Indefinite - Port Melbourne 2 South Melbourne 2

Different number, same player. Nick Epifano in action against Port.
Photo: Cindy Nitsos. 

As Guns n' Roses once noted, nothing lasts forever, even indefinite bans. Thus the rumours that Nick Epifano would be in the starting eleven for the game against Port turned out to be true. Sure, he was wearing number twenty instead of his usual number seven, but it was otherwise hard to miss his trademark blonde Basil Brush mop of hair. That, and his name was in the starting line up as mentioned on Twitter.

I don't care how thin we are on the bench, the fact that Epifano played in this game was unacceptable. Regardless of how much respect Chris Taylor has earned during South Melbourne stint, Epifano's poor conduct exists outside the football department. This was meant to be a club matter, and all I can see happening is Epifano getting too many second chances without having to pay appropriate penance. Three days off? A week off? But only until we really need him.

Regardless of whether it's Chris Taylor or the board pulling the strings on this matter - and I don't think it's Epifano, who's just taking advantage of the farcical situation - it's insulting to the fans that this is the course of action that's been taken. For whatever its worth, some booed and abused Epifano, a smaller number encouraged him, but most people offered very little either way - and to be brutally frank, the atmosphere was like a morgue, a phenomenon which is much worse. To have the passion sucked out of the supporter base like that, after all we've been through these past 11 years, it was just devastating to be a part of it. The late push as the fans tried to rally the team home to at first an unlikely equaliser, and then an unlikely winner, only masked the relative apathy that set in during the rest of the game.

As a side note, Epifano's performance was neither very good, nor very bad. He put in more effort than usual when it came to trying to win the ball back, but I don't think I've ever seen a player look more awkward in doing so. Where he looks comfortable with the ball at his feet, when trying to shut down the opposition he has the most unusual gait I've seen, as if like a newly born calf or foal he's still learning how to run. Meanwhile in his attacking forays he did some good things, but mucked up his best chance, a pass into the 18 yard box towards the unmarked strikers.

Luke Adams' back post header sails past Port keeper Stjepan Gal.
Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

Luke Adams' gave us what was probably a deserved early lead when he floated in the back post and headed home, but I never felt like we had control of this match. Aside from that effort, what was a very lacklustre South Melbourne saw a good portion of its better chance fall to Leigh Minopoulos, who wasn't able to make any of them count. Now, this is not as if Minopoulos played badly or missed his shots by miles, but last season - indeed, in the corresponding fixture - he was able to be the difference in tight contests. The problem for Leigh is the combination of his 2014 super-sub performances and his limited opportunities, he has to be seen to be more effective than many other players; the line between between success and failure for him is much finer than for other players.

After we went up Port then had the better chances, but wasteful finishing from their end saw us go into the break 1-0 up. Shaun Kelly's header missed narrowly late in the first half, in what would have created an odd scoreline - 1-1 with both goals from the centrebacks - but he made up for that when he headed home uncontested from a corner to level the scores. It looked like a good corner, but for none of our players to seemingly even get near it was devastating in its own way.

Trent Rixon missed an absolute sitter soon after that - and looked incredibly nonchalant doing it - but Alan Kearney scored from the penalty spot to give Port the lead they deserved. Once again our downfall has been in rushing the play. Bombing it to Milos Lujic might make sense if he's near goals, and someone can pick up the scraps, but doing it while he's midfield and up against two defenders... I don't know. We've mentioned before that Taylor wants the team to play less direct, so there's a message there that the players are ignoring for some reason.

At this point it looked rather unlikely that we would be able to get back in the game, but the introduction of Andy Brennan - who didn't start the game I assume do to concerns about a hamstring twinge from the Pascoe Vale game - added a little more grunt and spark. Mind you, Brennan (and all our wide play for that matter) was made far less effective by the very narrow field provided by the home side. All things considered, it was the narrowest field I'd seen since I used to go watch the South women's team play on Field 13.

Prior to our contentious equaliser, missed handballs were already a bone of contention. It looked like a Port player on the ground in his own 18 yard box clearly handled the ball, but there was no call from referee Shaun Evans, of whom the best thing could have been said that he'd lost some weight since we saw him last. One could talk about some sort of karma then for our equaliser, especially if we include some of the brutal tackles that we'd been in the receiving end of - but neither the world nor soccer work like that. Just accept that it was a dodgy goal, be glad it was for us, and move on.

Next week
The start of a theoretically easier stretch of matches begins with a home match against Avondale Heights on Friday night. What I see is a tough month ahead if for no other reason due to limited manpower.

Andy Brennan off to Newcastle Jets - confirmed
The recent rumours have proven to be true, with Brennan signing a two year deal with the struggling A-League outfit. I think it's all a bit sudden, but you've got to take your opportunities when they present themselves. I, like probably a few South Melbourne fans, will be disappointed to lose Andy, as he was not just a talented player but someone with a great attitude on and off the park - the comment was even made to me once by an insider that he's too eager to learn. The Jets begin pre-season training on June 22nd, and unusually perhaps we get to keep Brennan all the way up until the Dockerty Cup game against Melbourne Knights on the Queen's Birthday long weekend.

2016 Australian Grand Prix pushed back a couple of weeks
Neos Kosmos English Weekly (via AAP) has reported that next year's Australian Grand Prix will be pushed back a couple of weeks - does this mean that we'll be able to host more than one home game during the warmer months, or will some other excuse turn up to prevent that from happening?

Social club news, as osmotically gleaned from the internet and dewy grass æther 
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Smithers, my wallet's in my right front pocket
Oh, and I'll take that statue of justice too..

Everything else
Bad public transport, being offered a lift by Kev, Hainanese chicken rice + curry puff + soy bean drink, schmoozing with the high rollers, it's European!, hanging out with the plebs, Dave Gilmour vs Roger Waters, tailored suits, observing someone drinking VB in an attempt to fit in with the common man, night shift shelf stacking, barcodes and reflexive memory. Also imagining that I overhead someone mention how good this blog is,

Final thought
The effects of a long season are starting to kick in, and we're not even half way through yet.