It’s rare that a suburban ground in the outer north of Melbourne provides the common thread for a cup final, but Partridge Reserve in Lalor plays a unique role in the battle between Whittlesea Ranges and Mill Park, two clubs with a backstory that speaks to the strength of amalgamation.
Formed by supporters of AC Milan, Ranges began life as T.E.L. Soccer Club in 1971. Ambitious and with tremendous support from a growing Italian diaspora swarming to the Whittlesea based suburbs of Thomastown, Epping and Lalor, the club enjoyed immense success in the lower leagues of the Victorian pyramid, winning five Championships in nine years, their promotion from the First Division to the State League (now NPL) in 1984 completing a remarkable rise.
For those that can recall, it wasn’t uncommon for Partridge Reserve to draw a crowd in the thousands, particularly when they faced off against rivals Fawkner, Bulleen or Brunswick Juventus. Despite the support, their performances in the top-flight were middling at best and a brief amalgamation with Brunswick Juventus resulted in a couple of seasons wearing the black-and-white of Juve while competing under the Thomastown Zebras moniker.
The merger was far from a success, collapsing within eighteen months before the club competed as the Melbourne Raiders in an attempt to drum up a broader support base as they moved to Epping Stadium. What followed was relegation to State 1 in 2000 and State 2 in 2004, the club falling on difficult times.
Meanwhile, one-time senior club Whittlesea Stallions had suffered a similar fate. A desire to compete in the national league witnessed the amalgamation of Regent and North Reservoir in 1999, and successive promotions saw them in the Premier League, with the club being bankrolled by local identity Ross Follacchio and managed by former Socceroo Ernie Tapai.
The Stallions enjoyed early success and unparalleled support, regularly drawing large crowds of two thousand or more and appearing in Finals in 2003 before amalgamating with Fawkner in 2005. Despite another Finals appearance that season, the relationship ended at the conclusion of the following season, the Stallions losing their Senior Men’s license and resuming as a Women’s and Junior entity.
The merger between the co-tenants in 2010 seemed like a marriage made in heaven, and while the Ranges enjoyed a promotion the following year, the club has struggled to maintain its position in the upper echelon of Victorian football, with successive relegations in 2022 and 2023 landing them in the Victorian fifth tier.
This is where they find their opponents in Mill Park. The Parkers were formed in 1991, with strong links to the Cypriot community, but it wasn’t until the club amalgamated with Sporting Whittlesea, whose roots can be traced back to 1976 as Lalor Florina, that a position in the higher reaches of the Men’s State League became a reality. A move from Findon Recreation Reserve to the now vacated Partridge Reserve in 2021 has witnessed tremendous growth at the club, particularly with its Women and Girls program, but their appearance in a first major final presents a tremendous opportunity to add to lower-level Championship wins in1998 and 2015.
With both clubs safe from relegation and Ranges holding slim hopes of chasing down a ten-point margin to Altona East Phoenix for promotion, all focus will be on the Cecil Earley Plate for a meaningful shot at silverware in 2025.
Both clubs enjoyed a wonderful Dockerty Cup run until receiving their marching orders in the fifth round, each conceding seven goals in heavy defeats to VPL opposition.
Mill Park, coached by former Cercle Brugge and Melbourne Victory winger Andy Vlahos, eliminated Strathmore in the first round of the Plate and accounted for high-flying Balmoral with a goal to Aleksandar Pavasovic in the 80th minute booking the Parkers place in the final.
Whittlesea’s Japanese midfielder Hayato Fukuda scored the only goal in a clutch win against Chisholm United in the opening round, before a remarkable performance from Sam O'Halleron off the bench, scoring five goals in half-an-hour, took the match against Hampton Park United to penalties, where Whittlesea held their nerve for a 6-5 win. Andrea Lombardo will be hoping his team’s luck continues on Saturday afternoon.
There is little to separate these two teams, and the form line is negligible, with their previous three meetings all resulting in draws, suggesting we may be headed to a penalty shootout after ninety minutes to determine the inaugural winner of the Cecil Earley Plate.
2025 Cecil Early Plate Final
Whittlesea Ranges vs Mill Park
Venue: The Home of The Matildas
Date/Time: Saturday, August 9, 1:00pm
Selected Squads
Whittlesea Ranges: 4. Daniel Anagnostopoulos (c), 5. Nemanja Govedarica, 6. Jake Anagnostopoulos, 9. Sam O'Halleron, 10. Joe Coveney, 12. Luke Carbone, 13. Dario Di Napoli, 15. Yayah Khalif, 16. Tanner Kidwell, 17. Theofanis Tzelepis, 19. Alan Neupane, 22. Hamish Inglis, 23. Mo Zwed, 25. Sebastian Marcelino, 33. Oliver Napoletano, 42. Omar Shakir, 44. Gazi Chmayse; Head Coach: Andrea Lombardo.
Mill Park: 1. Ethan Reed, 2. Isaac Krstina, 3. Neil O’Kane, 4. Dean Jancevski (c), 5. Aleksandar Pavasovic, 7. Drae Diacono, 8. Samuel Antoniadis, 10. Yanni Barberoglou, 12. Dylan Archer, 13. Ptolemy Horan, 14. Jack Dreyer, 15. Ken Fujinami, 16. Mitchell Franco, 17. Luke Gallo, 20. Shifa Ahmed, 21. Akim Abdul, 65. Siwoo Sung; Head Coach: Andy Vlahos.
Head-to-Head Record
Played 3
Whittlesea Ranges 0
Mill Park 0
Draw 3
Last time they met
Friday, May 23 2025, 8:30pm
Epping Stadium, Epping
Whittlesea Ranges 1 (Hayato Fukuda 11)
Mill Park 1 (Dean Jancevski 67)
Referee: Senko Rastocic
Whittlesea Ranges: Alan Neupane, Daniel Anagnostopoulos, Nemanja Govedarica, Jake Anagnostopoulos, Jonatan Fernandez (Luke Carbone 67), Russell Kidwell (Sam Ohalleron 87), Hayato Fukuda, Mouad Zwed (Oliver Napoletano 67), Sebastian Marcellino, Nuoman Aliy (Ziyad Dehrib 77), Justin Romeo; Coach: Andrea Lombardo; Cautions: Marcellino 14, Zwed 17, Govedarica 29, D Anagnostopoulos 42, Tzelepis 90+4.
Mill Park: Ethan Reed, James Meli (Luke Gallo 46), Dean Jancevski, Aleksandar Pavasovic, Samuel Antoniadis, Jack Kimber, Matias Barreiro (Mitchell Franco 79), Ken Fujinami, James Thomason (Tetsuto Ikezaki 65), Yousef Hawli, Matthew Papadimitriou (Yanni Barberoglou 65); Coach: Andy Vlahos; Papadimitriou 41, Pavasovic 45+5, Thomason 61, Franco 82.