Bendigo City FC has a golden opportunity to force its way off the bottom of the NPL Victoria west conference ladder on Saturday.
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Tenth-placed Bendigo travels to Melbourne to play ninth-placed Sunshine George Cross.
Bendigo and Sunshine are level on 12 points, but City’s goal difference is 30 inferior to its Melbourne-based rival.
Both clubs endured horror starts to the season, but have hit form in the past month.
Sunshine won three games in a row against Eastern Lions, Nunawading City and Murray United before going down 3-0 to Goulburn Valley last weekend.
Bendigo has enjoyed a four game unbeaten streeak, including wins against Murray United and Nunawading City and draws with Dandenong City and Box Hill United.
The clash should be much closer than their encounter in round two this year when Sunshine won 5-0.
The under-20 game is also expected to be close.
Bendigo City will be full of confidence after disposing of Nunawading 6-2 last Saturday.
Sunshine is three places above ninth-placed Bendigo on the ladder. They played out a 2-2 draw in round two.
Meanwhile, the Bendigo City FC junior teams face tough tasks on Sunday.
The Bendigo teams will play Football Federation Victoria and National Training Centre squad teams at the State Football Centre.
First game is the under-12 boys at 10am, while the under-18s conclude the schedule at 2.30pm.