Role reversal - South Melbourne 1 Green Gully 0

After coming through the dross months, and experiencing the brief Southelona sojourn after that, we're halfway back to grumbling again. OK, so it wasn't the most polished performance, but it was no fluke. Gully have their method, we have ours, and it just so happens that we're now at opposite sides of the beautiful/practical dichotomy that our two clubs occupied for a good chunk of the Victorian Premier League era. What a time to be alive that was. Sometimes playing well, sometimes not, but almost always getting bullied by a more ruthless opponent. No one watched Gully games for style, but they got the job done. Of course they still had talent, but their guiding principle was winning. 

That kind of thing - utterly remorseless practical football - doesn't always fly well at South. I mean just look at some of the (very) minority grumbling about the Chris Taylor era, and of course, much of the grief directed (including by this reporter) at Esteban Quintas' teams. Thankfully we've moved on (fingers crossed) from the worst excesses of Quintas' defensive methods, and it's not just Javier Diaz Lopez making 15 million saves (give or take) to keep us in the contest. He had to make some interventions last week, and that was fine. He was a difference, but he wasn't the only difference. The weather was a bit shit, we started slowly, and our coach threw enough of a tantrum to be banished from the bench by the officials. And yet, we weren't second best, and we deserved our win. What else can you want? Yes, more goals, more action, more domination.

But entertainment? It's there in spades. The aforementioned tantrum, Gully's Nahuel Bonada apparently throwing a water bottle from the bench into the stand, some really quite beautifully times sliding tackles from both sides, and occasionally some action on goal, too. Oh, and Andy Brennan came on pretty damn early for an injured Alun Webb, and then got subbed off late because it was ridiculous that he was out there for as long as he was; that's not a complaint about technical output, more about the old gas tank. I agree with his comment from the week before, that running doggies sucks. 

Another three points, and another week hoping that Ajak Riak doesn't get abducted by aliens during the finals.

Next game
Away at Melbourne Knights tomorrow night, in possibly the most anticipated league game between the two sides for a decade. Well, it should be the most anticipated, but you know, no one gives a stuff anymore. 

Is there a curtain raiser?
No. 

Transfers
Apparently the transfer window is still some weeks away, owing to a change to align our local transfer calendar with with FIFA's transfer windows.  

Perfunctory report on the women's team (not a report on perfunctory women)
So, look. It's a chaotic league. We were 2-0 up against league leading Boroondara by the time I got to the ground, 3-0 up by the time I got up into the stand, and 3-2 up by the time I was leaving the media operations box at halftime. By the time I was just tucking into my (above passable) lamb "souvlaki" (it isn't a souvlaki, or even gyros, but whatever), we were at 3-3, and all I could assume was that soon enough we'd be down and out. And yet, we won with a late goal. Now the margin to top spot has been cut to two points, but who knows what the second half of the season will look like with all the A-League players coming in.

Final thought
After mentally preparing for rail replacement troubles, I got almost all the way to Lakeside before the no. 12 tram made us disembark at Park Street. Tram replacement! If I'd known that ahead of time, I would've brought a bag with me to go op shopping. Oh well, at least I had some company on the way back - now that's a rare occurrence these days.