By Dejan Kalinic
FORMER Melbourne Victory star Kevin Muscat has signed to play for Sunshine George Cross in State League One.
Muscat will play out the rest of the season once he serves the remaining two matches of an eight-game ban imposed for his dangerous tackle on Melbourne Heart winger Adrian Zahra in the A League derby clash on 22 January.
He will be available to play on 24 July when Sunshine takes on local rival Western Suburbs.
Xerri said he was delighted to have the Sunshine George Cross junior back at the club, with the 24 July derby clash against Western Suburbs set to be his comeback appearance.
Sunshines’ football operations manager Jason Xerri said he hoped the signing of Muscat could help kick-start Sunshine’s season. The side sits in sixth place on the ladder with four wins, three draws and five losses.
“When you have a player of Kevin’s calibre, experience and competitive nature – it’s always going to be great for the team,” Xerri said.
“From the club’s point of view, it’s nice to have him back at the club, he’s obviously played his junior football at the club and he’s always had some sort of affiliation there and drops down every now and then.
“It’s nice to have him back, it’s good for the supporters and we can’t wait to see him pull on the red and white jersey again.”
Muscat made his debut for the club as a 15-year-old in the National Soccer League 22 years ago.
He now returns to the Georgies with a wealth of international football experience.
In 1997 Muscat moved from Australia to the Wolverhampton Wanderers and stayed there until 2002 playing 180 matches.
He then ventured over the border to Scotland and signed with the Rangers, where he joined fellow Australian Craig Moore for the 2002/03 season.
The two of them helped Rangers to three domestic trophies.
Muscat’s last club in the UK was Millwall, where he spent two seasons as captain.
At the end of the 2005 season he returned back to Melbourne and the Victory as captain in their inaugural A-League season, where he won two championships in four seasons before announcing his retirement in February this year.
Meanwhile, Sunshine George Cross recorded consecutive wins for the first time this season, upsetting Pascoe Vale 2-1 on Sunday.
A delightful strike from Eduardo Soares gave the Georgies an unlikely victory, moving them further clear of the relegation zone.
Barry Devlin had given the hosts a first-half lead at Chaplin Reserve, only for Pascoe Vale forward Luca Santilli to equalise just after the hour mark.
But Soares popped up to hit the winner.
Xerri was happy with the side’s first home win of the season.
“The boys performed well. From last week (when the Georgies beat Preston 3-0), you could see things starting to click together and basically this week followed on from that and continued the same form – so the confidence is up,” he said.
In a cagey opening, Santilli had the best chance to put Pascoe Vale ahead, but Georgies goalkeeper Marijo Roza denied him in a one-on-one.
The hosts worked into the contest and went ahead two minutes before the break when a Fiachra McArdle corner found Devlin at the back post for a tap in from close range.
It was a more eventful second half as the visitors equalised through Santilli, who capitalised on a spill from Roza, tapping in an easy leveller.
The dangerous Santilli headed over soon after before Roza’s nervous moments continued, forced to tip a shot onto the crossbar.
McArdle went close to putting the Georgies ahead 20 minutes from the end, but his 20-yard free kick struck the crossbar.
But it was Soares, the former Northcote City man, who would be the hero with his second goal for the club, curling home a delightful winner into the top corner in the 77th minute.
In other VPL results, Melbourne Knights went down 1-0 to Oakleigh, while St Albans was also defeated 1-0 by South Melbourne.
