Wrong about everything - South Melbourne 3 Bentleigh Greens 2

I can't quite figure it out, but perhaps we've just got to accept that most of us are going to be wrong about this team and most of these players on a weekly basis, and maybe even on a minute-by-minute basis.

Certainly this season is taking its emotional toll on some of our supporters, in ways quite different from 2018. Where in 2018 one (retrospectively) spent the entire season after round 3 gearing up for a relegation battle, halfway through this season we've been through the highs of two wins in the first three games, an erratic stretch of form which saw the loss of a senior coach, still more erratic form which saw us flirt with the bottom three thanks to dropping points to most of our relegation battling compadres, and yet over the past three weeks have knocked over three of the best credentialed teams in the league.

Now to be fair, some of our supporters are more susceptible to violent mood swings than others. But this season has had a knack of overturning the expectations of even the most astute commentators. Every player is wrong, every tactic is wrong, every signing is wrong, every board maneuver in regards to coaching, player management, and selection is wrong, until things just fall into place and it works. That's not to imply imminent ascendancy for this team, because the next two weeks against bottom half teams could see us drop back into old habits and poor results. But if you're hoping for grinding 1-0 wins for the rest of the year and a seventh place finish, this might not be the season for you. You should instead settle down in front of the heater and watch videos of (stereotypical) Chris Taylor coached South sides.

Though it would be nice to keep a clean sheet, something we've only done twice in the league all season.

Losing Brad Norton to injury early on (and here's hoping it's not a serious one, even though Brad had no hesitation in subbing himself off immediately) wouldn't have helped our cause, especially since he was replaced by the Much Maligned Perry Lambropoulos on the left. Having lost his spot at right full-back to Ben Djiba, Perry is basically in the squad now as cover. One person's misfortune (Luke Adams) plus another's (Brad Norton) meant where one might otherwise play Kristian Konstantinidis on the left, Perry gets a go instead.

Perry's inclusion did stymie our ability to make progress on the left, as Lambropoulos is mich less of an attacking threat than Norton or any of the rest of our full-back options. This meant Pep Marafioti had to work a lot harder on the left in the first half, and he wasn't having a great game before that of Norton's going off anyway.

Having shown some positive signs and an ability to match it with Bentleigh in the first 20 minutes or so, we were overwhelmed bu a superior side for the rest of the half. The Greens were getting numbers forward, and their opening the scoring looked inevitable, except for Nikola Roganovic pulling out some superb saves. Unfortunately another routine defensive blunder from Kristian Konstantinidis cost us a goal.

It was his third goal-costing mistake in four matches, and each of the mistakes was easily avoidable. Against the Magic he could've easily hoofed the ball upfield instead of trying to dribble his way on his own byline; against Heidelberg, he gave away a needless and reckless penalty; and here against Bentleigh, as a cross was cleared by our defenders to the edge of the box and the rest of the defensive line moved up the field, KK decided to sit on the goal-line, keeping the Bentleigh attacker onside when the ball was sent into the box again.

And yet somehow we've managed to not lose any of those games. Go figure.

At least someone's happy - for now. Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

We equalised early enough in the second half from a goal so simple in its execution you wonder why teams don't try it more often. The flu-stricken Gerrie Sylaidos got free on the right edge of the box, shot low and hard across at the Bentleigh keeper, and the resultant spill sat up beautifully for Pep Marafioti to belt home from close range.

Now I'm a Negative Nancy at the best of times, so while the crowd lifted from that unexpected goal, I said to the younger lads behind me (and they can vouch for this), "enjoy the five minutes while it lasts". Well, I was wrong about that, because we held on to the 1-1 scoreline for just three minutes, as Matt Thurtell raced through on goal unimpeded and slammed his shot into the back of the net.

Oh well, being level was fun while it lasted. And how nice would it have been if Marafioti or "he of the hamstrings which are always about to snap" Zac Bates could've slotted one of their chances soon after we had equalised. Anyway, at 2-1 down it's not like it was over, but I felt like we always had more goals to concede and not necessarily any way to match that. Well, I was wrong about that too, as Marafioti - who was playing on the right on the second half - decided to take a speculative low shot from the edge of the box, which took a deflection before settling in the back of the net.

All of a sudden it was 2-2, one felt that anything could happen, even if the most likely scenario was still us losing the game somehow. Before the game I would've been happy with a point, and at 2-2 with about twenty minutes to play, I would still have been happy with that point.

When Jake Marshall (2019's most improved South Melbourne player by a long way) got subbed off, I have to say I was a bit confused and concerned. But looking at the replay - especially of Bentleigh's second goal - and thinking it about it a bit more dispassionately, I think I understand the logic of it; even though Marshall wasn't having a poor game per se, Matt Thurtell was burning past him with pure speed too often.

But then we got the winner thanks to a corner and Kostas Stratomitros being in the right place at the right time. Say what you will about Marcus Schroen's corner taking this season - and it has often been dire - it has also occasionally been good, and when it has we have looked very dangerous from these situations.

Here's the thing - and I may have mentioned it in a previous post about Bentleigh, or I may not have, I can't recall and I'm not going to back and look for it - as good as they are in an attacking sense, they are more suspect defensively this season. Now let's put that in perspective: most NPL defences once you start putting pressure on them look suspect. But Bentleigh have looked particularly vulnerable to me, and the fact that we actually had a go made things happen.

It's a tautology of sorts, I know, but there's no use dying wondering. The corner we scored from? It came because Nick Krousoratis put in a crap ball into the box and the Bentleigh defender freaked out and booted it out behind his own goal line. That's the standard of pretty much every team in this comp once they sense there's any danger, no matter how remote.

Did we ride our luck? Did we look shaky when Bentleigh threw everything at us in the last few minutes? Well yes, of course. Did we get three points? Well actually, yes, we did. I expected at most three points from these past three league games (and really, probably only one) but here we are now with what some might call form or momentum.

We've returned to equilibrium, now can we maintain that?
It was a handy win in other ways as well, because with regards to the relegation battle, the round's other results were a bit of a mixed bag. Oakleigh and Port both won on the road, while Dandy Thunder, Pascoe Vale and Kingston all lost. Probably the most surprising result was Dandy City picking up a point at Avondale, in what may be a chilling sign of things to come.

Still, some of our bottom-half rivals might be looking at the table and wondering - as many of us are - how the hell did we manage to beat three teams on the trot that were sitting in the top six at the time.

That nice run of form has some people already looking up to a possible finals run - after all, we're just three points adrift from the sixth-placed and stuttering Melbourne Knights.

I remain more focused on getting enough points to avoid the drop or a relegation playoff. Though one person is intent on moving the goalposts about what would constitute a points total that would see us safe, I'm keener to stick with the 30 point mark as the initial aim here. At the moment we're three wins and a draw adrift of that target, and if we can't manage at least that in our remaining games, then we deserve to go down.

Next game
Dandenong City away on Friday night. Dandy City have splashed out during the mid-season transfer window, signing Carl Valeri, Adrian Leijer, and Brendon Santalab. Some of you may remember the last two playing for various clubs during the late NSL era, though I'm not sure what they've been doing in the last 15 or so years, as they kinda seemed to fall off the face of the earth.

If you're one of those weirdos who love getting to the grounds by public transport, this might be one to avoid, unless you have a plan for getting back out to civilisation somehow.

The club should demand its $50 back
We made a substitution during the second half, in which the fourth official put up the number 12 on his fancy board as both the player coming off and coming on. These blokes have basically four jobs, all of them very simple.

1. Put up the correct numbers of the subs on their fancy boards.
2. Put up the correct number of minimum amount of injury time minutes to be played.
3. Occasionally tell coaches to get back in their technical areas.
4. Pray like hell that they don't have to actually get called up to do the ref's or the lino's jobs.

That's money well spent across a season, dollars which would could just as easily be spent being put into the pocket of hard working professional NPL players who entertain thousands of people (most of them overseas gamblers, admittedly) on a weekly basis. These fourth officials need to lift their game.

Photo: Luke Radziminski.

Bucket of sand
Does anybody remember the last time a flare was lit at Lakeside Stadium? No, that's not a call for you to rip one and break the drought. It's just that someone noticed the flare buckets on standby during Sunday's game, and people were wondering when was the last time they were even needed.

The best that anyone could seem to recall, people affiliated with Pascoe Vale ripped one during the 2015 semi-final they lost against us. There was a flare confiscated and/or found during that Melbourne Victory game in 2016, but I think that's about as close as we've gotten since 2015. I can't remember the last time one of our fans ripped one.

Mumble grumble (social club kitchen)
Much dissatisfaction expressed on the forum this week about the food service in the social club. Mostly based around how slow it is. Now I usually eat in the social club well before the game, so I've dodged most of in the "just before kickoff and during the game" issues with getting food quickly from our social club.

What I will say is that the social club did look understaffed on Sunday, for reasons I'm not aware of. That certainly added to the problems experienced by several of our supporters looking to get food and drink on Sunday. There was one register open, and one guy responsible for taking order, making coffees, and getting people's drinks. That's not usually been the case the season, but you can see how that caused a lot of problems.

There have been three operators of the social club since the social club reopened, and while the quality and the range of food have varied between operators, the problems remain largely the same. Slow service and an ability to decide whether the social club space is going for speedy match day service (if it is even capable of doing this under its current setup) or bistro style cooked-on-request service.

I'm not in hospitality and never have been, but it seems that there are at least some basic solutions which would alleviate some of the current problems. The first would be to open up the canteen on the side of the grandstand (if it's not open already), and let people know that it is open (seeing as how most people enter the venue via the social club), taking some of the heat off the social club kitchen.

(and isn't getting access to that canteen and outside pouring rights on match days part of what we gave up some of our monthly income for?)

Second would be to get a coffee cart working outside of the social club. We're a winter competition, and some people are understandably going to want a warming beverage. Coffee takes longer and more effort to make than pouring a beer or soft drink. Why would you make it harder to access for punters to access and harder for staff to provide this service?

Third - and this is not my suggestion, but rather a popular one from the forum - just provide food that is easy to prepare, cook, and serve on a speed and scale befitting a soccer match instead of a sit-down restaurant. These people (by which I mean all these people who have attempted to operate the social club) have been experienced hospitality people in one form or another. It boggles the mind how this issue still hasn't been sorted out.

Mid-season transfer period news
Though some people on Sunday said there would be a Peter Skapetis related announcement on Monday, as of Tuesday afternoon there was no Peter Skapetis related news other than to say that there was strong word that he was no longer at Dandenong Thunder, which is the very definition of being neither here nor there.

Then on Tuesday evening, the announcement was finally made that the Skapetis signing had come to pass. Skapetis is a former South junior, who claimed with what felt like something with believability that scoring against us earlier in the season for Dandenong Thunder felt very wrong. He's signed until the end of 2020, but the more immediate question is who is going to make way for him? I'm guessing it's going to be Zac Bates' hamstrings, because you wouldn't drop your leading scorer in Pep Marafioti, would you?

There has also been simmering rumour chat that Canadian defensive midfielder Ethan Gage is on his way out of Lakeside, but as of Wednesday morning, he's still with us as far as I'm aware. Having said that, Gage's not being used in either the midweek cup match nor the Bentleigh game says to me that unless he's injured, there's something wrong here. We'll see what comes of it.

The transfer window reportedly closes on June 4th, so there's still time for lots of stuff to happen, or not happen.

On the couch

Momentary abstraction/Eventual clarity
It's the most curious thing - my zeal for watching other games from this league has returned just as South has managed to win a few games. I wonder what the connection might be? I'm sure I'll figure it out one day. Anyway, for whatever reason I was compelled on Monday night to watch Kingston vs Port Melbourne. I was hoping for a Kingston win, or at worst a draw between the two teams. We didn't get that. Sure, Kingston took the lead, but they coughed it up to, well, a team that deserved to win it on the balance of play. To go back to an earlier point in this post - being entertaining is fun, but perhaps not so much when you're on the bottom of the ladder. At some point you've got to control the tempo of a match, disrupt the momentum of your opponent, and grind out results rather than lose honourably.

Cue, meet rack... wait...
That aforementioned return of a zest for life? Yeah, I ended up at Knights Stadium yesterday because of it. A bit cold and some regret on that front, but I emerged emotionally unscathed, and actually also a bit entertained as well. There was an announcement that a white Toyota was blocking something or other and needed to be moved, and I had a momentary flash of panic that it was my Toyota... thankfully the licence plate number was different, and later on we found that the car was also an Aurion and not a 1989 Camry, which was eventually moved once the announcement was made again, this time in both English and Croatian.

As for the match, either way this turned out would've been funny, but seeing the cash-splashing Avondale bow out after putting the cue in the rack with a 1-0 lead and about half an hour to play, on the assumption (not entirely unreasonable, but still) that Knights would not pose a serious threat going forward, was pretty funny. This was a game whose excellence built up slowly, revealing itself only in the final minutes. A slow start from both team playing between arcs. Then Avondale having a goal cleared off the line by what Twitter says was a clear handball. Then missing a one on one. Then finally taking the lead early in the second half and deservedly so. Five or so more minutes of trying to put the game away seemed to be enough for the visitors, and that turned out to be their downfall. Knights had been ceded the initiative, they managed to get an equaliser, and we were off to extra time. Then Knights took the lead, and Avondale had to figure out how to get their way back into the game. And it wasn't like Knights were going to be hospitable in that - the ball at one stage went over the fence on the Quarry Hill side, and no one, not even the ball boys, made any effort to retrieve the ball necessitating the Avondale player on that side jumping the fence.

Funny thing was the gate was next to him 😂

— Andrew Golub (@andrewg_90) May 28, 2019

It was a stunt made riskier by the fact that it had started bucketing down in extra time. The chances also flowed from both sides after that, with Knights keeper Cakarun making one final, reaching save to preserve their lead, and Avondale sending a header from the resulting corner over the bar. So Knights progress against the odds, while Avondale bow out to chants of "cigane" coming from the Mark Viduka Stand.

Final thought
Googled myself on Google Scholar this week, and found that Andy Harper had cited my now six-year-old journal article in his own recently released journal article. I mean, it was only part of his literature review, but it's something I suppose.

It could always be worse (and some people seem to wish that it was) - South Melbourne 1 Essendon Royals 0

Zac Bates shows of his balletic prowess. Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

It really was a no-win situation. Given our erratic performances so far this year, our unsettled match-day squads, our coaching change, and our inability to score with any regularity, there are few if any South fans who are optimistic about our chances of progressing to the national stage of this tournament.

However that didn't mean that people were necessarily keen on losing this game; at least not until the last 15 minutes or so, knowing that actually progressing through to the next round could summon a worse fate, in the form of a more severe mauling against a more capable opponent.

Or even worse, distracting us from what looks like being another season battling to avoid relegation.

If we found a way to lose this game, the loss would've been rightly called a disgrace. If we'd won it comfortably, it would've been written off as achieving the bare minimum against a lowly opponent, again rightly so. In its own way, it was reassuring that the team managed to find a third, worse option than either of the preceding two: scraping through on a goal courtesy of a long-ball, and a header by one of our defenders placed into the path of another of our defenders, who slotted home like he was an actual striker, and all of that helped by the Royals defenders deciding they didn't need to track back.

So what kind of result would have placated our fans on Friday? Against a state league 1 opponent at the bottom of their division - and with no 'name' players, with the exception of Melbourne Knights also-ran striker Chris Talajic - probably nothing short of 4 or 5-0 win. Well, that didn't happen, and thus we are miserable.

This miserable state was enhanced not just the failure to second, third, and fourth goals, but also by the performances of some players. Giordano Marafioti got a start, looked dangerous at times (as he should against a state league 1 team if he's serious about this whole NPL business), but failed to take advantage of two very good chances in the first half; one from point-blank range, and another where he was one-on-one with the keeper. At under 20s level, missing those is less of a crime, because playing for South under 20s means you're going to get a heap of those chances; in the seniors, not so much.

Brother Pep was brought back in from the cold after two weeks away from the senior squad - due mostly, if one believes to the rumours, to a poor attitude on the training track - and failed to deliver. His lack of a right-foot was highlighted again, and even as one of his few prominent defenders, I can't help but think this is as good as we're going to get from Pep. He's been tried on the left, the right, and up front, and for the most part nothing has worked, and only some of that can be put down to playing in unsettled formations and unfamiliar positions.

Worst of all, after being benched around the hour mark, Pep proceeded to spit the dummy and march down the players race instead of taking his place back on the bench. So, that's probably someone we can chalk down as exiting the club come mid-May when the mid-season transfer window opens.

But who to put in his place? Well, we could do worse than Zac Bates, who showed a bit when he came on to the field (yes, it was only against a bottom of state league 1 club), but his speed was terrific at least, and he didn't look emotionally cooked after an early season spent injured and on the bench. Ben Djiba also continued to look good at right-back, as well as continue to provide the perplexing spectacle of an actual South Melbourne youth team player starting in the side (and not returning to the club to do so after several years away elsewhere) and looking competent.

More perplexing, and hopefully no serious ramifications come from this, was Kristian Konstaninidis being benched after an hour. One would've thought that KK could use all the game he could get, but he was subbed off to the confusion (and some disgust) of a few people, not least KK himself. Someone in forum land is saying that the substitution occurred because of a lost-in-translation moment between player and coach, and hopefully because we did win the game, that the misunderstanding is smoothed over, because we need a left-back desperately in lieu Brad Norton's absence with injury.

For all the angst about the performance, the Royals rarely threatened our goal. There was a goalmouth spill which was eventually cleared, and a sharp header straight at Roganovic. Then the Royals threw everyone forward towards the end, as you would expect. We hit the woodwork two or three times and missed some very gettable chances, which made things more difficult for us, as it has for most of this season. There was even a moment where it looked like we might get an unlikely penalty, when a Royals defender assumed a ball had gone out and thus rushed to hand it to his keeper (who was the Royals' reserve keeper, who had a solid game), only for there being the possibility that the ball had not actually gone out. Soon enough the officials decided that no player could have possibly been that stupid, and normal service resumed.

Anyway, because we could not find a second goal, we spent the last five minutes cowering in the corner. Not that there's anything wrong with that - it's what you should do when you're in front, and trying to secure the win - but it was unedifying within the context of having to do that against a side ranked two divisions below us.

The hyperbolic reaction to the win would be to say that the squad is at best a mid-tier state league 1 side, but that's why you don't rush home and post straight away. For those of us who haven't quite yet obliterated the quaint desire to see their team win games no matter how aesthetically coarse the method, the win was appreciated, even if the performance still left a lot of questions left to be answered.

As always, it could've been worse! Other NPL clubs lost or barely scraped through against similarly or even less credentialed teams than the Royals. Of course no one cares about those other NPL teams and their near or actual failures, because they are not carrying South Melbourne cultural baggage. It's the price we pay for continuing to support Australia's has-been soccer club.

Hat report
There were new, limited edition hats and caps available at the merch stand, for those who care about such things. Some of them were trucker hats. Not being a trucker, it didn't seem right for me to buy one. Plus I already have my pompom beanie anyway, and who cares if the temperature is pushing 30 degrees in the middle of April.

It was good to see Nikola Roganovic come out with a hat in the second half - not only is that sun-smart, but it also helps avoid situations like this. More confounding was Gerrie Sylaidos' choice of head-wear. By now we are all familiar with the fact that he wears a sort of light beanie during games, usually a white one. But what was the deal with the navy/dark variation used in Friday? It was very warm out there, and we all know that dark colours absorb light and/or heat much more than light colours do.

Music report
Well, after complaining that last week's stadium music, once again we had some variation of the Queer as Folk soundtrack. And then at half-time, we had some variation of a Triple M All-Time Greatest BBQ/Driving/Drinking songs compilation. Is that an improvement? Yes, I suppose so. If you're wondering where exactly I hope my complaints about the stadium music selections end up, it's with the soundtrack to SimCity 3000 being played over the public address system in all of its light-jazz, proto-vaporwave glory.

Next game
Dandenong Thunder away next Saturday night. Since the match falls on Orthodox Easter Saturday.

Final thought
I was out and about on Saturday morning trying to fix the gaping existential hole in my life by purchasing some music on compact disc (it didn't work), and after discussing the merits of El Perro Del Mar's self-titled album (it's ace in its depressive interpretation of '60s girl groups) and the Manic Street Preachers and Richey Edwards' disappearance, the store's proprietor noticed my South Melbourne hat. Well, that led to a discussion about second divisions and such, and also about Western United, which said shopkeeper said he would support because he lived in the area - until such point as I made the pithy comment that he'd have to be driving to Geelong and Ballarat until Western United built their ground, if indeed it ever got built. Hardly the most thrilling story, I know.

Portent of doom - South Melbourne 1 Green Gully 1

Patience is wearing thin. The initial goodwill on offer is diminishing. Memories of the good (or at least better) performances from earlier in the season are receding into the distance.

Everything feels increasingly toxic. Photo: Luke Radziminksi.

Which is not to say that yesterday was a complete disaster on the field. We didn't lose the game. The performance was good in moments, and erratic in others. There were long stretches of the game, especially in the first half, where we dominated play, but our defensive frailties came to the fore again, and basically the first chance that Gully had, they scored from.  Most disappointingly, the goal we conceded came straight up the middle, where I assume we're meant to have two defensive midfielders to provide cover for our central defenders.

At least we got the goal back very quickly, which calmed down the nerves of the supporters for a few minutes. Krousouratis, who had an energetic but ultimately unfulfilling performance, at least tested out ex-South keeper Jerrad Tyson on this occasions to the extent that he parried the ball to Gerrie Sylaidos, whose patience with the shot seemed to stop time itself. Thank goodness he scored.

There was no Kristian Konstantinidis, who having apparently recovered from the flu (assuming that was the cause of his absence last week), was out this week because he was recovering from an ingrown toenail. One wonders what affliction - real or imagined - will keep him out of next week's game.

(I'm reminded here somewhat tangentially of one of our favourite defunct segments, Renco Van Eeken Fruit Watch, where readers of South of the Border were encouraged to keep an eye out for whatever piece of fruit the injured striker was eating during the 2013 season. But I digress.)

There was no Billy Konstantinidis, who looks like he'll have to wear a five game suspension, unless of course the club finds success at an appeal or tribunal hearing on the matter. But assuming the penalty won't be lessened, that's one game down and four to go, including the cup game later this month.

The wind and rain and cold has finally arrived. Hello winter football.
Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

Pep Marafioti, who I have advocated as the most appealing stop gap option for striker, worked hard, was often starved of timely and/or appropriate supply, made some poor runs, and had two chances on goal from which he should have scored at least one. I'm thinking particularly here of the chance in the first half, where was probably offside (uncalled) and had plenty of time to choose a side instead of waiting to be shut down by his opponent.

(The moment in the second half where a few people have thrown him under the bus for not passing to Gerrie on the right wing seem a bit harsh; Pep looked like he was closed down very quickly on that side by his Gully opponent, and only a just over-hit touch on his way to the byline from the same sequence of play prevented a chance being created in the six yard box.)

Other players put up some good moments, and some equally awful ones. The communication at the back is messy at best. Perry Lambropoulos had probably his best game for us at right back, and even offered something going forward for the first time this season (modest as that was), but at his worst almost looked like he tripped over the ball. Hesitation on that side of the field was very concerning. The left hand side seemed to hold up reasonably well by comparison

I continue to struggle in understanding the team setup and the substitution decisions. What's most concerning is that I can't help but wonder if the players think the same way, too. It's quite possible Tangalakis has lost the playing group, or at least veteran elements of it. At Kingston, KK was apparently shouting at him about defensive issues; at Pascoe Vale, Schroen was unhappy about Gerrie being benched; and yesterday Minopoulos shrugged his shoulders and shook his head when Gerrie was subbed off. You have one proven game-breaker, the kind of player a lot of other clubs would love to have on their books, and yet the level of trust or estimation that Tanga has for Gerrie seems far below what many pundits and even more South supporters have.

We're not in the relegation zone, but we're in a relegation battle.

Talk about Tanga's future at the club
Lot of talk going around that he's been sacked, but I'm waiting for the club to make the announcement, and not just because it's still April 1st.

Next game 
Melbourne Knights away on Friday night.

Keep in mind that this match kicks off at 7:45PM, and that there is no curtain raiser.

On the couch
Saturday provided many options, one of which was to go to the senior women's game against Box Hill United at Wembley Park. Checked the PTV site, bus replacements from Camberwell to Ringwood. No thanks. Chucked it on the old YouTube instead, and saw something I hadn't seem from our women's team this season - a team that was switched on from the start. Raced away to a 2-0 start, and the coughed up a goal to be only 2-1 up. The final margin was eventually 4-2 our way, the same as the week before, but this was the best we'd looked in a while. Not a patch on what we were doing last year, and you have to wonder how far we are behind Calder, but it's a long season, and as long we can get to the finals - which we should be able to do pretty easily - we should be able to do something.

Around the grounds
Upscale
Having decided not to go out to Box Hill South, I went out to Ardeer instead for Westgate vs Altona East. So many regrets, not so much for the game which went predictably the way of Westgate (3-0). Westgate have this habit of playing games at 6pm on Saturday nights, which always end up being freezing. Never mind the lights, which are poor, I've been to plenty of games in the cold, but Westgate's home night games are uniformly unpleasant when it comes to the climate. I'd always wondered what the appeal of playing the games at that time was, and all I can think of is that they're trying to get as close to a Balkan mountain village idea of cold. Speaking of the Balkans, some mob called Balkan Grill has taken over the Westgate canteen, and I had to do a double take when I saw someone cooking who was wearing a chef's style white coat; seeing a cevapi roll at $10 and every other option at least $3 more than was a bit of a concern. This is the club that prides itself in being mean street working class - they even call their ground 'The Ghetto', stupid name as that may be. Has the gentrification of Sunshine accelerated that quickly?

Final thought
At least we kept our non-Northcote undefeated run at John Cain Memorial Park going. Small mercies.

The law of averages - South Melbourne 1 Edgeworth Eagles 0

I find myself attracted to the safe and meaningless, and repulsed by the risky and meaningful. There's no risk and little meaning in what South Melbourne does in its day job as an NPL club. When people call such an existence 'living in the wilderness', it's not merely an existential turn of phrase. Like wild animals left to roam free and undisturbed, people only pay attention to us occasionally, most usually when an Oz Soccer David Attenborough type comes drifting in to take stock of our oddness, before moving on to the next oddball species.

However events like last night's match much more resembled a zoo. We were there not just to play a game, but also to be marveled and gawked at by the audience at home, neutrals and unfamiliars at the game, and the roving cameramen and photographers. It was quite unlike anything I'd ever experienced at a soccer match. Since the NSL ended, we've had games with bigger crowds than this, games with actual silverware on the line as opposed to the most rank outside chance of achieving such in four month's time. But nothing quite like a situation where Lakeside and the club were the main point of interest.

An inflated special occasion Clarendon Corner in action last night
against Edgeworth. Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

So apart from feeling compelled to eat down the road because the social club was being used for a sold-out pre-game function - and I'm led to believe by some that got to Lakeside earlier than I did that the transition from private to public function wasn't entirely smooth - one found oneself on the terraces not only with a couple of thousand of more or less strangers, but also sharing Clarendon Corner with people I wouldn't know from a bar of soap. Of course the club in its public pronouncements spun it a different way, framing the match as a dress rehearsal for what they hope is something bigger.

And speaking of dress rehearsals, what about going for the Kappa kit last night as opposed to a Puma one? It was rather like the use of BLK as opposed to Adidas for the Palm Beach game two years ago, do not be surprised to see Kappa become our kit sponsor next season. Of course with Kappa being the signature label of the 1990s Altona North effnik techno bunny test station KISS (or Hitz or KIX or Stomp or Clomp or some piece of crap) FM listening demographic, that rules me out of buying any merch next year. - unless it's a beanie with a pompom.

Anyway, while I don't begrudge the club framing the match as a sort of top-flight audition, I and others have an issue in the things said as part of that process. But that's no secret, and if one must turn to someone who almost by necessity bucks this trend, it's Chris Taylor. Taylor acknowledges the importance of the team's success in the FFA Cup and the implied magnitude of the opportunity, but he also has to make sure the players don't get too far ahead of themselves, and instead treat the game on the field on its own merits.

Alas, at South Melbourne that's probably an impossible task to accomplish. Everyone has expectations, and the players are no different, regardless of whether they were there two years ago against Palm Beach, were making their South FFA Cup national stage debut last night, or had experience of playing on bigger stages than this one. None of it seemed to make a difference early on for us, because even if we didn't exactly crumple under both the implied pressure of the occasion and the real pressure of our opponent, we didn't exactly set the world on fire either.

The first half had a a measure of ebb and flow about it, but no one is under the illusion that anyone other than Edgeworth should have led at halftime. We relied on Nikola Roganovic being right on top of his game, Jesse Daley just manging a goal line clearance onto the crossbar and out, and Daniel McBreen butchering the best chance of the entire game just before halftime, to keep things level. At that point I was wondering how we would come out in the second half, and not much more than that - things were getting too hectic and nervy to pay attention to the fact that unlike every other team in our league, Edgeworth played with two up front.

That we started the second half a lot better didn't entirely reassure me. 'How long is this going to last?' I wondered. As it turned out, apart from probably one more chance for the visitors requiring another Roganovic save, that improvement lasted for the rest of the match. Our runs forward went deeper, our ball retention lasted longer, and apart from the monotonous and repetitive long ball tactic, we looked far likelier to score than our opponents in the second half.

Milos Lujic had been double-teamed all night, and effectively so. It's not that bombing it into him was absolutely the wrong idea, or the only idea we had, but Edgeworth's tall and tight defense kept close check on our man. I guess the aim then was if there was so much attention being paid to Lujic, that there would be free players in and around the box to pounce on a loose ball and have a crack at goal. Unfortunately that seldom happened, the ball landing unfavourably for us when it was not properly cleared by the Edgeworth defense. The good thing however was that in the second half at least, our midfield had the composure to keep the ball and stick to their plan of moving the opposition from side to side. Granted, this was made easier as the match wore on by several things.

First, Edgeworth clearly didn't have the fitness to keep up for the whole game. I had a decent discussion after the game with one of the behind the scenes folks, who reckoned that had Edgeworth been playing in our NPL, that would be an area they'd improve on quickly, and that they would finish in the top four in our league. I'm not so sure - they'd be competitive, but I couldn't see them finishing higher than 5th or 6th - they just don't have the spread of talent. Second, their lack of fitness was also tied to a conservative game plan, which saw them sit back deeper and deeper as the game wore on. Because so much of their emphasis was on Lujic, and then on negating our left hand side, they also played exceedingly narrow in defense. Thank goodness that the right hand side eventually clicked into gear - helped by bringing on Leigh Minopoulos for the 'having a bad day' Jesse Daley - and the midfield, especially Pavlou were able to do as they pleased.

Once the increased room down the left made itself apparent, our chief weapon of Nick Epifano and Brad Norton overlapping on that wing and crossing the ball started to get into gear. Speaking of the People's Champ, last night was far from his most glorious game in terms of getting on the score sheet or putting in the pivotal pass, but it was by far the most composed and complete game I've seen him play for South. His penchant for losing focus and turning inward was almost non-existent, his willingness to do his defensive duties unquestionable. The slide tackle near the sideline towards the end of the game was a highlight, but the more important stuff of covering his part of the pitch was more noteworthy.

Third, when we needed players to step up, we had them. When Edgeworth needed players to do the same, they were found wanting. At the pub before the game, one of the more perceptive people made the observation that Edgeworth had four good players against our seven. I didn't bother asking about who those seven might be for us, let alone who Edgeworth's four may have been (McBreen? The Japanese guy? The goalkeeper?). It occurred to me however afterwards that the observation played out as being fundamentally true. Millar, Schroen, Daley, Foschini - none had good games. But Foschini's output in the second half improved significantly, and Schroen came into the game late on. He delivered the pinpoint corner to Lujic, who was heavily marked even then, for what was the winning goal which sent us all into pandemonium.

Marcus Schroen and an Edgeworth opponent both go to ground in search
 of the ball. Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

The first half was topsy-turvy, but ended up with Edgeworth being unfortunate not to be ahead. The second half we made our adjustments, had players who hadn't been good in the first half increase their input in the second, and there was little that Edgeworth seemed to able be able to do to counter that except batten down the hatches and wait for extra time and penalties. It's my well-researched opinion that when it comes to the leading sides in each NPL, just about all of them are of equivalent quality to each other. But it's also true that some NPLs are more equal than others. Whatever setbacks and quasi-disasters we've endured at a national level in recent years - the losses to MetroStars, Palm Beach, and Hobart Olympia - it's not for having been played off the park by any of them. At least two of those losses we were all over our opponents, without being able to take our chances. Call this result the law of averages sorting its business out for us at last, at least on the field.

Off the field - the crowd, atmosphere, stadium - is where much of the attention was. I don't think anyone expected a huge Edgeworth contingent to come down for the game, and that turned out to be the case. Situated mostly in the balcony section - they were VIPs I suppose - they made a bit of noise, having the advantage of being able to stamp on the wooden floorboards and having decent coverage from the roof to carry their chants. Too bad for them it took them a while to figure out who they were playing:

Edgeworth fans chanting "we can't hear Olympic sing" Took 15mins & two chants later to correct it to South Melbourne. lol #FFACup #SMFC17

— Steven Chang (@Gixibyte) July 26, 2017

I guess our fame has either diminished in the time we've been absent from the national spotlight, or it hadn't traveled as far as we'd thought it had in the first place. That, or the Edgeworth fans were being casually racist in thinking that every Greek team's nickname was Olympic, as is the case for the main Greek mob in Newcastle, Hamilton Olympic.

Some of their other behaviour was less than endearing though, and that's coming from the perspective of South fans who themselves don't always have the best reputation of being either gracious hosts or guests. Coming up the stairs next to Clarendon Corner, they got a bit lippy, as well as making a few objectionable gestures. Not that I would countenance any retaliation - which from our end didn't happen anyway - but it seemed like a stupid thing to do and something that could've easily led to something worse than moronic banter. From some accounts closer to where they were camped for the match, their behaviour up on the balcony wasn't much better.

The crowd was reported at being 2,622. Being a South crowd, I'm not going to go into the debate about whether the number was 'real' or not. How would I even know? The crowd looked good on the broadcast, and seemed to sound good when there was something happening (or when there was chanting), otherwise it was a lot like the old NSL days of reactive noise, which I don't mind. I hate when crowds become so self-absorbed they don't pay attention to the game. There were a lot of free tickets handed out by the club, and there was clearly an effort - or directive - made to to get as many of our juniors and their parents out there as possible.

But you can hand out as many free tickets as you want, but it doesn't mean people will turn up. Given the opponent, the weather, being midweek and every other complicating factor, I was expecting about 1,500, hoping for 2,000, and glad if we were able to get anywhere near filling the stand. As it was, the match was reportedly the second best attended in the FFA CUP national stage between two NPL sides, and the best between two NPL sides at the round of 32 stage. What does that prove? I'm not sure it proves much beyond what we already knew - that the NPL is of little interest to anyone but a few hundred diehards, and that South has a core following of about 2,500 who can be counted on to come out for 'occasion' matches. Oh, and that should there be bigger occasions, and more favourable fixturing circumstances, we could get more of the old recalcitrant, drifter, fickle South fans back for such games.

Of course it was a relief to win for the sake of getting the national stage monkey off the back. But it was also a relief to win for the sake of not having to put up with the usual torrent of crap that emanates from people who hate us whenever we talk ourselves up and go on to cock up in one way or another. Instead right now all we have to deal with is pockets of online saltiness, mostly based around the usual complaints - Greeks this, ethnic that, chanting Hellas, and something to do with the Crawford Report despite the person making claims about its contents not having read it. But there were also unusually desperate comments, complaining about our playing style, or that the quality of game was not up to scratch. Quite what people like that expect from two semi-professional teams, which play in a second tier whose talent is spread thin across eight or nine divisions, and without the benefit of starting lineups being half made up of visa players, I'm not exactly sure. People are funny like that.

But for every knocker there are people who found the contest at the very least entertaining, and not only for its climactic finish. Which is more than can be said of the broadcaster covering the game. Waiting at the tram stop and watching the Fox Sports coverage of the winning goal on my phone was a little underwhelming - not for the goal itself or the wild celebrations, but for commentators Brenton Speed and especially Simon Colosimo sucking the life out of a 94th minute winner.

@MilosLujic he scores when he wants. We can't get enough of this #FFACup winning goal last night. We're through to the Final 16. pic.twitter.com/fbGsbzDwDF

— South Melbourne FC (@smfc) July 27, 2017

People took the piss out of Brandon Galgano and his over the top call of our win against Dandy City, but at least and the understated Rick Mensik seemed to care about the game they were calling. Still, no tram that terminated early, and certainly no rail replacement bus, could take the edge off the win.

Meanwhile, for those keeping track of these things...
It appears as if our fixture didn't manage to crack 40k viewership on Fox Sports. While obviously finishing too late for Neos Kosmos to do a write up today - though it managed to get brief pieces in on a couple of NPL teams playing A-League teams in the latter's pre-season friendlies. Our current best friends at the Herald Sun got their piece in, while I assume The Age's Michael Lynch had a day off, which is why The Age relied on an AAP piece for its FFA Cup coverage, as did The World Game. Looking at ABC News Breakfast this morning, and Channel Ten News this afternoon, there was no mention of the FFA Cup. But I think someone noted that Channel Nine had something in its evening news broadcast, which if true, would fit insofar as they also featured our win over Dandenong City.

Lest we start howling at the torment of our own irrelevance though, it's worth noting that for 'some reason' Fox Sports persists in showing our FFA Cup games, even without an A-League opponent draw card, and that the wider lack of media coverage says as much about the wider sporting public's disinterest in the FFA Cup and Australian soccer as a whole. The competition may have captured the attention of some dedicated members of Australian soccer, but it has a long way to go before it crosses over to being anything like a mainstream concern.

Next game
Back to league action away to Pascoe Vale on Saturday night.

Final thought
It's rather a minor thing of course, but Fox Sport's on screen scoreboard and clock having us listed by the three letter shorthand of 'SOM' just seems unbalanced at best. What's wrong with a two letter initialism of 'SM'? If they insist on three letters, why not even 'SMH'? Of course, I kid...

Coming up short - South Melbourne 1 Green Gully 2

Luke Adams puts in a cross during injury time. Photo: Cindy Nitsos. 

It's a good thing we've hit the month leading up the FFA Cup proper, and people have stopped caring about our league form. If the loss to Bentleigh in the Dockerty Cup semi final didn't freak out anybody, and a scratchy win against Oakleigh was overshadowed by the antics of Dr Aki, then yesterday was just plain old disappointing. And while some have sought to make claims for being unlucky, or counting it as a sort of blessing for shaking us out of our complacency - a necessary wake up call coming into the squeaky bum time of the season - I would've preferred we got the points and deal with the complacency in a different way.

And to think that we started this game off so well, with our most blistering counter-attack goal since forever. It looked like a fully fledged credible professional goal. Not some fluke long bomb, not a goal mouth scramble, not some dire defensive error, but a ridgy-didge team goal executed with flair and polish. Then we sat back, or least gave Gully too much room to waltz around the middle of the park. I'm not sure if it was an instruction, or something instinctive in the players as a whole, but it has happened on a few occasions this season where we've given the opposition to show initiative for reasons I'm not able to understand - neither do I exactly know who to blame.

I speculate that there was some instruction to sit back from Chris Taylor, because Leigh Minopoulos was sitting quite deep and playing pretty close to Matthew Foschini. Leigh's a good player, but he's not necessarily a defensive or grunt style player, so it seemed odd to me that he'd be so far back. I said to a mate I reckon he'd be subbed for Stefan Zinni, and lo and behold, that's almost what happened in the second half - though instead of Zinni, it was David Barca Moreno who replaced Leigh. But more on that later.

The absence of Michael Eagar due to suspension didn't help matters - his reading of the play both at centre back and on his forays to defensive mid to clean up attacks has been a big part of our turnaround in form. Kristian Konstantinidis, finally back after his long suspension, filled in for Eagar, but it didn't quite feel the same. This is understandable, because Konstantinidis has been out of the game for ages. Still, it was a general issue across the park. Gully's first goal from a corner was the tip of the iceberg - we'd been struggling to clear our lines, and it was only right that they'd pull the goal back from a goal mouth scramble.

That's not to say that we'd given up attacking, and we had our fair share of moments in the first half, but our execution let us down. But the sloppy play cost us at the other end of the ground as well, when Jesse Daley's misplaced pass in midfield, and Jonathan Bounas being allowed to ungracefully stroll through midfield by Daley and Luke Pavlou and launch a bomb. So, 2-1 down at half time, and in the second half more casual defending gifted Gully the chance to extend their lead.

But credit to the South boys, they had by far the better of the second half. A pity that our crosses were dealt with too easily most of the time, and that luck wasn't on our side. But you also make your own luck, and Daley being carded in the box for a dive, and then Millar (the latter at least probably a slip than simulation, but he was certainly claiming the foul).

Nick Epifano shot high from the edge of the area when he should've at least hit the target. Barca Moreno, who did little of note during his stint, missed an open header in injury time - a sharp chance, yes, but one he should score. And Milos Lujic thought he'd be smart and put his penalty shot (earned by a Zinni run) straight down the middle, again, but Lewis Spine didn't fall for it. The short corner played at the death was the stuff of a million South Melbourne short corner nightmares.

The loss is a setback, because having worked so hard to work our way to a share of top spot, we've fallen behind both in terms of points (three behind Heidelberg) and lost a good chunk of goal difference because of the Bergers' solid 4-0 win at North Geelong. Seeing as we have Avondale, Bentleigh, Hume and Pascoe Vale to play - as well as the desperate Knights and Kingston, our aim of finishing top, while not gone by a long short, is now that much harder because of this loss. The saving grace may be

Next game
North Geelong away, in the first of four consecutive away matches. I'm looking forward to this one, except for the getting there and back part.

Social club still ironing out the kinks
There was more refinement in the social club menu, though nothing earth shattering. There was pastitsio on the specials board, and I saw South of the Border favourite Savvas Tzionis trying to make headway into what was a frankly ludicrously huge piece.

It was also the first home game in quite some time with the under 20s playing in the curtain raiser. That meant that at least nominally, membership cards should have been scanned and tickets sold right from the start of the day. When having the women's team play the curtain raiser, FFV rules stipulate that club cannot charge for entry before half time of those games - this is because you're not allowed to charge entry for WNPL games.

But on Sunday, there was talk that entry to the venue was not necessarily effectively enforced. While I had my membership scanned, I didn't notice any security early on making sure people entering did the same or at least buy a ticket. To be fair, I think most people turning up did the right thing - and the security/bag check area outside the door leading to the arena was manned, as usual and asking for proof of membership or tickets.

But it seems like both an inefficient and error prone process. I hope it gets sorted out soon.

So it's come to this, again - FFA Cup draw news
The short version is that we've been drawn at home against Edgeworth Eagles for the FFA Cup round of 32. Our match has been scheduled for Wednesday July 26th - the game will also be broadcast on Fox Sports.

The long version is of course much sadder than the short version, because this is what we live for now.

The club put up the notice that they would open up the social club for lunch while the draw was streamed, and yea verily they turned up in their, well, not too bad numbers all things considered. Of those expected to 'represent' in some sense, there were club employees, some board members, Brad Norton and Michael Eagar. As for the fans, it was made of the self-employed, the non-employed, and those within rock throwing distance of Lakeside - all waiting to see who'd we get put up against in this tournament which I loathe with, if not quite every fibre of my being, then at least those bits that I can spare.

Having flown up a number of coaches up to Sydney for the draw, it made sense that the whole thing would be dragged out for as long as it took, but you've got to pity those who took the day off work to do so and then ended up not being interviewed. Aside from having to do deal with Fox stretching the draw out, the lowlight was having to endure the drone of Kenny Lowe's voice. Call me juvenile, but the highlight of the broadcast for me was host Tara Ruhston being caught off-guard when an ad break finished early with the camera, catching her fixing something on her teeth. I don't know why I'm so easily amused when things go even momentarily and minutely wrong on TV.

Just showing off the ring @TaraRushton ?? #MagicOfTheCup 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/nDvAP7BfHn

— Daniel McBreen (@djmcbreen) June 29, 2017

In the social club there was an unofficial and not very strictly enforced social media embargo placed upon attendees, as the stream was of course on slight but noticeable delay compared to the television feed - you know, to keep the suspense within the social club space itself at a maximum. To be fair, it kinda worked. As numbers were plucked out of the bowl, there seemed to be the inevitable feeling that we'd draw Victory or Palm Beach Sharks Gold Coast City or one of the Victorian teams - though no one seemed to understand that the numbers had no intrinsic value in themselves, and that they were merely representative symbols - having no. 29 picked out is no different to having 156 picked - because no ball had an inherent numerical value,

Then Hume were drawn at home to Bentleigh, and everyone had a big laugh, though on reflection I'm not sure it was actually that funny. I suppose once we get bundled out at the first go again, we can take solace that one of those two will be joining us. And then out came whatever the number was for Edgeworth Eagles, pleasing some people up to a point, but otherwise seemingly leaving no faction happy. Those positively gagging for an A-League tie were left particularly disappointed. I suppose for some it's a missed chance to promote Lakeside as an A-League venue - I mean, in the event that we're still actively striving for that. For others, not going on an away trip was the bigger issue, and I can sympathise - although unlike those hoping for a tropical or exotic escapade - like - Darwin - I was hoping for Hobart or Canberra.

As for possible non-A League home games, Edgeworth aren't exactly anyone's first choice - I think some people would've preferred an old NSL rival. While I'm sure they'll bring down however many numbers that they can, Edgeworth aren't exactly a draw card team. Neither are they an obvious easy beat - after all, they did knock out Bentleigh last year in the national NPL playoffs. In a sense, given the unlikelihood of a big crowd turning up - prove me wrong, bandwagon brigade! - there's not much to gain here for South except progression to the next round. Which, when I think about it, is actually kind of quaint - the event is taking place almost for its own sake. Maybe I've finally found the way I can get on board this farce of a tournament.

Others might be able to make do with spurious nostalgia.

South Melbourne vs. Edgeworth has the potential for Daniel McBreen to play South 17 years after first doing so in the NSL in December 2000.

— Shane Henry (@Hirald0) June 29, 2017

But those people who wanted something where we'd clean up thanks to a big pay day - especially one particular mover and shaker who insisted the draw had been rigged beforehand to put us up against Victory - have been left disappointed. To which I say, suffer in your jocks chin up kiddo, maybe next time. Be like me and remember that of course there's also the usual fact that we have so much to lose - a disappointing crowd and/or a another loss would add to that multi--faceted on the back.

Congratulations to...
South Melbourne WNPL goalscoring machine Melina Ayres, who has been selected for the Young Matildas squad to play a series of preparation matches against Canada and the USA in Canberra, in preparation for the  AFC U19 Women’s Championships. Of course, Ayres having been picked for the Young Matildas before this selection and before she came to South, so it's not like we can take all the credit, but it's a nice thing nevertheless. Someone else is going to have step into the goal scoring breach in her place though, which will be tough as our lead at the top of WNPL ladder is back doiwn to one point after a 3-3 draw away to Geelong in Torquay.

Around the grounds
Yes, we also sell socks at our pro-shop on match days. 
Yes I ended up at a freezing and half blackout affected Somers Street on Friday night for Knights vs Avondale. Watching Knights lose has gotten a bit dull, so I was here to see Avondale as much as anything. Good old Avondale, the team going 1.2222222222222222 goals a game and yet not far off top spot with a couple of games in hand. They led this game early thanks to a penalty, but for those hoping for a Knights collapse, it didn't come. The home side pulled a goal back before the break, and while the game justly ended in a draw, the Knights were the unluckier of the two sides not to pick up all three points. Those who had written Knights off entirely for this season have probably jumped the gun a bit, and one expects a tough encounter for South in two weeks time.

Overclocked
Saturday afternoon was probably the last Paisley Park derby for some time. Altona East were coming off a rare win the week before, but still in second last and in the firing line for relegation to State League 2. Altona Magic have streaked this league, as everyone has expected them to, and promotion to NPL 2 is only a matter of time. It's not unreasonable however to suggest that Magic have overdone the spend this season in pursuit of that aim. Players the calibre of Amadu Koroma, Marinos Gasparis, Joey Franjic, Jason Hayne, and James McGarry make it so much easier. These are all players who should be either in NPL or at worst playing for clubs pushing for promotion in NPL 2. East set up defensively as you'd expect, did well to limit Magic to not much for 44 minutes, then copped a long range effort which hit the crossbar twice and which may or may not have gone in. The out of position linesman gave his assent, and East were stuffed from then on. Two more goals to Magic saw them win this in a saunter. It was actually pretty dull.

Final thought
Credit to the People's Champ for showing some maturity in getting Jesse Daley away from the referee and the Gully players after Daley was booked for diving. Minus credit for the cheap shot the People's Champ gave to a Gully opponent in midfield when he thought the referee wasn't looking.

Is anyone here not a doctor? - South Melbourne 1 Oakleigh Cannons 0

Before that incident midway through the second half with Oakleigh goalkeeper John Honos and Perry Mur and Gus Tsolakis and Aki Ionnas and Lakeside's security and seemingly whoever else happened to be within a ten kilometre radius, this was just another action-packed and fiercely fought contest between these two sides who are apparently rivals.

Now for South fans, our ego will not allow us to think of a club such as Oakleigh as being a rival in any form, let alone being close to the magnitude of our genuine long-term rivalries, but it's no secret that for many that stoic front is just that. As for Oakleigh, we all know exactly how much stock their players and top brass put in beating us, and it must kill them that they haven't beaten us at Lakeside since 2006. Indeed, I think I can still hear their whinging about the 2015 Dockerty Cup final and the 2016 grand final being played at Lakeside echoing off the hills.

That's not to say the game was of some startling quality either before or after this match's key flashpoint. South had recalled Milos Lujic and Nick Epifano from injury, while David Barca Moreno and Leigh Minopoulos were dropped to the bench. It was a mistake riddled affair from start to finish, which is not to say that it was not entertaining. But from the moment Matthew Millar found himself with just Honos to beat but pushing his shot into the post (and boy did those inflatable apples cop a beating for that miss), the game was about trying to find the worst ways to botch play in the final third.

Oakleigh relied on long range shots, and the occasional floated ball into the box which the South defense had more trouble than usual clearing. Oakleigh's best chance in the first half also came early on, when Giuseppe Marafioti found himself with just Nikola Roganovic to beat, but slammed the ball into the oncoming keeper. For South's part, it looked we were too willing to give Oakleigh time on the ball and the freedom to play through the middle. Meanwhile, we were still able to create counter attack opportunities, but were rarely clean enough or quick enough to make them count - one three-on two-opportunity in particular

Marcus Schroen, who has failed to consistently reach the heights of his barnstorming 2016 finals series so far this season and struggled particularly in this match, was subbed off at half time for Stefan Zinni. It was a good move, with Zinni's pace causing Oakleigh's defense all sorts of problems; though yes, one has to admit that the end product in the final third overall remained less than satisfactory.

At least we were more willing and/or able to prevent Oakleigh from roaming free in the midfield. We had better control of the ball, and pressed higher up the field. This led to the slightly odd tactic employed by Oakleigh of having Honos bomb the ball long to his forward line, hoping to find a mismatch or a mistake of some sort; but for the most part the South defense handled this strange tactic with ease. It was a strange tactic to employ in the frequency that the chose to use it, because Oakleigh have some good ball playing mids and forwards, and abandoning their ability to play out from the back seemed to run counter to that.

The most annoying thing by some margin for most of the match was the refereeing of Perry Mur. Usually one of my favourite officials, he had a bit of a stinker. The worst decision of the lot was early during the second half, when Lujic was released through on goal and was wrestled down by Steve Pantelidis. With Milos having won the battle of strength to get the inside lane on goal, there was no reason for him to suddenly stop when he did. It looked about as clear a foul as you could get, with the only question being whether Pantelidis would get away with only a yellow card. But Mur waved play on to the incredulity of the South crowd and match commentator Teo Pellizzeri.

The game's key incident however occurred midway through the second half. Zinni found himself streaming in on goal with only Honos to beat, but instead of shooting decided to go around the keeper. Honos managed to prevent Zinni going around, in the process collecting a stray boot in the face for his troubles. This led to Honos receiving treatment at first on the ground and eventually off the ground on the sideline. One could understand and forgive some more time than usual allowed for this, given that Honos is a goalkeeper, but the situation rapidly got out of the hand as the delay increased to about eight minutes because of some of the most midrange farcical antics I've seen at a South game in these here state leagues.

Oakleigh substitute goalkeeper Billy Akritidis waits to come on, as John Honos receives treatment on the sideline.
Photo: Peter Psarros.

It seemed pretty clear that from the length of time it was taking to see to Honos that he wasn't right and should've been subbed off. Indeed the substitute Oakleigh goalkeeper had not only warmed up but was waiting at the halfway line ready to come on. Then for goodness knows what reason and under goodness knows what authority, Oakleigh's general manager and South Melbourne fan favourite Aki Ionnas came on to the field to sort the situation out. I don't understand under what authority he was there, nor how he was allowed to stay there for as long as he was - among his I'm sure many other glorious attributes, I've never heard of Ionnas having any medical credentials. Did he have a media pass which would give him access to that part of the field? If that's what he used to make it as far onto the field as he did and into the middle of the situation, it would still be highly irregular, because he was not listed as part of the official Oakleigh match day personnel, as you can see below:

This is an extract from Oakleigh's team sheet yesterday - sourced from the full length original posted on Oakleigh's
 Facebook page -which lists all the officials for the day. Notice that Aki Ionnas' name is conspicuously absent. 

His unnecessary interference caused quite a scene. The eight minute delay led at first to annoyance and then anger in the stands. As the South players variously stood around and sat on the ground waiting for the situation to be resolved, some sort of argle-bargle took place in the middle of the grandstand between supporters of the two clubs. From a distance, that situation - apparently mostly between old men - was resolved without it getting completely out of hand, though the Clarendon Corner chant - 'for once it's not us, for once it's not us, Clarendon Corner, for once it's not us' - failed to take off as it should have.

Ionnas' interference has also been described by some people as being negligent with regards to player welfare. Surely it's the doctor's or physio's call first about whether an injured player is healthy enough to safely continue playing; and that the only people with whom that should be discussed are the relevant player, the player's coach, the referee and, at a pinch, the serving team manager - and certainly not some random onlooker with no obvious authority to interfere with the situation and no obvious medical background which would only apply in an emergency situation anyway.

While Honos managed to play on and keep reasonably well for the rest of the game - apart from some fumbles - he later went to hospital for what I assume would've been some emergency plastic surgery in order to fix his busted lip. The whole situation was beyond the ken. Here was a guy who just been accidentally kicked in the face - and who knows if he could've even had some sort of delayed concussion effects - who clearly needed immediate medical attention, and yet by some strange machinations he was compelled by even stranger individuals back out on to the field in order to help his team win a semi-professional game of football in front of a few hundred die-hards.

After all of that, South managed to settle down well enough. Nick Epifano was able to make his way into the box, and was probably unnecessarily knocked over by Oakleigh defender Janiel. I had a bad feeling about the penalty - not its justice, because it was clearly a foul, but rather whether it would be converted - but Lujic put it away nicely.

Milos Lujic sends his penalty right down the middle as a patched up John Honos dives out of the way. Photo: Peter Psarros.

At that point it was the 81st minute, but owing the to the extended Honos-related delay, there was still more than enough time for Oakleigh to get the goal back, especially against a side made up mostly of players who'd played on Thursday. The whole thing ended up going to about 98 minutes, which included the closest Oakleigh would come to a goal. A corner was played short - the marking and awareness of which was pretty by the South defense - the eventual cross deflected into the six yard box, over Roganovic, and comically into the Oakleigh player on the goal line hoping to knock the ball in, but who instead sent the ball away from goal.

Neither team was at its best, but I thought for the most part we had the better of things - especially when it mattered most, on either side of the Honos stoppage. The midfield structures improved in the second half, and considering the three games in eight days we'd had to play, we ran out the game about as well as one would have liked - though another midfield sub may have been useful to nullify Oakleigh's late surge, or to take advantage of their need to chase the game.

The win keeps us on top on close to the barest of goal difference margins from Heidelberg, who had a 2-0 win against Green Gully and look to have shaken off their momentary slump. The biggest result over the weekend was Bentleigh's 2-2 draw away to St Albans, but seeing as there are many final race teams with games in hand - often against each other - the jostling won't be clearer for some time I would think. Still, nice to keep top spot for at least one more week.

Irrelevant trivia section
The substitute goalkeeper for Oakleigh was Billy Akritidis, the son of former Channel 31 soccer commentator (and present day NPL security dude) Arthur Akritidis. Arthur Akritidis himself was a goalkeeper in South's youth team back in the 1980s.

Next game

Tiff Eliadis celebrates scoring against NTC yesterday. The SMFC Women
won 9-2 to maintain their lead at the top of the of the table. Next week the
NPL Women are away to Geelong Galaxy. Photo. Cindy Nitsos

Green Gully at Lakeside, the last in our long run of home matches. Michael Eagar is apparently is out for this one having collected five yellow cards. Kristian Konstantinidis 16 match suspension is over, and I'm led to believe he has played in the under 20s - whether he would be a straight swap, or whether Taylor would prefer to switch Foschini in there and return Mala to right back will be an interesting element of this fixture.

FFA Cup news
Draw is on Thursday. How excitement.

Around the grounds
I think we have enough data now, and it's time to move on
This was an absolute nothing game for an hour, about as pitiful advertisement as you could find not only for the NPL, but for soccer as a sport. There was no penetration, very few chances created, and no excitement. Then Port scored their weekly bomb - not from Andreas Govas, but some other bloke - and everything fell into place just as the scientific modelling said it should. Within four minutes Knights collapsed, again, and were 3-0 down, and the game was as good as done. Sure, Port coughed up a goal thanks to a careless back pass, but they made up for that error with another goal. Knights continue to get closer to the relegation playoff spot, and judging by the quality of their play on Friday, look certain to earn it. Probably best for all concerned that next week I find something else to do rather than go to Somers Street. I see there's a screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey at the Astor on Friday. Might do that.

Final thought

@JoeGorman_89 pic.twitter.com/rfcToPzU7c

— Ante Jukić (@a_jukic) June 26, 2017

Less important than you'd like it to be - South Melbourne 3 Bulleen Lions 0

No. 98: Milos Lujic opens the scoring against Bulleen Lions.
Photo: Cindy Nitsos, who was chuffed that she actually captured the moment

Just a short post for this game in lieu of something more substantial, because I've got some other stuff to do.

Current Port Melbourne and former Bulleen coach Dom Barba was an interested onlooker - we play Port in the league in a week's time - but I don't think too many other people's minds were on what happened in this game. The mood around the ground seemed jovial enough, but it is at best the calm before the storm. Yes, everyone else already had one eye on this Wednesday's FFA Cup match, but at least the South players were appropriately switched on from the start, and thanks to some dreadful Bulleen errors, this game was sewn up a lot earlier than may have otherwise been the case.

Milos Lujic opened the scoring early on, nodding in a cross from close range. The optical illusion initially made it look to me like he'd missed, but that was not the case. That was goal no. 98 in a South shirt for Milos, though most of us didn't know that at the time. Matthew Millar continued on with his free scoring run, taking advantage of a poor back pass to Bulleen goalkeeper Lewis Italiano to make it 2-0 at the break. Lujic pounced on another stray back pass in the second half, curling it past Italiano for 3-0, and despite having given up a 3-0 lead earlier in the year, there were no serious concerns that the visitors would mount a comeback. That being the case, it was odd to me that Chris Taylor didn't use the lead as an opportunity to rest or protect some of our players.

Lisa De Vanna came off the bench to score the winner for the NPL women
against ladder leader Calder.United. South's 2-1 win sees us keep pace
with the top two sides. Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

The romance of of Lujic notching up his 100th goal in South colours was tempting, but it would have been nice to have seen under 20s player Giordano Marafiotti given a run given that the game was wrapped up. It was also disappointing that Stefan Zinni did not not get much more than a few minutes at the end. But I'm sure the folk in charge have their reasons for going about things the way they have. And when they're on a such a good run in the league, who am I to complain...

Bulleen were disappointing all around, offering little in attack, and being flimsy in defense against a South side that was professional in its approach but which did not otherwise break into a serious sweat. Considering the fact that they have a relegation battle on their hands and no other distractions, I expected a little more. There was not much Italiano could have done to prevent the rout.

The win aside, the highlight of the afternoon was Mike Mandalis winning the half time shoot out competition (and collecting a tyre voucher for his troubles). Also we got to boo Dave, who brought shame to Clarendon Corner with his efforts,

Next game
FFA Cup against Dandenong City on Wednesday night at Lakeside. Like it or not - and I don't - this match is probably the most important one we'll play all year.

I'm not sure what the ticketing and gate arrangements will be - as usual, check with the club's media channels on that front - except that South Melbourne members and season ticket holders will get free entry to the game.

Mid-season comings and goings
There was confirmation from central defender Carl Piergianni himself that he is heading back to the UK.

Having decided to move back to the UK I have left @smfc Thank you to everyone at the club, I wish you all the best for the season

— Carl Piergianni (@CarlPidge) May 18, 2017

This leaves us in a bit of a bind in terms of central defensive options should something happen to Michael Eagar or Luke Adams, what with Kristian Konstantinidis still having several weeks worth of suspension to serve.

There is also talk is that Giordano Marafiotti will be upgraded to the senior squad from the under 20s, as well as rumours that we're looking at making a couple of signings in the mid-season transfer window

Around the grounds
I never wanted to be your weekend lover
Since no one at home wanted to watch Purple Rain with me on TV on Friday night, I made my down to Somers Street to see the Marth-less Melbourne Knights play Hume. Hume would have won this game had they been a bit more direct and a lot less cocky - they certainly had more than enough possession to do much more damage on the scoreboard than they did, which incidentally was none at all. Knights struggled to gain possession let alone hold on to it, so when in the second half Elvis Kamsoba put a one on one wide - the best chance of the game up to that point - you felt they would cop it in the end. And it almost happened right away when Atilla Offli pushed an underhit shot straight at Fraser Chalmers. Chalmers released the ball long, a Hume defender made a hash of controlling the ball under very little pressure, and Marjan Cvitkovic jumped on the loose, sauntered towards goal, and gave Knights the lead and eventually their first win for a couple of months or so.

Darkness be my friend
Saturday afternoon was spent at Chaplin Reserve with Joe Gorman. Promotion playoff hopeful Sunshine George Cross were playing runaway NPL2 West leader Northcote City. George Cross missed two great chances within three seconds of each other in the first half, and Northcote hit the crossbar in the second stanza. That was as good as it got on the field, as Northcote in particular sought to kick the crap out of its opponent. The game was scheduled to kickoff at 3:15, as have all George Cross' home games so far this season, which becomes a problem as winter approaches, especially if the game doesn't start on time. Thus the final 15 minutes or so was played in darkness; probably best for all concerned to be honest, this one time.

Final thought
Was never a big Chris Cornell or Soundgarden fan, but this song always had a certain majesty to it.