-the-table NPL 1 clash at David Barro Stadium tonight.

In football parlance, one often hears a game referred to as a six-pointer, which generally applies to a match between two teams where one team leads the other by three points on the table, with the possibility of a victory opening up a six-point gap.

With runaway leader Avondale currently six points ahead of the Lions, the stakes are much higher.

The result of tonight’s blockbuster could very well determine the inaugural NPL 1 champion.

Bulleen will enter the match oozing with confidence following an emphatic display of total dominance in its 6-1 drubbing of the previously third-placed Sunshine George Cross in wet and heavy conditions at Chaplin Reserve last Saturday.

Avondale Heights, meanwhile, scraped through to win 1-0 over mid-table Springvale White Eagles in a sluggish match played in similarly difficult conditions at home.

Tonight’s clash will be Avondale’s first away game in almost a month, having recorded three consecutive victories in the past three weeks at its impregnable Avondale Heights Reserve fortress.

Bulleen is enjoying similar success at home this season, having won three games and drawing twice in five outings.

An ominous sign for the home side however, is the fact that the visitors are coming to David Barro Stadium on the back of nine consecutive victories.

Avondale Heights team manager, Joe Argentino, is confident his team will do well in tonight’s encounter, but is adamant the league leader won’t be cocky.

“We are both calm and confident, going into tonight’s game. We respect Bulleen, they are a great team. At the same time, we are confident that we can win, but not overly confident,” Argentino said.

“We don’t have any injury concerns, certainly none that I am aware of.”

When asked if the Avondale camp was treating this as a season-defining clash, Argentino preferred to take a more conservative approach.

“There is still a long way to go in the season. We haven’t even reached the halfway mark. We will take each week at a time, game by game.”

One of the most compelling battles to be fought on the pitch will involve the strikers of both teams.

Avondale strike partners Opeksiy Khrapko and Jason Principato currently feature prominently on the NPL 1 goalscoring ladder, alongside Box Hill sharpshooter Rinor Muriqi.

They will be looking to get their names back on the scoresheet after failing to score in the past fortnight.

Up the other end of the field, NPL 1 leading goalscorer Joseph Katebian was clearly the man of the match against Sunshine last week, scoring two goals and being involved in two others.

Having scored 13 goals for the season so far, the Bulleen striker will be looking to add to his tally against a disciplined Heights defence.

Although quietly confident ahead of tonight’s showdown, Katebian is not getting carried away.

“We have been playing very well lately and we have hit our straps at just the right time. Our team chemistry is working well for us at the moment, (and) it is something we have been working on in training,” Katebian said.

“If we play our normal game and everything clicks into place, I’m very confident we’ll do well and beat Avondale.

“With the game to be played on a synthetic pitch, regardless of the conditions, it will be a good game. But since we train and play on it, if it stays wet, I’m confident we’ll go into the game with a bit of an advantage.”

Whatever the outcome of tonight’s mouthwatering contest at David Barro Stadium, one thing is inevitable; an NPL 1 2014 season record will be broken.

Listen to all the action LIVE from 8.25pm online or via the TuneIn app (search ‘Live Cast’)

Join in the conversation on Twitter (@nplvictoria) with the hashtags #BLvAH and #NPLVIC