Bare essentials - Dandenong Thunder 2 South Melbourne 2

Apologies for delay in this post getting up, and a pre-emptive apology for it being short and not very good. Feeling a bit flat at the moment, but I've also got some temporary work with the government over the next three weeks which will occupy most of my time.

Got to Dandenong nice and early on Saturday evening, thanks in part to terrific public transport connections. I was early enough to catch most of the under 20s game, but not early enough to catch the first six minutes where we were already 1-0 up. Never mind - within 20 minutes we were up 4-0, and the entertainment potential of the curtain-raiser fell away quickly, as our under 20s romped away to a 9-1 win. The only noteworthy bit was the scorer of Thunder's solitary goal shushing the crowd behind the goal.

The senior game was a classic game between a side that can't score, and a side that can't keep goals out, but which can score. We had no Gerrie Sylaidos, who is on trial with Central Coast along with other Victorian NPL players from other clubs. Don't know how long he'll be gone for, but some people are suggesting three weeks, which is more than what the other clubs are apparently letting their players go for.

We had more Marafiotis than you could poke a stick, provided that you were very poor at pointing sticks at Marafiotis; in other words, two. That was double what I expected to be out there following the tantrum thrown by Pep during the win against Essendon Royals. It was good that Pep was there I suppose, because say what you will about him having a poor attitude and having no right foot, when it came to managing to be hit in the head with the ball from an actual half-decent cross, Pep was very good at that on the stroke of halftime, when we really needed some reward for our dominance.

Nikola Roganovic was also there, despite some claiming he'd been in Bali, or that he would be in Bali. Unfortunately in one of those moments that counted on Saturday night, he wasn't there, slipping over and letting Brandon Barnes score and easier goal than the Thunder striker perhaps otherwise would've scored. It's easy to be harsh here, but the bigger problem was how easily the ball went from one of the end of the field to the other, and besides, at least Nikola is present, which is more than can be said for Alasatir Bray, whose whereabouts are unknown and whose status as an active South player seem to be no more, if terrace talk is to be believed.

Billy Konstantinidis was there for the first time after his suspension, and he made a noticeable difference to affairs, and thankfully also got a goal to get that monkey off his back. Good work by Nick Krousoratis set that tap-in up, and if Nick isn't scoring goals, it's good that he was able to set one up. I thought he did OK, but he did cop a massive bake from Marcus Schroen during the second half, which looked unseemly even if it was the right call. Can we not focus on the positive reinforcement on the field when we're actually playing our best game in weeks and/or months?

The performance was heartening, but the draw was disappointing. Thankfully results in other games went our way, and we edged another point away from the drop zone, and even managed to go up a place in the standings. The rest was the usual - the hopelessness caused by missed chances, the grimacing over overpriced cevapi rolls and tasty exotic sodas, and wondering if how we might save ourselves.

Next game
Oakleigh at home on Sunday, a game many have been waiting for, for reasons which elude me. They say that Nick Epifano has walked or been sacked from Oakleigh. I suppose it could be true. It could also be part of the elaborate ongoing saga that is his stunted soccer career. I suppose it doesn't really matter in any meaningful sense. Not sure if Milos Lujic will play. All it is maybe two fewer ex-Hellas players on the field, and another seven or so left.

More importantly, if we can manage to finagle a win here, and have other results go our war way, we could be nine points clear of the bottom three. I have my doubts about this happening, because I think Oakleigh are a better team than their results suggest, but at some point results are the only reality that matters. And if that's true for us, why not for other teams, too?

This week's curtain-raiser is the Tony Clarke Memorial Match between the Copperoos and Formeroos.

Cup News
I didn't watch the draw for the fifth round live, because I was enjoying a succulent Chinese meal. OK, actually just a bog standard Aussie Chinese lunchtime special of lemon chicken and fried rice. But when I did eventually tune in to watch the stream on delay - wondering in part who would replace Teo Pellizzeri as our host - all the anticipation was done over within a couple of minutes, as we were the second team draw out of the barrel.

We've been drawn against current State League 1 South-East ladder leader Doveton. We've been drawn as the away team, and seeing as how this will be a midweek game and Doveton don't have lights, it looks like the game will be played at George Andrews Reserve. It's very unlikely that I'll be there in person, so if anyone wants to attend and write up a guest report, I'd be happy to publish it.

Final thought
Thanks to Hellas Johnny for giving me and a couple of buddies a lift back from Dandenong and into the city, saving me at least 45 minutes on the drive home.