Desperate Times - Kiss of Death, Round 15, 2012

The end is near. Not many games to go and the top five is still in South's reach, at least mathematically. By South's expected standards it has been a poor run so far. Once again, it’s time to pull the finger out and start getting the results. No excuses, no surrender!

Friday 8:15PM Bentleigh Greens vs Hume City
Both teams are coming off convincing 3-0 wins from the weekend. Both teams need to draw against each other in order for South to keep their top five chances open. Should be an exciting game for those of you who are venturing out to Kingston Heath this weekend. Eat before you go though, as the food out there is questionable. Bentleigh Greens 2 – Hume City 2.

Friday 8:30 PM Oakleigh Cannons vs Green Gully
Oakleigh beat lowly Moreland 0-1, while Gully somehow beat South Melbourne 0-2 at Lakeside. Typical Gully and typical Dobbo. Grinding out the win from nowhere. Oakleigh should be able to grind out a win at home, but irrelevant of what South needs, this game should end up as a draw. Oakleigh Cannons 1 – Green Gully 1.

Friday 8:30 PM South Melbourne vs Richmond

Pfft. South Melbourne somehow lost 0-2 to Gully while Richmond beat the Bergers 3-2. South is in trouble. Seven points from relegation, and four points from the finals, with eight matches to go. What are we going to do? Worst case scenario is Moreland start winning and we don’t. Best case scenario is we win our next seven games and barnstorm into the finals. This can only happen if we start putting away our chances, and stop fluffing them. No team has come to Lakeside this season and outplayed us to get a result. All goals have been conceded from mistakes. Rarely this season have we played away and been outplayed. Changes have to be in the mix for this match, especially in our defence. As much as I love O’Dor, this season he has been too slow to push out his backline. The gap between defence and midfield continues to grow. This needs to be rectified. We cannot allow teams time on the ball towards goal when the midfield has pushed too far forward. With Tom Matthews suspended for four weeks this will only get worse. How depressed am I as I write this. Not many positives to think of.  South Melbourne 4 – Richmond 0. Fingers Crossed.

Saturday 3:00 PM Northcote City vs Melbourne Knights
Northcote copped three at Hume last week, while the Knights upset the bookies with a 1-0 win over high flying Dandenong. Good result for them. A draw is on the cards for this one. Saturday kick off sucks. Northcote City 2 – Melbourne Knights 2.

Saturday 7:00 PM Dandenong Thunder vs Moreland Zebras
Both teams coming off 1-0 losses. A dead rubber. Dandenong Thunder 3 – Moreland Zebras 0.

Sunday 3:00 PM Heidelberg United vs Southern Stars
Was at Richmond last week watching the Bergers slowly add nails to their coffin. They were unlucky not to at least get a draw in their 3-2 loss. Southern Stars were hammered 0-3 by Bentleigh. Bit of argy bargy between the Bergers keeper and Aleksovski after the game with the keeper in full rights. Aleksovski had two corners in the last minute of the game and both couldn’t clear the front post. Probably what cost them the draw in the end. Heidelberg to win their second VPL match for season 2012. Heidelberg United 3 – Southern Stars 0.