Existential malaise - Hume City 3 South Melbourne 1

This post is late because I only just managed to get back home via public transport after to walk into the wind after the game back to the station.

If last season was a nightmarish, self-inflicted disaster of a season, it was still possible to view it as an aberration; an overdue or ahead-of-schedule correction to several pretty good years - good years which perhaps existed in spite of good club stewardship rather than because of it.

With four games to go in a second consecutive below mediocre season, we're now wondering at best where and when this meandering operation will end. Will it end in eventual relegation, if not this year or next, then in the year after? No one can really see a way out of this torpor at the moment, and it's a torpor which extends throughout the club. On field it has been an erratic shambles, and off-field there seems to be no energy, no drive, no purpose. That this has happened in a 60th anniversary year - which so far has been celebrated mostly via occasional commemorative merchandise - has some fans particularly concerned.

Worst of all, it seems as if a good portion of those most rusted on South fans have thrown in the towel, if not permanently, than at least for the remainder of this season. Our fan base post-NSL has been cleaved off, then chipped away, and now perhaps we're at the stage where those remaining are being weathered away.  I've long maintained that boasts about club loyalty are just that, and that everyone has a breaking point. Now we're seeing people who would seldom miss a game home or away finding better things to do. Even more concerning, a good deal of those still attending often do so with regret and a kind of self-loathing.

Anyway, from a superficial perspective, the fact that there were four goals in this game at least points towards an extant entertainment factor. The reality though is that the game was a mess. A gale force wind blowing straight down the ground made play extremely difficult. At least we got the nominal benefit of that wind during the first half, not that it actually did us any good. We created three or four pretty good chances, failed to take any of them, and for the rest of the time sent in a whole bunch of wayward crosses that sailed out of play. Of course all this was made worse by the fact that Hume scored into the breeze, with a free kick no less. That was pretty much the game right there, because if we couldn't keep the home team out when they were going against the wind, how were we going to do it when they were kicking with it?

The answer was that we couldn't. We conceded two more goals, which probably looked worse from the other end of the field where I was standing then closer to the action. I suppose it was nice of us to score a goal from a corner a - Gerrie Sylaidos corner - when the game was already done, and by which time most of the behind the goals crew had already left. And at least we fought the game out, which is more than can be said for the tail-end of last season. But the bigger problems remain, and we can only that we'll have a chance to solve them in NPL rather than in NPL 2 (or whatever they remain the the tier below us next season).

There's an old Dr Katz joke about the three most dangerous parts of flying being takeoff, landing, and the bit in the middle, and that's pretty much our situation at the moment. Neither the forwards, defenders, or midfielders are adequately doing their job, though I will be gentler on the defenders for having to put up with a rudderless central midfield operation. There has not been a settled lineup all season, only some of which can be put down to injury, and far more towards recruitment. We can't even keep the nerve of hanging on to the same goalkeeper during a recent undefeated streak, where even if Josh Dorron's performances have been a little iffy, than at least he has been no worse than Nikola Roganovic.

But anyway, that's short term stuff. Who's going to coach us next year? Who would stay? Who would even want to come to us in this state?

Next game / Relegation battle (status: sadly still in play)
Another week, another mixed bag of results for us on this front.

After leading 2-1 at one point during the first half, Kingston lost 5-2 to Gully. The day before, Pascoe Vale had lost 2-1 to Knights. That's the good news.

With four games to go, only a complete South Melbourne catastrophe and simultaneous turnaround in form from either of the bottom two would see us land in 13th or 14th.

Unfortunately for us, a finish in the relegation playoff spot still remains in play. That's thanks to our three game win-less streak, as well as Dandenong Thunder picking up a point at home to Avondale on the weekend.

It could've been worse - Thunder had an early lead, and late on in the piece Brandon Barnes missed what was by his standards a very gettable chance.

So this week's game against Thunder is obviously huge. This is especially the case for Thunder, who need to win the game in order to have any chance of getting out of the bottom three.

A draw for us should be enough to save us in 2019.

Women's team
Not much better news on this front, though at least our seniors are still in with a chance at finals. Last night they lost 3-1 to Bulleen, but considering our very young cohort and the fact that we had to use an outfielder and chief scorer as a goalkeeper as a starter, it could've been worse. First choice keeper was seriously injured last week, and our backup walked out during the week or before that. We even managed to take the lead yesterday and didn't look too bad in general play, in what was a turnover fest in the first half. Second half Bulleen managed to compose themselves and keep us at bay. Sofia Sakalis seems to have a lot on her shoulders, with almost everything useful having to go through her this year, but you hope she'll get a lot out of this season because of it.

Final thought
I haven't really been watching much other NPL this season, and certainly not Hume games, but has that chanting group of theirs been there all season? It seems unlikely to me. Didn't notice them at the earlier fixture between our sides this year. Maybe it's only a special occasion thing. If that's the case, it's nice to think that we still warrant that kind of respect and/or attention. Special props also to the gaggle of teenagers chanting "fuck South Melbourne" and thumping the lid of a bin. You the real deal, not like us who had to be pleaded with to chant by Hume goalkeeper Michael Weier.