Photo: Matt Johnson

Melbourne Victory are set to pounce on former Central Coast Mariners and NPL Victoria product Alastair Bray to fill the vacant goalkeeping role left by the departing Danny Vukovic.

Bray was found kitted out in a recent promotional piece with the Melbourne Victory squad for the TAC’s Towards Zero campaign, and the keeper has been training with the club over the past few weeks to provide competition to current number one Lawrence Thomas.

The 23-year-old has spent the last six months at Gosford under coach Tony Walmsley who opted to sign the former Bentleigh Greens shot-stopper as a replacement for Liam Reddy, who was released from the club in early-December, 2015.

Bray was put through a gruelling trial process where he competed with Hume City’s Chris Oldfield for a spot on the A-League franchise’s roster, eventually signing last January.

His six-month spell saw him make one league appearance for the club, coming in a 3-1 away loss to Adelaide United, where he was one of five goalkeepers utilised throughout a tumultuous 2015-16 campaign, which saw them finish bottom of the A-League ladder for the first time in their 11-year history.

Bray established himself as one of the NPL’s premier custodians, having displaced Stuart Webster for a starting berth with the Bentleigh Greens in 2014, then playing a large role in their march to the FFA Cup Semi-Finals.

The keeper moved to Green Gully ahead of the 2016 NPL Victoria season but signed with the Mariners before the State League season had commenced.

He joined fellow NPL Victoria products and now departed trio Daniel Heffernan (now Goulburn Valley Suns), Tomislav Uskok (Sydney United) and Francesco Stella at the club, the latter reportedly trialling in Italy with Serie B club A.C. Perugia Calcio, having re-joined Avondale mid-season.

In other news, former Melbourne Victory youth captain Joey Katebian is currently with Brisbane Roar, and featured off the bench in their pre-season friendly against Western Sydney Wanderers yesterday afternoon, with former first-team fullback Dylan Murnane featuring for Tony Popovic’s men.