Brad Norton signs on for 2021 season

Apart from whatever Football Victoria thinks it can concoct in terms of a short-forum tournament for the tail-end of this miserable year, it appears that the rest of 2020 for South fans will be spent like this - ticking off signings and re-signings for season 2021. And maybe the announcement of some sort of limited edition merchandise if we're lucky. Who knows how this year's AGM will get held, but I'm sure people will figure it out.

Anyway, not a new signing this time, but another re-signing, with Brad Norton committing to South for the 2021 season, which will be his tenth in blue and white. It's been a very long time since we had a ten year player at the club, and Brad has done well to last as long as he has. Think about this - he's not only survived the last two and a bit seasons of upheaval (in some respects for him, the easier said than done bit), but he's survived the clean-out that accompanied Chris Taylor's arrival.

So who was the last ten-year player at South? From the players who played for us only post-NSL, Fernando de Moraes managed nine seasons; among the next best, Ramazan Tavsancioglu, six. The best of the rest probably somewhere around that five or six year mark. 

Then there are those players who spent time with us both in the NSL and after it. Tansel Baser had five NSL seasons at South, and two more in the VPL era for a total of seven - there will be those who think that Tansel could've made it a few more, had he not been shuffled out the door perhaps before his time was done. Someone saw his injury riddled body and made a decision, which in hindsight turned out to be wrong, as Tansel had a good few years at Hume City after us.

Con Blatsis, like Baser, was part of that mid-1990s Frank Arok-era youth intake. He also had five NSL seasons at South, and played in our first two VPL seasons; but while remaining on our senior list from 2007-2009, Blatsis never managed another game due to injury.

Vaughan Coveny had racked up nine NSL seasons at Lakeside, and three more in the VPL in stints broken up by his participation in the A-League, as well as the 2004 season spent with Essendon Royals - so twelve seasons all up, including three erratic VPL seasons, which gets Horsey comfortably over the line. 

The other player that comes to mind is Dean Anastasiadis, who had four mid-1990s NSL seasons with us, and two more seasons right at the end of the NSL at Lakeside - though in the 2003/04 season he appears not to have managed a game, with most goalkeeping duties taken up Eugene Galekovic, and the remaining handful by the artist formerly known as Michael Theoklitos. In our hour of need after the NSL however, Deano came back for four more season to make it to ten years all up, even if we might have been better off with a different keeper in the last couple of those seasons. 

So there it is, or perhaps (fingers crossed) there it will be - our first post-NSL era ten-season player. If all goes to plan, Norton will be our first ten season player since Dean Anastasiadis; the first player to play ten consecutive seasons at South since Vaughan Coveny, if we leave out the necessity of players like Coveny having to play elsewhere in 2004 following the dissolution of the NSL, (Anastasiadis also played with Coveny at Royals that year).

Figuring out this stuff is not the worst way to pass the pandemic time.

Bureaucrats and Bohemians - South Melbourne 2 Oakleigh Cannons 2

Lots of things happened yesterday, some of them were even football related. It was great to be able to mingle with all sorts of different South fans, in a relaxed atmosphere before an end of season dead rubber, not because the team was poor, but because they were good. One of the older gentlemen had even brought along a large container full of lollies to share, and I decided to side with Homer as opposed to Marge:

Marge: And don't take candy from strangers.

Homer Simpson: Marge, they're only human!

But now to the rest of the day's events.

Formeroos! Copperoos!
Rather than have the under 20s play as the curtain raisers, the pre-game entertainment was a friendly match between a selection of former Socceroos (including among others, Dean Anastasiadis, Kimon Taliadaros and Fausto De Amicis) playing against the Victorian Police soccer club. The Formeroos won the game quite comfortably, the final score being apparently 8-3 (though whether anyone as actually keeping proper score is doubtful), but the highlight was De Amicis coming down to the fence at half time and doing a bit of meet and greet with the early bird South fans, even saying that it was good to see us still supporting the club, without it coming across as patronising. A fair effort.

After the conclusion of that game, the crowd was presented with several surviving members of the 1964 and 1974 state champion teams, as well as the 1984 national champion team, which was great to see.

Here come the fun police
Of all days for whoever the manager of Lakeside Stadium is to get his knickers in a knot about Clarendon Corner, he had to pick yesterday. Now I don't know the bloke's name, so for ease of use and to give him some semblance of anonymity, let's just call him Hermes Conrad. Old mate Hermes, reportedly in the job for about three months, decided that today he was not going to let the drum be played. Never mind that the drum has been used all season long, nor the fact that, as one supporter put it, 'it's not a fucken funeral', Hermes pointed to his little piece of paper and said that drums were not allowed. Credit to the fans who negotiated with Hermes, who tried to reason with him rather than get fired up, even as some of those a few metres away hurled abuse.

Credit also to the bloke with the annoying air horn device, who decided to sacrifice it for the sake of keeping the drum. He also brought along a giant cardboard champagne bottle, decorated with South motifs (and which made it into several photos), which I'm surprised was considered acceptable by Hermes, though I'm not sure what Hermes could have done about the newspaper confetti and the streamers. The most stinging comment anyone said to him was, 'we're here for another forty years, so get used to it'. Like the shenanigans various A-League supporter groups have had to deal with though, this probably won't be the last we hear about this. That's the problems with no longer being the venue manger I guess.

Eventually Hermes went back to his little hidey hole and I don't think I remember seeing him for the rest of the game. Newly installed FFV CEO (and former interim CEO) Peter Gome hung around Clarendon Corner a bit in the second half, and didn't seem to have much of an issue with what was going on.

Bohemians on tour

The leather blown they now pursue
And deftly through goal-posts guide
Who taught the world the way to woo
In songs that vibrant passion sighed.
The revelries in which they vied
To give the graver lands a shocker
Merely as memories abide
Now Czecho-Slovaks shine at Socker.

from 'The Modern Bohemian' (1927), by Thomas the Rhymer (pseudonym of Charles Hayward, editor of The Bulletin).

One of the most bizarre things I've ever seen at South Melbourne was the arrival of a dozen or so people in green and white, carrying banners and a Czech flag, and end up near Clarendon Corner. Turns out they were supporters of the Czech club Bohemians 1905, apparently on tour to commemorate the club's 1927 tour to Australia. Looking at the dates of their tour, it seems as if Hayward's poem is about that tour specifically, which is a nice thing to know.

Bohemians are of course famous for having a kangaroo in their logo, courtesy of apparently receiving two kangaroos as a gift on the tour, and which were taken back to Prague Zoo. The took a lot of photos and videos, and seemed to be having a great time, but the most bizarre moment was when the supporter known as 'Stevie' or 'Kev' (who has an intellectual disability), objected to the Bohemians fans being in Clarendon Corner, and tried to barrel through several supporters holding him back (and he's a strong, low centre of gravity kind of bloke) while being told that they were our friends and that it was OK. He must have thought they were Gully fans or something. The good news is that the one person he pretty much always listens to when he gets fired up about something managed to calm him down, and nothing serious actually happened. It was certainly all smiles when they filmed the celebrations following Milos Lujic's equaliser late in the contest.

Chants
The chanting varied from the very good, to the absurd. The very good was the changing of certain lyrics to fit the situation (Already won the league! Fuck off Oakleigh!), and the inclusion of Bohemians into some chants. The absurd was going back to the rank lower class chants ('Everywhere we go' "Let's go Hellas, let's go', but that was more of an indication

There was a game on?
I can't remember much about the game to be honest. We scored first, they replied instantly, they took the lead, and we equalised late, probably should have pinched it. John Honos made some good saves for them, but he also seemed to milk every slight bit of contact for all it was worth. No matter.

The mating call of the loser

As Buzz Aldrin will tell you, second comes right after first.

Not that we want to harp too much on it, because we've harped on about it enough during this season as it is, but Oakleigh must be some of the biggest sooks in Australian soccer (and that's coming from someone's who majored in sooking, with a minor in communications). Now, admittedly throwing more money down the toilet for no silverware must hurt, as would not bothering to take the Dockerty Cup seriously, because it's not like it has anything to do with the FFA Cup (oh, wait...), but Miron Bleiberg's comments following their loss against Melbourne Knights, about how Oakleigh have scored more and conceded fewer goals than South was classic straw clutching, even if he begrudgingly admitted that we were the more consistent team over the course of the season

Not one to be left behind on the coulda/woulda/shoulda bandwagon (to which South of the Border has a lifetime pass) was Oakleigh defender John Black, who said after yesterday's match:

"At the end of the day they haven’t beaten us all year and congratulations to them for winning the title but we haven’t lost to them and I think that if we brushed up our performances in lesser games we could’ve been the champions, but that’s the way it goes.”

On that front, we didn't beat Oakleigh in 2006 either, but we won that title as well. Different rules back then, what with there being a finals series, but in the end the same glorious result - South winning a title, and Oakleigh being able to crow about the fact that they didn't lose to us. Whatever helps them sleep at night, I guess.

Having said all of that, the fact that at least one person was disappointed that Oakleigh didn't form a guard of honour for us is a bit silly, because it's just not necessary, and we had the kids from our own club there to do it. What next, are we going to parade them in chains in a triumphal march down Clarendon Street (well actually...)? Neither was I annoyed that they didn't stick around for the award ceremony - I mean, would you want to be there in that situation? Frankly, I didn't want them there anyway, because the day wasn't about them, it was about us. Best to leave them go off so they can add another star to their logo for goodness knows what reason.

Here's your prize, don't break it now... 
The awards ceremony went off pretty much without a hitch, The right people were booed, and they teed up FFV president Nick Monteleone to appear alongside the one day to be beatified South legend Jimmy Armstrong in order to avoid getting Monteleone booed, in much the same way that Tony Abbott was paired up with a sick kid at Manly. Like the 1998 trophy before it (at least I think it was 1998), the base of the trophy decided that it wanted a divorce from the top half of the trophy.

The official (and Liberal Party heavy - poor local member Martin Foley has been thrown on the relevance scrapheap, at least for the time being) part of the celebrations done and dusted, the celebrations moved into the changerooms, where Kosta of Blue Thunder Security made sure that not everyone could get in, and while it's easy and and fun to take a big whack at him for doing so, realistically the place was that full that no one else could get in. Your correspondent was therefore happy to stay outside until the place emptied out a bit, and I got to mingle a little and soak up what was left of the atmosphere.

Afterwards a few people kicked on at Beachcomber (oh wherefore art thou social club?), where even I was photographed with the trophy (thanks to Chris Maynard's dad Richard for taking the photos). After dinner the players debated going out to Ljubo's one time favourite hang out Love Machine, which long time readers are well aware, I draw the line. Nightclubs aren't my thing, and besides, it was way past my bedtime.

Next game
Goulburn Valley Suns away for the final round of the season. The club will be organising a bus up to Shepparton. Cost is $35, and the bus will leave from Lakeside 'at 10:30am sharp'.

South Hobart NPL playoffs trip
The date was already known - Saturday September 20th -, but now the kickoff time has also been confirmed - 1:30pm - at South Hobart's ground at D'Arcy Street.

The scheduling is ideal for both a weekend stint or a day trip. Since I'm only making a day trip out of it, I've booked my ticket for the 9:45 flight from Tullamarine, and returning on the 21:40 out of Hobart, which a few fans are also reportedly doing, but there are also people who will be getting in on earlier flights, as well as those doing the weekend thing - so I think we'll have decent numbers.

The fly in, fly out option has become significantly more expensive as the computer algorithms of the airlines have cottoned on to the fact that people want to get in and out for this trip on that date - my $49 flight out of Hobart is now selling for an absurd $149. Hopefully there'll be at least be an internet radio option provided for those who can't make the trip down.

Play Off The Park podcast
Last Monday I was a guest along with Dr Ian Syson on SYN 90.7FM's 'Play off the Park' show, talking about soccer history, heritage and politics. Due to technical issues, the first 34 minutes of the show are separate from the rest of the show. It was a lot of fun, even if Pave Jusup reckons I sound more ethnic than he does.

Victoria University's Worlds of Football conference seeking abstracts
If you're in academia, or have an academic inclination, check out this flyer for details of the upcoming Worlds of Football conference being hosted by Victoria University. The conference will be in mid-January 2015, and abstracts need to be in by mid October 2014. Or you can just check out my reviews of the 2010 and 2012 conferences.

Around the grounds
Up the hill and down again
I had been invited by Box Hill United's Nicholas Tsiaras to come down to Wembley Park at some point in the season, and finally made there on Saturday for their game against the ladder leading Avondale Heights. A win for the visitors would almost guarantee them the championships while the home needed to nwin to keep their promotion chances alive. Wembley Park has a severe slope to one end (though good luck to those with shocking depth perception trying to figure out which way it goes). Anyway, Avondale Heights were kicking to the down sloping end in the first end, and probably should have gone into half time a couple of goals up. Box Hill played better in the second half, but really only had one good chance, which they botched. A better result for the visitors than the home side.

Final thought
I laugh at one joke about herpes and people start killing each other because of it.

About four years ago - reminiscence of Langerak's brief VPL stint

Dean Anastasiadis got injured in round four against Green Gully. On came a skinny kid by the name of Mladen Tosic who, try as he might, was never able to convince the coaches, the fans or even his fellow defenders that he was the right man for the spot between the sticks.

So for the second half of the season, in came a young lad by the name of Mitch Langerak, a Queenslander on loan from Melbourne Victory. He made mistakes, to be sure - the worst of which was letting a harmless grubber of a cross by Henry Fa'arodo go through his legs for a tap in and the win for Richmond on a dispiriting Friday night. But he also showed enough in his aerial exploits, dubbed by Ian Syson at the time as either 'solid as a rock' or 'safe as houses' - I can't remember which, but it's the sentiment not the wording which matters - that even I was making uncharacteristically bold predictions like 'future Socceroo keeper'.

The years and keepers have come and gone at South in our VPL era. Deano came back after his injury and apocryphally kept Neil Young out of a job; Nick Jelic filled in for a game or two, as did Andy Sfetkopoulos; Tommi Tommich was awesome on short notice at the tail end of 2008, and then fell in a heap the year after; and the still young Stefaan Sardelic has pinch hit over the past few years without being able to nail down the starting keeper's spot.

The Agitator leaves his mark on the scoreboard

But for whatever intangible reason none of these guys excited me like Mitch did on a cold and rainy Sunday in June at Chaplin Reserve, against a dogged Sunshine George Cross outfit. It was a hard fought 2-0 win, well earned in the mud by the players, as the South fans huddled together under umbrellas not always their own on the hill at the Anderson Road end, and scoreboard shenanigans by one of our stalwart fans kept us amused as we fought off the onset of frostbite.

But just one of the enduring memories of that game was our old foe John Markovski, who was coaching George Cross at the time, doing his by that stage almost compulsory act of subbing himself on against us. When the home side won a free kick within Markovski's range, there was just that moment of dread. Loathe his as we do, he still had a phenomenal left foot shot - he hit a volley as sweetly as he would have done in his prime, but Langerak made the save, and was re-christened 'Mitso' by the faithful.

Billy Natsioulas fights for the ball.

It was a glorious day all round, back in the day when there was still a sort of VPL  camaraderie amongst South fans before we divided ourselves into innumerable factions; when Gate 1/HFC faction splitting was the height of our worries; when some people still thought we were a shoe-in for the second Melbourne A-League spot when it opened up; when a few wins against some of that season's strugglers, which included the aforementioned game, had us run into a bit of form halfway through the year before the Victory game and the subsequent collapse into an inconsistent heap, whose misery was only occasionally punctuated by moments such as this.

This morning Mitch 'Mitso' Langerak made his Bundesliga debut for the ladder leading Borussia Dortmund away at Bayern Munich. Dortmund won 3-1, their first win away at Bayern in 20 years. From all reports, Langerak had a good game, including making one great reflex save against Mario Gomez. Four years on from what for most football fans would rightly be viewed as a game between two also-rans of Australian football, a young man brought in almost as a last resort to try and solve a goalkeeping crisis at Lakeside is one step closer to achieving his potential. Now, as then, I have every confidence that he will fulfill his promise.

Dean Anastasiadis wearing a TISM shirt

Is his choice of clothing more interesting than anything he has to say, in this interview post our 1995 Dockerty Cup win? I suppose you'd have to check it out for yourselves. With thanks to Boo for the clip.

1995 Dockery Cup Final

The 1995 Dockerty Cup Final, with thanks to our friend Boo once more. Tansel Baser has a great game, Curcija's name gets pronounced differently to what is these days, Frank Arok looks more grizzled than usual. Deano has his surname on his shirt, but no one else does. And what a nice trophy it is. Perhaps one day we can not only play in this competition again, but maybe even win it, too.

First half



Second half and presentation ceremony

De Moraes, Zois pick up awards at Gold Medal night

Congratulations to Peter Zois and Fernando De Moraes for picking up the goalkeeper of the year and the player of the year awards respectivly last night. Peter Zois got better and and better as the season went on, and Fernando clearly had his best season since 2006, a remarkable return to both form and consistency. The last South player to win the goalkeeper of the year award at this level was of course Dean Anastasiadis, who back to back awards in 2005 and 2006. Fernando is perhaps suprisingly the first South player to win the Gold Medal since its inception in 1971 - Jimmy Armstrong and Jim Pyrgolios had both won the Bill Fleming Medal in the 1970s for the media's player of the year, but not the Gold Medal. It takes a little of the edge off the season that's gone past.

A year and a bit down the track, Marinis gets his man

A curious addition to the Melbourne Knights squad last week... one Neil Young (WA State Rep) whom some of you might remember from this adventure. One wonders of course what might have been, on so many fronts... below are a couple of bits about the keeper we almost had.


YOUNG TORN ABOUT MOVING TO MELBOURNE

State goalkeeper Neil Young has embarked on a brave new phase in his career by joining Victorian Premier League club Melbourne Knights. The long-serving Sorrento stopper jetted out of town on Tuesday evening and is likely to make his debut for the Knights in Sunday's game with Richmond. "It's a bigger stage in Melbourne and you never know what may come of it," commented Young on moving east. "I've only ever played for Sorrento so I'm looking forward to experiencing another club and improving myself as a player ... and to get a trial with an A-League club would also be nice."

The Knights, currently tenth in the twelve-team VPL, made initial contact with Young earlier this year. "They've been in touch since the roughly the beginning of our season and made me a pretty good offer," said Young. "It wasn't the easiest decision I've ever made as I'm leaving my wife and two young boys behind. And when I told (Sorrento coach) Steve Neville I was a blubbering mess - so was he I might add - then telling the boys before the game on Saturday again brought tears to my eyes. I've been at the club fourteen seasons and have a lot of mates there who I'd also call family."

And it's that camaraderie that Young says he'll miss most about not being a Sorrento player. "There's some great banter in the change rooms, Thommo, Todd, Macca, Ordy, Nuggs, Banksy, Monty and even Kilkelly are good team mates but are also my best friends and it will be hard not to miss them," said the 29-year old 'keeper. "Sorrento is a family. Tom Bartlett and Derek Harnwell are great men and have looked after me like one of their own sons. And Nevs is a quality coach and a mate, he's always there for his players."

Young kept goal during the most successful period in Sorrento's history and has many fond memories from his time at the club. "Winning the Premier League title three times, once as captain, rate as the highlight along with being named the 2006 Goalkeeper of the Year, it's great to get personal awards too," said Young, who on four occasions wore State team colours. "It's a great honour to be selected in the State squad, and to hold the number one shirt for the games I played is something I'll always cherish."


Off some WA club forum

His command of his area is also a tremendous credit to him, an on song Neil Young will win you games. Also very aware of his tendency to 'self destruct', If he was a painter he would have probably cut off both of his ears by now! At this point he probably needs a new challenge and possesses the talent to rise to it.

It's the away game you have when you're not having an away game - Round 5, Whittlesea Zebras vs South Melbourne (at Lakeside)

Last Time They Met

It was round 23, 2008. We couldn't make the finals, but we could still in theory get relegated. It was Deano's last game, and in the end it was he who saved us on a multiple occasions, earning us a 1-1 draw. He got a standing ovation at the end of what was his final game. Now he's on the books at Oakleigh and on the bench ready to come on just in case.

Preview
We should win really. Of course, being on the bottom doesn't make you a bad team (unless you're Preston in 2009), and the Zebras have looked ok apparently in some of their games, but we should win this. It's Lakeside for a start instead of Epping. Win this one too, and go in with some nice momentum for a huge game with early pacesetters Richmond.

Club legends at the Show

Towards the end of a fun day at the 2008 Royal Melbourne Show with my good friends yesterday, I noticed two very familiar faces come along with their family. They were none other than Dean and John Anastasiadis. Good to see them there and ready to enjoy the night with their family. Otherwise, it was a really good day at the Show and we had a great time.

I was able to get a photo with Deano too, but Johnny had gone somewhere. :P

Take it easy ;)

Time to say goodbye

Deano farewell vid, as done by Doc. Some good stuff in there, some good stuff left out, but Deano seemed to like it, as did everyone who's seen it, and that's the important thing. He won't be keeping today by the way, I think Sardelic will be in that role.

MVP Night recap

Good night... shame about all the people who didn't go, but the people who did, including the women's team contingent, made it a more than worthwhile evening. Deano got a nice frame/gloves thingo from the supporters, which was nice, well done to those responsible. Stevie O'Dor won the senior award, Srdjan Stefanovic won the under 21 team award. Laura Spiranovic took out the women's senior award from her sister Amelia, Niki Cook the ressies, and Hannah Jankewicz (spelling?) took the thirds. The Clarendon Corner awards went to Robbie Wynne for the under 21 player and Ramazan for the senior award. Good time by had all.

Just when you thought it was safe to go to Frankston...

... you could very well see Deano playing this week! For you see, current South number 1 Tomislav Tomich has been called up to the Victory for three weeks to be their number 2, while their number 2 and one time South number 1 Mitch Langerak replaces their number 1 and one time South benchwarmer except for five games Michael Theoklitos. Got it? Good. Anyway, I reckon they should give th gig to the kid from the ressies Stefan Sardelic, seemed to know what he was doing the few times I've seen him, Which is more than can be said for the rest of the under 21 squad unfortunately.

Farewell Deano, one more time.

Now Cliff already talked about it in his match report, but last Sunday was Deano's last game in the Blue and White. And what an emotional experience it was. The man himself had a blinder, saving us from a relegation dogfight in the last round. Quite a ways from the NSL glory days, or even two years ago where he lifted the premiership cup, but inspirational stuff nonetheless.


This is what's it's all about people. Later a small ceremony was held in the social club, where Deano got to have his say, and even brother Johnny got to share the limelight as well, with a lovely little video sequence was played on the big screen showing some of Deano's classic saves, scoring in a penalty shoot out in the old NSL can't have draws days, holding the VPL trophy aloft with his brother. Which leads me to my next point. Johnny A could have easily been left out, or felt marginalised, but two little acts showed that some in the club don't want to burn bridges. First was straight after the game, with our former coach waiting outside the changerooms entrance, almost seeming a little unsure... until one George Koukoulas invited him in... later on that same courtesy for a long time and magnificent servant of our club was initiated by George Triantos. Lovely, small gestures which say a lot.

Dull ending to the season... Farewell Deano!!

In our last home game of the season, we managed to fight out a 1-1 draw with the Whittlesea Zebras. Yet another game where we dominated but failed to score. Another disgrace of a ref. What is new?

Early in the 1st half, we saw a well aimed header by Gianni De Nittis reach the back of the net to open the scoring. Being 1-0 up, a shot by Rama that went over the keeper and into the net was called for offside; In fact we were called offside a few times today. Not long after, they equalised, with Deano making a good save on their first shot, but failing to stop the second shot on the rebound, which wasn't his fault.

The rest of the game saw both teams going at it trying to find the 3 points desperately. A win would've given Whittlesea a chance to avoid relegation. We dominated the play, but could not score the final goal to get in front, but we managed to hold on for a draw.

Before the game, we had the Open Forum, in which we were informed on our upcoming A League bid and we were given the chance to ask questions about it. The end of the match saw us giving Deano a farewell, thanking him for his loyalty to South and applauding his extraordinary career.

Although I'd like to wish Deano, from all of us, a farewell and well done on a fantastic career. At 38 years of age, and former Victorian Premier League Goalkeeper of the Year in 2005 and 2006, he has accomplished a lot and we hope to see him around the club in the near future.

DEANO! DEANO! DEANO!

Hopefully I can have the video of us farewelling Deano at the end up soon. :)

Last Home Game Of The Season - Round 25, South Melbourne vs Whittlesea Zebras

Last Time They Met

Round 12, 2008, at Epping Stadium

Whittlesea Zebras 0 South Melbourne 1

Tony La Verde scored towards the end of the game, sending the visiting fans into a frenzy. Kinda.

Preview

Last home game of the season. Leo's Open Forum Extravanganza. The Vague Possibility of Getting Relegated. Deano's last game for the mighty Blue and White. Why wouldn;t you go? Well actually... nah, I should be there. And so should you. Really. Should be a fairly laidback atmosphere in the outer too. Can you tell that I'm desperate for this season to end? Oh by the way, I've already selecte my senior and under 21 players of the year. Only thing left is for someone to impress me with a wonder goal to surpass the current frontrunner.

A small win, but an effective win

In what was a very even game, South Melbourne overcame the odds to defeat 3rd spot Altona Magic in which was club legend Dean Anastasiadis' second last game of his career.

At the start, we saw some attacking play from South, in which we had a few fair chances to score but failed to score, including a chance for Gianni, 1 or 2 for Zoric and a mistake where we sent in a cross and an Altona player headed it towards the goal, only for their keeper to get to it just in time. There wasn't a whole lot to see except for South really trying to find the back of the net and Altona trying their hardest to get it down the other end so they could score. Altona had a few chances as well, but I'd say South outplayed them in the first half.

In the second half, we saw pretty much the same thing going ahead, and mid-way in the 2nd half we saw a one on one chance missed by Gianni de Nittis, in which he failed to slot the ball past Altona keeper Bojo Jevdjevic and instead sent it straight into Jevdjevic's feet. Later on, just before we hit 90 minutes, Petrovich scored the one goal for us that led us to win, sent in by a nice cross. We managed to hold on in the last few minutes in which we saw new signing Francesco Stella come on and play.

Overall, an average game, very evenly matched, and for a weak squad I have to say we did well to win. And just for the record, I managed to count 2 handballs let go by the referee... not to mention a clear corner which we all saw, only for the referee to say goalkick... And this happened on two occasions!! My mate managed to film our goal though, so credit to him for the video.

One home game left... :(

Deano to hang up gloves

South of the Border instructs you to head here for the news on Deano's impending retirement.

All the staff at South of the Border, ie, Cliff and me, would like to wish Deano all the best in his retirement, and to enjoy his final two games with the club. Thanks for the memories Deano, and thanks for your long service and loyalty to the club.

Dean Anastasiadis set to tour with Kiss... maybe

This is off soccer-forum, a very possible playing out of the last days of Dean Anastasiadis as South keeper, courtesy of a poster known only as "phils". Rather than keep it hidden in the restricted areas of that forum, I thought i'd be nice if it was released into the public domain. Minor script errors edited by myself for clarity. Enjoy.


...Peter Zois is wanted by 'mixmastermike' at south but Anastasiadis's father and dean will fight tooth and nail to keep the zoismeister away for this season so dean can go out on a high in his "last" season. Its almost like KISS announcing another final tour. Whats the bet he will play one more year and the conversation with mike m will be a little like this...

DEAN: C'mon Mike, I'm turning 40 next year, I wanna be the first keeper since Maurice Raponi, Jeff Olver and Robert Brian to play in my forties and hinder the progress of today's young keepers.
MIKE: But I have Zois, Kenny and that chick from Box Hill that played in the Richmond Ressies wanting to come down.
DEAN: What if I give you 10c off every litre of regular unleaded you buy at my servo?
MIKE: My X5 needs premium malaka.
DEAN: Um... I think only my dad can give discounts on premium. (Long pause, Deano's soccer career is flashing before his eyes) Probably best if you speak to him.

Johnny A's last stand? - Round 6, Preston Lions vs South Melbourne

Last time they met
Round 12, 2007 at Lakeside Stadium

South Melbourne 3 Preston Lions 3

Through two defensive blunders a and stunning strike from Marino Gasparis Preston found themselves 3-1 up with less than 20 minutes to play. But a fierce fightback from the hosts with two goals from Billy Natsioulas almost saw them snatch the game at the death, the late heroics of Preston keeper Lou Acevksi denying South a memorable victory.

Preview
Another in the endless procession of 'derby' games the VPL throws up. Preston's form so far this season has seen them take a fairly linear and yet nevertheless bizarre arc. They were belted by early pacesetters Richmond, drew with the struggling Zebras, squeezed past the Pines, clawed back a 0-2 deficit to draw against the more than competent Heidelberg and last round thumped big spending Coburg 4-1. So which one is the real Preston? I can't answer that, and I don't think this game will either. Preston isn't quite the side that took the title last year, but at the very least they're heading in an upwards direction. The forecast of showers for Sunday will also mean that players from both sides won't be able to play their natural games. Or more likely, it'll make the game way better, with balls and tackles flying every which way. They really should bring back the shoulder charge, would suit a game like this.

As for South, well, the real South is probably easier to pin down. Haphazard long ball attacks which will not be finished off by the strikers. A loss here, and really, it should be all over for Johnny A'. I mean, how much more would it take? South may get O'Dor back from suspension, which will help the defense somewhat, but it's the lack of fight that's troubling fans at the moment. Then again, it'll allegedly be captain Dean Anastasiadis' 150th league match for Hellas, and that might fire them up up a bit. I can't rally pick the result of this one. Stupid derby, rain, two average teams, you name it, of anything has 5-5 written all over it.

Oh, and in further evidence of this blog's impact on the real world, the official South site has partly adopted South of the Border's use of the 'last time they met' device, which admittedly I borrowed off The Age's aussie rules previews.

Pedestrian and awful - Hellenic Cup group games

This is basically a wrap up of the two remaining group games played over this weekend.

Saturday's match was against South Springvale Aris, a state league 2 outfit. Mix of regulars and ressies. Got there late, so missed Caldwell's opener. Caldwell also got the 2nd, and was denied a hat-trick by a spectacular save from a free kick by the opposition keeper. In general, South barely raised a sweat and rarely looked inspiring, but having said that, Aris never even got close. Ricky Diaco missed the game with a groin injury but should be right for the start of the season. Your correspondent had a terse conversation with Rockem Sockem Poutakidis about the whereabouts of Perth goalkeeping recruit Neill Young. Rumour is that he hasn't signed, unhappy about having to play second fiddle to Johnny A's brother Dean. "No comment" was the response, in my opinion more or less an admission that it was true. He stuck to his guns and I stuck to mine. I reckon I won that argument on a points decision, but it was a Pyrrhic victory, what with an experienced and seemingly quite capable keeper being let go for reasons other than talent.

Sunday's game was against amateur side South Springvale Serres. With the exceptions of Natsioulas and Tosic in goal, no one else could be considered even close to a senior player. Still, the performance was very disconcerting. A bunch of young, fit and allegedly talented guys struggled to put together almost any decent moves. Luckily, Serres almost never threatened to score, but still, Hellas needed a dubious penalty to make sure of the result. There were some bad tackles in this game, the one that will stick the mind the most is that of a South player lucky to stay on the field after committing an atrocious and plainly deliberate two footed studs up tackle. Johnny A's absence was also noticed by some supporters, and not with pleasure either.

South now goes on to meet Bentleigh Greens on Thursday evening, with the winner of that going through to the semi final on Sunday.