A load of Bull (guest post)

Originally posted on Manny's blog.

It was a cruel way to exit the Cup. South were the better team on Sunday but in football the better team doesn’t always win, and this was unfortunately the case this time. One could say though that we had already enjoyed our fair share of luck. Our Australia Cup run featured two extra time wins, a miraculous upset against Wellington, four matches in Victoria during the national stages, and a draw that would have ended with a dream fixture against Melbourne Victory in the final. Even considering all that though, no one deserves to bow out on a controversial 85th minute penalty. The morning after the match I couldn’t help but feel a sense of what might have been…

In contrast, the feelings in the lead up to the match were universally positive, even to the point of non-South fans wanting us to win and being vocal about it online. A dream fixture was on the line and almost everyone wanted to see South face off against Victory.

Macarthur themselves partially contributed to this sense of hope by virtue of being a bang average team during the tournament so far. They had managed to stumble into the Semi-Finals after looking second best to Oakleigh and some South fans (myself included) saw this as a positive to our Australia Cup chances.

Of course the lead up wasn’t all hopeful. The worst kept secret in the NPL was confirmed during the week when Macarthur themselves announced Harry Sawyer would be joining them for the A-League season. The move was fantastic for Harry, but a huge blow to our chances. Although he wouldn’t be able to face South in the Semi due to being cup tied, it did mean we had to rethink how we would approach the game.

First Half

Question about South’s attack were answered pretty quickly after kick off. South came out firing in the first half with Brennan, Mikkola and Bonada leading the attack. Macarthur on the other hand seemed unable to hold the ball and were left to soak up pressure for the first half hour of the match. South repeatedly entered the Macarthur box, forced a couple of saves and even created a one-on-one chance that should have seen Mikkola put us up one-nil. South did just about everything… except score.

If Sawyer was playing I have no doubt we would have scored in those first twenty minutes. The box was extremely crowded with Macarthur defenders and South struggled to get clear shots away without being blocked. A big body like Sawyer would have created a clear target and found a way to bully through the congestion.

Further up field Macarthur defended aggressively making a number of dangerous challenges which riled up the crowd but failed to find punishment from the ref. The tone set by these early referee decisions certainly went on to play a factor later in the game.

As the half wound down Macarthur got more of the ball and looked to slow down the play, passing it around with no intention of trying to penetrate South’s well organised defence. Their team was coming to the end of preseason and seemed comfortable to let their size and fitness win the game later on. They finished the half with no shots.

Second Half

In the second half Macarthur dominated the possession but South remained well structured in defence and made a number of direct attacking plays. Unlike the first half though where the boys created a few threatening chances, South looked increasingly fatigued and seem to lack the intensity of the first half. Whilst in the first half, shots were being blocked in a congested box, in the second half South was getting the ball into the box but failing to even get shots away.

During the whole game Clarendon were in great voice. It helped that the drummer this week seemed to have improved on his efforts in earlier cup games, but generally the section was fuller and more lively than it had been for much of the year.

Macarthur were a good opposition to support against. Their yellow card match fixing scandal made them an easy target for supporters, and even their signing of Sawyer was banter fodder (give us our Sawyer back). As well as a better turn out from South regulars there were the non-so-regular friend-of-friends, a Puskas banner waving Hungarian addition, a group of kids who sat on the side, and even a strange Oakleigh fan content on sitting in front of Clarendon trying to engage in shit banter.

Crowd wise, the game had the lot except for a goal to celebrate. The largest emotional reaction was towards Tomi Uskok who threatened to fight seemingly the whole South bench after coming off 2nd best in a tough challenge. He would go onto be booed every time he touched the ball for the rest of the game.

Unfortunately the most impactful challenge of the game worked against us. At the 85th minute Macarthur earnt a penalty after a soft collision in the box. It was a brave call from the referee who had been otherwise silent during the game, but the call sent the crowd crazy. Not only was the challenge unconvincing from the spectator side, but the call seemed to be inconsistent with the refereeing earlier in the game. On replays from the broadcast side it looks tough to avoid a penalty, but either way Macarthur scored and left us heartbroken. South went on to lift the intensity but Macarthur ate up the few minutes remaining  including with a needless red card from their scorer Valere Germain.

The final whistle was followed by a flood of boos. Fans flooded the player race to voice their issues with the referees and then turned their attention to our own team which was celebrated with cheers for their huge season. It was a bitter sweet end to 2024 and one of the more memorable seasons of the NPL era. South has played 39 games, lost only 6, won two trophies and gone deep in the Australia Cup. Well done to the team, the staff, the board, the lot. There were low points (the Grand Final loss), but far more high points, and I’ll say it again – this season did wonders to restore the reputation of the club in the wider football community.

Offseason

So what now? The rumour mill has been warming up in recent weeks and we will no doubt see if it has produced anything meaningful. There are NSD murmurings (a mini-season to be hosted in Spring 2025), there are club rumours (Esteban gone) and event player point system shenanigans that will play out in the next season (is Lopez a permanent resident)? The offseason will certainly be eventful, but this week at least, I am welcoming a pause.

Final Note

What about that crowd?