South vs Hume highlights

Kiss of Death, Round 20, 2010

The business end of the season is upon us. Three games to go, teams looking to enter the top five or cement their spots in it. An upside down league with results all over the shop, Alanic as the sponsors, and AAMI Park for the Grand Final. Woopeedoo. On a side note. The lights went off at Dandenong vs Northcote last week in the 58th minute with Northcote leading 1-4. A decision is yet to be released as to what will happen with this fixture. According to section 4.2.3 of the FFV 2010 Rules and Regulations, the game is to be replayed from the beginning as 80% had not been completed. My opinion on this is pretty simple really. Regardless as to the reason why their was a light failure, the game should be restarted from the 58th minute with the score being 1-4.

Bentleigh Greens vs Melbourne Knights
The Greens. Not really worth a write up. The Knights. Come on boys, rescue yourselves by beating the Greens. Bentleigh Greens 0 – Melbourne Knights 2.

Green Gully Cavaliers vs Dandenong Thunder
Green Gully to win this one 3-0 as the Dandy boys will have the lights shemozzle in the back of their heads. Dandenong is failing miserably as expected.

Northcote City vs Heidelberg United.
Northcote is playing really well. Beyond my expectations to be honest. Bergers, well, they are just the Bergers. Northcote City 3 – Heidelberg 1.

Altona Magic vs Hume City
Altona Magic to be relegated after losing this match. Hume to deliver a 0-4 belting.

South Melbourne vs Richmond
An entertaining 2-2 draw last weekend against Hume gave South some hope of ending the season on a bit of a high. Now we just need to give it to Richmond. We still have a mathematical chance of making the finals however slim. South Melbourne 2 – Richmond 0.

Sunshine Georgies vs Oakleigh Cannons
Sunshine to cause the upset of the round. Sunshine 2 – Oakleigh Cannons 0.

Goran Zoric released from Police United

Last week we asked, what's been happening with little Gozza overseas? According to this Thai football blog, he's been released without any indication that he's been picked up by another club. Fark, I'd take him back. Come back Goran, and save us!

All over the shop - South 2 Hume 2

Looked much better going forward, but apart from poor finishing, that hasn't been the real issue this season. Once more, it was the defense that was all over the place, scrambling from side to side in desperate attempts to clear the ball - only that desperation and some poor finishing from our opponents prevented us from losing this game to be honest. Officials were poor again, what looked like a clear penalty in the first half, and a definite onside play seemed to against us - once again we'll have to go to the video for clarification. Oh well, three games to go, and then we can go back to whatever it is people do during the off-season.

Kiss of Death, Round 19, 2010

Five out of six last week. Hopefully you all followed my tips and made your small fortunes. A correct score in South vs Knights, and a Magic win. Now on to this week.

Richmond va Oakleigh Cannons
Richmond are in form and Oakleigh are not. Oakleigh is in danger of dropping out of the top five in the next couple of weeks, and fingers crossed it happens. Richmond will have the 12th man advantage in the faithful at Kevin Bartlett Reserve on a cold Friday night. The cheesecake will run out and the boiled kranskys will be a hit. Richmond 2 – Oakleigh Cannons 1. Oakleigh to score first.

Sunshine Georgies vs Green Gully Cavaliers
The Maltese derby. Sunshine is looking down the barrel of State 1, while Gully is looking to cement its spot in another finals campaign. An Oakleigh loss and a win to Gully will see them move to third on the table. There is no chance of Gully giving this game to the Georgies, and no chance the Georgies will be able to win it. It will be a football bloodbath, which will not live up to derby status. Sunshine Georgies 0 – Green Gully 3.

Dandenong Funder vs Norfcote City
Both teams are fighting tooth and nail to gain that 5th finals spot. Both are playing well, and both have something to prove. Dandy will be tired from the Tuesday night friendly vs the Victory, while Norfcote will be fresh. An entertaining draw down at Dandy. Dandenong Funder 2 – Norfcote 2. Dandy to be 2-1 up at half time.

Heidelberg United vs Bentleigh Greens
The Bergertrons crashed down to earth last week with a 2-1 loss to then bottom of the table Altona Bapdap. An upset of sorts one would say, but I, the Kiss of Death, had it on the cards. Bentleigh has had a change of coach, yet no change in results. Standard practice for a moneybags team. Another upset in this game with Bentleigh forcing a draw, and Andy O’Dell signalling a turnaround in form.
Heidelberg 1 – Bentleigh Green$ 1.

Melbourne Knights vs Altona Magic
The fans wanted their blood last week. They were unlucky against a Peter Zois inspired Hellas. History might be written this week at Somers Street if the Knights lose to Altona Magic. It will be the first time in their 57 year history that they are relegated (Actually, that's not true - various incarnations of the Knights have been relegated before - Paul). Let’s hope not my friends. The Knights have been a club built by hard working migrants, a club that has produced countless talents from schoolboy to international level. A club that has produced international players not only for Australia, but also for Croatia. This is a club which must not be relegated. The players must pull their fingers out and work for not only their fans and the club, but also themselves. Their top might be heavy, but it needs to be heavy from sweat, not from the logo. Do it for Hinko Durakovic, the founder of this great club. Melbourne Knights 2 – Altona Magic 1.

South Melbourne vs Hume City
Last time these teams met, South Melbourne decided to play and give Hume six goals because, hey, they just felt like it. Gianni was in form, Rama received the player of the match award and South Melbourne Hellas paraded the annual ANZAC Cup. Since then, Hellas has been on a bit of a downward spiral. The team is sitting in 8th spot, five points out of the finals with four games including this one to go. A not really convincing enough for my liking 3-0 win over the Knights last week, might not be enough to overcome 3rd placed Hume who trounced Oakleigh 1-3 last week. South will need to lift about three notches if they are to beat Hume. Two notches in the backline and one up front. After Hume, South has Richmond, then Oakleigh away. So the top three in the next three weeks. This is where we must prove not only to ourselves, but also the VPL that we are a team with high expectations. We need to beat these three teams if we are serious about a finals place. Hume, Richmond, Oakleigh and Sunshine Georgies. 12/12 points should be the only target. South Melbourne 2 – Hume City 0.

Good news everyone!

Well, it's not terribly exciting, but Blogger has now enabled little sharing conduits at the bottom of every post - which have existed on other media for like, forever - but which nevertheless allow you to tweet, blog, email and share on Facebook. Not that I think there'll be massive demand for it on this blog in particular, but it's there if you want to use it.

The Peter Zois Show - with special guests

I know that official club communications to the plebeian mass have to be, gah, I hate this word, 'positive' - but surely even the great unwashed out there in internet land can see from this footage that, while yes we had chances, we were incredibly loose at the back save for one man, the great Peter Zois. Also another new commentator. One gets the feeling that everyone left at South will get a go soon at this caper, even the proverbial inanimate carbon rod, before I get anywhere near the microphone. Feels like the succession line for the British throne is shorter. I'm not complaining though, because being a republican one would have to knock back any royal favours and titles which may end up coming my way. It's a matter of principle don't you know.

Wasted all our luck on one game - South 3 Knights 0

Peter Zois must be getting close to sewing up this year's club best and fairest. He saved our arses who knows how many times - the Knights could not get that ball over the line no matter what they tried. For us, De Nittis hit a long range strike, which may or may not have been going over the bar, but the keeper got enough of a hand on to it to take enough momentum off the ball so that it dropped into the back of the net. The second goal was even more comical - a dreadful, underhit bouncing corner eluded everyone at the near post, and De Nittis claimed that too. Gasparis tapped in a late one to make the scoreline look decidedly flattering. Relegation hasn't been staved off just yet, but with four games to go, six points clear and with a positive goal difference, we should be fine.

Nobody tells me squat anymore - more redevelopment guff

Did you know that there's a video render floating around of what Lakeside will look like?



It's reminiscent of the intro to SimCity3. I had to go to the website of the Albert Sailing Club to find this stuff for some reason. Anyway, not much new info, but the following was posted on their site a touch over two weeks ago. Nice to know all that dirt ain't going far, I guess.

For the next 8 weeks the developers will remove 36,000 cubic meters of soil from around the South Melbourne Oval. This soil is going to be used to fill in 'dips' in the public space between the Carousel and the Grand Prix circuit.

Seriously, what a joke

Osagie only gets a yellow for his studs up tackle on Rhodri Payne, goes down like sack of spuds for the first penalty, and Recchia gets called for a handball when the ball has hit his chest and when the ref is blindsided. Footage also includes stunned mullet interview with Joey Yousseff and umming and ahhing chat with Horsey.

Kiss of Death, Round 18, 2010

Oh Zeus. Hopefully by the time this goes to press the chardonnay sipping, clam eating board down at South would’ve done what is right for the club. They know what I’m talking about, and may Zeus inflict five plagues upon you if the axe has not yet fallen.

Now down to the money making side of this weeks Kiss of Death.

Oakleigh Cannons vs Hume City
I’m back to hating the Cannons again, so Hume City will win this in a tight one down at Jack Edwards on Friday night. Turhan Sumbul to get a double. Oakleigh Cannons 0 - Hume City 2.

Bentleigh Greens vs Dandenong Thunder
Bentleigh Greens, the team that will do well because of all the money they have, said someone. Well, well, well, how silly does that someone feel at the moment? Flower power will force a draw at Kingston Heath. Bentleigh Green$ 0 – Dandy Funder 0.

Northcote City vs Green Gully Cavaliers
Norfcote City will take on a resurgent Green Gully this weekend in what will be a cracker. Expect goals and plenty of them. Norfcote City 3 – Green Gully 3.

Altona Magic vs Heidelberg United
Bergers didn’t impress last Sunday against South, but thanks to some ridiculous refereeing decisions they got a 2-0 win. This week I am going with Altona Bapdap to fuck those Berger cunts up. Altona Magic 4 – Heidelbergcunts 1.

South Melbourne vs Melbourne Knights
You know, I have probably caused people to lose their hard earned and other items of value by never tipping against South this season. That is why I am once again going to tip South to beat the Melbourne Knights. Don’t blame me, blame my passion. With or without Vaughan I expect nothing less than a convincing victory over the Knights. I bloody well mean it, too. South Melbourne 3 – Melbourne Knights 0.

Sunshine Georgies vs Richmond
Boring game who cares. Sunshine Georgies 1 – Richmond 3.

Wistful longing for a little bloke who could play a bit

By Hera, we've lost the plot. Struggling to beat sides above us when they aren't playing like total bollocks. It makes you romanticise the glory days... like last year, when we at were able to scrape into the finals. One of the downhill skiing legends of that not-very-formidable-but-still-likely-higher-achieving-than-this-current-mob side was Goran Zoric. Which leads to the question, whatever did happen to Goran? Is he still OK? This photo/desktop/forum signature montage was made in April, or maybe even before that - I stole it off a Thai football forum, but the google translator only created gibberish. Police United are still hovering just outside the relegation zone, in part due to a recent surprise win over top of the table Muangthong United. But what of little Goran's part in all that? I just don't know.

Next time you see Alex Duric, throw a rock at him - he'll thank ya for it!

I can't remember where I saw this first, on Bolasepako or Jakarta Casual, but I know I've seen it in both. Interesting take on things, in it's own way.






S-League players yearn for more passion in the stands

by Shamir Osman, Jul 08, 2010
SINGAPORE - His national team-mate and friend was ambushed, attacked and pelted with stones. But instead of reacting with anger, disgust or wishing ill on the assailants, Aleksandar Duric was jealous of the victim, Mustafic Fahrudin.

The Persija Jakarta midfielder's team bus was ambushed by rival fans, who rained stones last Friday. Mustafic was hit in the head and needed three stitches.

"I wish I would get hit by a stone thrown by an angry fan, then at least I know that there are some people here who really care about their club," Duric, who plays for S-League club Tampines Rovers, told MediaCorp last night.

"I've been here 11 years, and while I can say that the football is progressing, it is very obvious that the support is dying. At the last game against Geylang United at the Bedok Stadium on Sunday, it was so quiet I could hear the crickets," quipped the Tampines Rovers forward.

While Duric condemned the violence against Mustafic, he yearns for the passion in the stands and he is not alone.

Laughing off the incident, Mustafic told MediaCorp: "The people here in Indonesia really love their clubs. I'm very impressed, and I can't help but love it."

For Home United midfielder Isa Halim, the fanatical fans in Indonesia is a big draw.

"Noh Alam Shah showed us videos of the Arema fans, and you can really feel the home support - things like this can really rouse players on the pitch," he said.

Alam Shah and Ridhuan Muhamad play for Indonesian Super League Champions Arema Malang, and they constantly rave about the fanatical support they get.

Home's assistant coach, former Lion S Subramani, longs for the days when fans thronged the stadiums, and he was not referring to the much-vaunted Malaysia Cup era.

"When I was a player in the S-League in 1996, you hardly saw any empty seats, people were even standing at the fences, trying to peep in," he said.

"Something must be done, and it must be a whole Singapore effort - we need sponsors, better marketing, and more money to bring in quality foreign players who can light up the league," suggested Subramani. Shamir Osman

Farewell to the terraces of my youth

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While the performance of the team this season has caused severe angst amongst the Hellas faithful - and rightly so - equally, people have become concerned with the progress of the Lakeside redevelopment. I know that many South fans are both anxious and excited about the redevelopment to our ground - and it's certainly a feeling that seems to exist especially strongly amongst those who live far from the venue, and have no reason to head down that way any longer while there are no games on. At Laverton Market, one of the traders there asked me what was happening, and I've been asked by fellow travellers while watching the reserves at Altona East PAOK. In addition, at the recent game against Altona Magic, I was being asked by readers of this blog as to what the situation was, and I was unable to give a definitive answer beyond what I had been told at the time, in that they hadn't started works yet.

A week has passed since I posted an aerial photograph of Lakeside taken in late June of this year. Within the same day, I was politely informed by a reader's email that they were now woefully out of date - I invited the reader to submit to the comments section, but they've gone one step better and provided a half dozen photos, of which I've selected what I believe are the three best to illustrate what's happened. They're from yesterday as well, so these are very fresh. As you can see, the terraces are indeed gone, as are Waverley Park's wooden seats, finally dead after all these years. The light towers are still there, but the scoreboard and the sponsor banner poles are gone. The toilet block on the outer side is still there though, but the rickety old media tower is gone, and it's about time too.

I thank our reader for their photographs, which while instilling a sense of sadness - both South related and existential - also provide a level of reassurance that things have started happening on this front at last, that we've reached the real point of no turning back now. I will still use the aerial Nearmap photographs when they become available, as I have a fondness for aerial/top down photography, and enjoy the neat, linear effect that the Nearmap service provides. Of course, this operation won't solve our immediate on field problems - that's usually beyond a government that's non-totalitarian - but it does offer a little piece of perspective, perhaps. Don't forget to click on the photos to enlarge them.

More of the same - Bergers 2 South 0

A pretty dire game by both sides, but at least the home side had a plan of sorts, basic as it was in seeking to put forward a series of long balls, and which they executed well enough. All the bad decisions - in particular both penalties looked dubious to these biased eyes - and the six points lost all look irrelevant, for we often look so timid, so bereft of ideas and so lacking in direction, that were we to make the finals, we'd probably just embarrass ourselves as we did last year. Avoiding relegation, which should be a manageable task despite a few tricky games, is now the main goal - and in all honesty, only an appearance in the final of the Singapore Cup could possibly save Coveny. I'm not one to say that first year coaches should never be hired at this level, but it is quite obvious that, thus far, Vaughan has failed to get the maximum out of this squad, and his overloaded midfield and defensive structures have done little to prevent conceding goals and have sapped the little final third ammunition we have as it is.

Highlights from Altona game

A different commentator, a few goals, perhaps a little downhill skiing. Interviews with the usual suspects as well as debutant Jason Ricciuti.

Kiss of Death, Round 17, 2010

Before you get to one of my favourite Kiss of Death segments for this season, you should be aware that our match this Sunday against Heidelberg at Olympic Village has been brought forward from 7pm to 5pm. Now on with the show.





To whom it may concern, the following tips have nothing to do with the strengths of either team. These tips are reflective of how I would like the results to go in order for South Melbourne to continue clawing itself out of relegation trouble. Put your hard earned on these tips at your own peril.


Green Gully vs Bentleigh Greens
Let Gully move up the ladder who cares. I want to see Bentleigh take their bundles of money and slide into State 1. Plus I want to prove someone wrong. Green Gully 2 – Bentleigh 0.

Northcote City vs Sunshine Georgies
Northcote needs to win this one so the Georges can piss off out of this league that they are clearly no match for. Northcore 3 – Sunshine 0.

Dandenong Thunder vs Altona Magic
Draw it is, draw it will be. Exciting 3-3 draw.

Hume City vs Richmond
Richmond to beat Hume away. Hume 1 – Richmond 2.

Melbourne Knights vs Oakleigh Cannons
I don’t like Oakleigh, but if it means I sacrifice one of my favourite teams for South, then so be it. They played the Melbourne Fart last Friday night, but who cares really. Melbourne Knights 1 – Oakleigh Cannons 2

Heidelberg United vs South Melbourne
I wouldn’t take much from the 3-1 win South had against Altona Bapdap, however there were some promising signs. The ability of the team to come back from 0-1 down at the half time interval and dominate the second half scoring two goals. The plenty of missed chances which were created in the second half. Hamid Basma who for me was the best on ground with his constant closing down of his opponent, his ability to get away from the Altona defence, and his guts in pinging shots from every opportunity he had. I have a feeling he will be at South a very long time, and in the process break the club's goal scoring records. We haven’t had a striker like him for years, and I’m talking as far back as the NSL. A young, tall solidly built classic centre forward, with the ability to turn and face his opponent, the ability to try his luck at the slightest sniff of space, and the ability to play the ball to his team mates feet and run off for the return. Kyle Joryeff did well in the second half. His first half was a shambles, but he showed more in the second and was clearly one of the better ones. A colleague of mine tells me that Kyle reads this section of the blog, and after reading last week's absolute ‘cop hell you POS’ moment, was incensed to do better. Apparently he was looking for me as he wandered off to celebrate his goal. Other than that, we must step up a notch against the Bergertrons. We cannot lose this game and it would be a kick start for our storming into the finals….

Lakeside from the sky, June 2010 update

Last time we were able to check up on Lakeside from the sky, courtesy of the Nearmap service, the photo was from April 16th 2010, and nothing had started yet. Nearmap has finally got an updated photo, from June 21st 2010, showing well, not much progress to be honest. Anyway, the goals are gone and there are no lines, as you'd bloody well hope by now. The light towers are all still there. Apart from that, nothing else has changed. The wooden seats are still in, the grass is still green, our beloved scoreboard is still there along with the poles which held up the sponsor banners, Our magnificent occupational health and safety taunting media box is still there. The 1926 stand seems different from the previous photo, but probably mostly because of the effect that being bathed in sunlight instead of shadow has on it. Might have to make a visit in person one of these days to see what's actually going on there. Also, thanks to all the people yesterday at the Altona game who asked about my health and wellbeing after the operation to remove my appendix, it was much appreciated.

Small steps - South 3 Altona 1

The first half was pretty dire from our point of view. A severe lack of creativity, and a propensity to being sliced open by the side on the bottom of the ladder, but who have still managed to score several bags in recent weeks. A deflection helped them get ahead, and deservedly so, and the only plus side seemed to be that there was enough time to claw that lead back. And so it proved, when O'Dor finished off a set piece move just before the break.

The second half was better - better movement, more solid defensively, but still lacking cohesion somewhat going forward - it took another set piece to take the lead, once again finished off by O'Dor, which while it was great to have the lead, it was disconcerting that we were relying on a centreback to do so. Kyle Joreyff took advantage of being in the right spot at the right time from a quickly taken free kick to give us a two goal buffer. A few dicey moments going the other way - including what seemed like a fairly clear handball, albeit I was at the other end of the ground, and you know what my eyesight is like.

For South, the miss of the match went to Hamid Basma, who finally snagged himself a start and probably did enough to keep his spot. After finding himself one one with the opposition keeper, former South custodian with one game to his belt (but what a game!) Andrew Sfetkopoulos, moved across the six yard box meaning he had to beat another couple of defenders, found himself with an open goal, refused to tuck it away with his left, and ended up eventually shooting into the keeper who had recovered his position. Good to get a win, sure, but we'll get done next week at the Bergers if we don't improve substantially.

South vs Altona this week

A reminder that we are playing our catch up game this week against Altona Magic. And by jiminy do we need this win. I don't necessarily believe in pivotal games, that every contest is more important than the last, which is taken to its nadir by the AFL. But bugger that approach. This game is the most important game in our history. Until next week anyway. It's on Sunday at Northcote by the way. And yes, Michael Petkovic has come back to Australia, but he's not playing for anyone important, so meh.