(NPL)Woah! South Melbourne 2 Heidelberg United 1

This about as late a match report as you can get. How 2019.

I finally, finally managed to get out to another game for our women's senior team. And lest anyone doubt my resolve to do so, yes it helped that this game was on a Sunday - but having to negotiate a very annoying double rail-replacement (radial and city loop) service should demonstrate that while I'm hardly on my way to being top-dog in the South Melbourne Ladies Active Supporters, I do at least try and get out to a few games where possible.

Before the senior women could get started, there was the matter of the under 19s, who were soon enough trailing Heidelberg 2-0, and not looking too good. Soon enough however our 19s worked their way back into the game, and stormed over the top of the visitors, winning 5-2. The thing I most remember though was the melee which nearly kicked off into a full-on dust-up after a bad tackle. It's not the kind of thing I see in women's soccer too often - usually there's a much more obvious "compassionate/duty of care style reaction" to fouls and injured players, so it was interesting from a sociological perspective, even if undesirable from a sporting one.

Photo: Luke Radziminski.

The equation for the senior women was pretty simple - win, and they'd make the finals. Any other result, and the Bergers would get in instead. Even prior to the game, there was the less than ideal situation of not having replacement keeper Shannon Flower available, and having to put in Sascha Lypiridis from the 16s for her senior debut. There was also no Sofia Sakalis, who was injured.

Our women started off well enough, looking threatening and creating some good chances. We really should've gone 1-0 up with one particular sequence of play, where it seemed the universe was conspiring against us. Then the rain and the wind came, sending the ball girls, Our Resident Cockney, and I think eventually even Heidelberg Harismidis running for cover. It was during this burst of mother nature's wrath that Heidelberg scored, whipping in a corner that went straight in, thanks in no small part to the wind swerving it in. Let that be an argument against women's teams resorting to short corners.

Second half, and you just had that feeling that despite getting on top of the game well and truly - apart from rare moments - we just weren't going to score. And then Leia Varley sent home a long range free kick into the top corner levelling the scores, and then my feeling was that we wouldn't manage to get another goal, and the season would end on this bitter disappointment - that despite the improvement we'd shown from the 5-1 loss against the Bergers, and then the 1-1 draw, that we'd be left to rue the sorry 1-1 draw against NTC.

Yes! Photo: Luke Radziminksi.

The clock ticking over to 93 minutes, in the media control room I buttoned up my jacket, put on my beanie, and got ready to go down into the social club. Then we got a free kick too far out for a shot, and though I'd hoped in a perverse way throughout the 90 minutes that we'd steal the game and the finals place from the Bergers at the absolute death, I didn't really believe that we would actually do it. But then the ball was sent into the box, the Bergers' keeper committed to getting to the ball without getting anywhere near it, a flicked header from Kelsey Minton sailed over the top of everyone and into the back of the net for the win.

The team's reward for making it to the finals? An elimination final against Calder United, this year's standout team, at Keilor Park Recreation Reserve this Saturday (ie, tomorrow) at 2:00. Calder have beaten us comfortably four times this season, three times in the league and once in the cup. While I'm not ruling out an upset, it's really very much a nothing to lose game for us.

2020 SMFC senior squad roster as of 06/09/2019
For teams still aiming for success in 2019, the season has not ended yet, but that doesn't mean our club can't get on the front foot and start announcing squad members for next year - in this case, Brad Norton, who I think we'd all have been surprised if he wasn't around next season.

For any other player on our list, it would perhaps be odd to do a re-signing announcement now without having officially named the coach, but it's Braddles, so there's nothing to see on that front. Not too long afterwards Marcus Schroen was announced as having re-signed for two more years, and the public response ranged from the relatively cheerful to those pencilling in the death of the club.

Leigh Minopoulos is the only absolutely confirmed 100% out so far, having announced his retirement prior to the end of the 2019 season. The future of Kristian Konstantinidis doesn't exactly look too promising, so there'll be umming and uhhing about that for a little bit. Meanwhile striker Billy Konstantinidis was on Football Nation Radio yesterday talking about exploring his options in the Indian Premier League.

In terms of coaches, the two names thrown up - by desperate and/or hopeful South fans more than anybody else - have been secured by other teams. Regular South Melbourne watcher and local resident Scott Miller, currently coaching at Langwarrin in NPL2, has reputedly been signed on there for another season. 

The other name belonged to ex-South player Nick Tolios, most recently of Kingston City, who have just been relegated down to NPL 2. Tolios had long been rumoured to be heading towards the Bentleigh head coaching job left vacant mid-year by John Anastasiadis, and surprisingly, Tolios has ended up at Kingston Heath on the eve of the Greens' finals campaign. Ever seen a coach get a team relegated and win a championship in the same league in the same season? Not me, but we're two weeks away from that happening.

Signed

• Brad Norton
• Marcus Schroen

Played with us at the end of 2019 but who knows about next year

• Tom Aulton
• Keenan Gibson
• Peter Skapetis
• Nick Krousoratis
• Perry Lambropoulos
• Kostas Stratomitros
• Gerrie Sylaidos
• Luke Adams 
• Manny Aguek 
• Ben Djiba
• Amir Jashari
• Giuseppe Marafioti 
• Jake Marshall
• Will Orford
• Nikola Roganovic 
• George Gerondaras
• Zac Bates
• Andrew Mesourouni
• Josh Dorron
• Melvin Becket

Exploring options in India

• Billy Konstantinidis

Maybe retiring

• Kristian Konstantinidis

Out

• Leigh Minopoulos (retired)

Just take the damn survey for the sake of your old pal Paulie 
The wording here is confusing to me, because I thought I was on a Football Victoria Historical Committee already. Anyway, Football Victoria has released a survey about which direction the organisation should take with regards to its historical commitments:

Football Victoria history survey

At the moment Football Victoria's historical committee (of which I am a member) has a role largely limited to oversight of things like the Hall of Fame and Life Member approvals - the survey asks whether Football Victoria should be doing more, and if so, what kind of action people in the soccer community would like Football Victoria to take.

If you could take a few minutes out of your day to fill in the survey, that would be great. If you're uncomfortable using your real name, you could always fudge that bit. Not even sure why they're asking for it.

Throwing stones from glass houses
It was a big week in footy, with some disgruntled person setting up an anonymous Twitter account and publishing document details allegedly derived from the contracts of two current Avondale players, as well as snippets of Avondale's week-by-week payment spreadsheets.

After the initial post, where the leaker had posted the contract details for Kiwi Avondale player Scott Hilliar as well as an extract from an early season portion of the payment spreadsheet, it looked like the account was locked or shut down. Soon enough however it was back up, posting details from Japanese star Tasuku Sekiya's contract - including his wage - as well as posting a spreadsheet extract from the middle of the season.

While there were some legitimate grumblings about breach of privacy most of the attention on this leak of sensitive information naturally centred upon Avondale's spending, which based on the spreadsheet snippets would be up toward the $700,000 mark.

(and for the record, while some questioned the legitimacy of the published extracts, believing them to be fake, I think the level of detail - see for instance Liam Boland receiving a sizeable monetary bonus around the time he reached 15 goals - as well as the publishing of player signatures, suggests that the documents are all too real.)

Around the grounds, those with more insight into the Avondale back office were wondering about the identity of the leaker and their motivations, while others wondered about the tax and regulatory implications, which the leaker had also emphasised as rules that Avondale had broken. I'm more of the opinion that it's the players who are probably in bigger trouble, assuming that there is actual Australian Tax Office investigation and that the players involved didn't manage their tax affairs probably.

Prurient interest aside in terms of seeing behind the curtain of semi-pro player payments, there was the unfortunate but predictable spectacle of some South fans forgetting the lessons of "be careful what you mock, lest you become it", and instead of just slowing down past the bingle on the side of the road, decided to get involved. Why, when our club is so often the subject of similarly prurient well/semi/and un-founded speculation?

Cue some minor blow-back from a former youth team coach and a former a technical director of ours, the latter of whom provided some rather unflattering comments on his time at South Melbourne. These comments were later deleted, I assume under some legal duress. It's going to be another fun off-season.

Laughable - Heidelberg United 5 South Melbourne 0

I went to four games this week, and somehow the South game was the most hideous and lopsided game of them all. Because of that, people are probably expecting some sort of fire and brimstone report, but the truth is, I'm still laughing from last night's antics. I mean, what else can you do when watch your team capitulate so badly, in a season where we've scored a six, a five, two fours and copped a six and a five - and only fourteen games into the 26 game home and away season? And somehow still find ourselves on top of the table, thanks to Bentleigh managing only a draw on the synthetic turf at Bulleen?

Besides which, pretty much every South supporter - whether they lean towards trying to find the positives at all costs or whether they're more the type that wants to drive the bus off the cliff at the first setback - knows our deficiencies this season. They include, among other things, an isolated and increasingly frustrated forward who like the rest of the team is currently struggling to score from open play. The delivery into the box was once again poor, and when the ball did fall loose in and around the box, more often than not there weren't enough South players in the vicinity to make the most of those chances.

For about half an hour or so, the game was evenly matched, with both sides attacking and looking somewhat dangerous. Even the Bergers' opening goal didn't immediately suggest that an avalanche was headed our way. But one could have perhaps looked at it another way - even as the early part of the game ebbed and flowed, we rarely if ever tested the Heidelberg keeper, whereas the home side had forced Roganovic into making some saves. Still, that doesn't quite excuse copping the second goal from another set piece, and coughing up the third goal soon afterwards. Kenny Athiu in particular was a nightmare for our defense, too big and too mobile, in stark contrast to what was happening at the other end.

That the difference between our best and our worst can be so far apart means that one has no idea which South side is going to turn up on any given day. For a side that has built a reputation these past few seasons on its resolute consistency - even as it has bored some of our fans to death - this is an interesting development which I don't think Chris Taylor will be too pleased with.

Quite a few people are calling for reinforcements during the transfer window, and that's understandable. My worry is however that another striker or better mids aren't going to be of much use if the formation and tactical approach largely stays the same. Not every problem can be solved with a cheque-book, even in this league. What I want to see is a Plan B, or a Plan C - maybe even just a plan where we perhaps play two up front and take some of the focus off Milos, and make the side less predictable. What was most disappointing last night is that it was unclear what the plan was once we came out of the sheds. Somehow we came out looking even more disheveled after the break than we had before it.

One thing I noticed recently was that in an interview (which damned if I can find the link to now), Chris Taylor claimed he didn't much focus on what the opposition did, as long his team did what it was told to do. George Katsakis on the other hand, after this match, noted the homework they'd done on us and the efforts put in on shutting down our mains strengths. How much one can take out of those kinds of comments in isolation I don't know - and there may be a certain degree of misdirection in there - but a personal annoyance of mine for some years now has been the apparent lack of interest in what other teams are doing.

And while we have addressed this issue apparently for this season with an 'opposition scout', it still falls short of the kind of legwork people like George Katsakis put in not just in scouting opponents, as well as players and teams from other comps, but also networking - the art of seeing and being seen. Anyway, that's a topic for another day, and besides which there was apparently a South crew at the Bergers' spit roast night last Thursday, so maybe we're getting better at these things anyway.

Antics
There was much stupidity and silliness at this game. Apparently a young South supporter had tried to use bolt cutters to try and enter the ground. Pretty stupid if true. There was also what appeared to be a flare lit on the grandstand side of the ground, along with some sort of commotion.  As the game degenerated into farce, Clarendon Corner at least tried to make light of the situation - which would have at least pleased those who get annoyed when South fans start abusing the team. There were dust storms created by stamping on the ground underneath the shed, which filtered up into the air. There was an attempt by a few people at running behind Heidelberg Harismidis and waving their arms along with him - a means of amusing oneself which ended after people realised pretty quickly that it was hard work keeping up with him.

There was also much jocular chanting, including '6-5 on aggregate', which could have so easily backfired if the Bergers had scored another one - and they could have easily done so. Small mercies and all that. Most hilarious of all was perhaps the penalty miss from the People's Champ - at 5-0 down it wouldn't have made much difference except for the record books, but having failed to score from two out of his last three penalty attempts, this is hardly another problem we need, when we have had such a good run with penalties and opposition red cards so far this season, a run which will surely have to end soon.

Next game / FFA Cup updates
Not much time to dwell on what happened yesterday though, as we play North Geelong in the FFA Cup on Wednesday night. This game has been moved from Elcho Park to Port Melbourne, as North Geelong couldn't meet the lighting requirements in order to host this game. Good news for public transport using folk and people who live nowhere near Lara. Bad news for people who like peripatetic adventures when it comes to Victorian soccer.

The winner of this game has been drawn to play away against Bentleigh in the next round. A poisoned chalice if ever I saw one.

Victory supporters banned by FFV - charges for Victory itself yet to be announced
Last week FFV held tribunal sessions for those charged with offenses related to the incidents at the South vs Victory match earlier this year. They have also published the results of those tribunal sessions on their website. For the six people who appeared at the tribunal, all plead guilty and all were given bans of various time frames. The other eleven did not appear at the tribunal, and received automatic five year bans - though if they choose to make an appearance within.

Several 'anomalies', for want of a better word, have already been noticed by several online commentators. First, in their tribunal sessions as individuals, the first six Victory supporters to visit the tribunal did not have their club associations attached to their tribunal notice. Perhaps due to some online criticisms made, this was later rectified when the entire list of 17 offenders was put up.

Several punters also noted the anomaly of some of those who were banned by the tribunal being given multiple but concurrent bans of differing length. This is because some of those involved were current players from other clubs, including two from Frankston Pines and one from a Northcote underage NPL team, as reported by MFootball's initial article on the matter. One of those found guilty also seems to be a qualified or at least aspiring referee, if the ban on their officiating games is anything to go by.

The online reaction to the initial tribunal sessions seemed to suggest that a lot of people were unaware that the FFV was going to also deal with Melbourne Victory's role as one of the participating clubs at a later date. Eventually this anger perhaps lead to FFV putting out a statement noting that charges would soon be laid against Melbourne Victory. On the face of things, this was good news for South, as the statement does not include any mention of South being charged with any breaches. Less encouraging was that FFV has mentioned they are still looking for more participants in the fight from both sides.

Until then, a Victorian soccer public hungry for justice, waits.

Around the grounds
In search of the right result
Trundled out to Somers Street for some FFA Cup action on Tuesday night and parked at the furthest extremes of the car park, where there's still some actual grass. Despite the extra metres I'd have to walk both to and from the ground, the decision may have helped save my vehicle from being struck by a REDACTED launched after the conclusion of the game. Still, even as REDACTED hung in the air as REDACTED are designed to do, it wasn't as pretty as the moon that night. Knights were the home team, taking on Croatian brothers or sisters (let's just say siblings) Dandenong City Chelsea Hajduk, but despite the visitors making a show of it, their defense was rubbish; they copped two goals in a minute midway through the half, and never looked like getting back in the game after that. It was 3-0 at halftime, and 3-1 at full time - an injury time goal scored by City which probably had some Singapore based gambler crying into his char kway teow for ruining his clean sheet spot bet. Almost nothing of note happened in the second half, apart from me riffing on Twitter about said boredom, and beginning the campaign to get South to make beanies with pompoms on them. Seeing as how my campaign to get hooped socks onto the uniform only took six years to come to fruition, one should be patient.

I remember nothing
Port vs Oaks at Port. Even this far from the finish line - smack bang on halfway - Port needed to win this in order to keep touch with the top six. In that sense, losing this match 4-1, with their one goal coming very, very late, was not a good outcome for the Sharks. Oh, but it all could have turned out so differently. The whole goal face to aim at, and yesterday's hero Adrian Zahra hit his early shot right at John Honos. Later, Oakleigh make hay out of Port's defensive lapse sunshine, and things just got worse from there, though Oakleigh's finishing was tidy. Not that Port's season is over by any means, but it looks like their focus might be on the FFA and/or Dockerty Cups now. Or maybe like 90% of the clubs in this competition, that's where it always was.

≠
Things are grim for Altona East. One win, one draw and being knocked out by a lower league opponent was all they had to show so far in 2016. One of the locals noted to me that since they don't win at home, today was likely to be another bad day; I noted that East doesn't seem to be winning anything, it probably didn't matter where they played. Things got even worse when East found themselves 3-0 down at home within 20 minutes or so to a mediocre Westgate side. Somehow East managed to get themselves into the sheds only 3-2 down, which lead to the necessary tantrum from the Westgate brains trust at halftime. A side footed volley from probably 20 metres out just after the break, that swerved out of the reach of the Altona East goalkeeper and into the side of the net was wonderful to watch, and just about sealed the game. A junk time goal to each side late on proved the point that more goals ≠ more quality, no matter how much deluded soccer haters may think otherwise. 

Final thought
Only copped half as many as Nunawading did on the weekend, yet even they managed to score - from a free kick no less.

A Day To Remember - Heidelberg United 2 South Melbourne 5

Yesterday might not have been an argument for the FFV's proposed National Competitions Review reforms. But it certainly provided a solid argument that something needs to change.

It was an appalling crowd, even taking into account the poor seasons of both clubs, the decline of second tier crowds in general, and the decline of this once great derby. If there were 300 people there as reported by some, then half of them must have been in the Bergers' social club.

The Bergers, as is perhaps becoming the norm with struggling and even not completely struggling teams throughout the divisions, could barely manage to muster a reserves team. Reportedly starting with just nine players, they were 7-0 down before three of their players became injured, and the game was abandoned.

The field was atrocious, one of the worst I've ever seen at this level. Dribbling was almost impossible. Passes were only good if sent skimming across the surface rather than rolling. Players from both sides kept losing their footing, often without opposition interference.

The atmosphere, apart from Clarendon Corner going all out for one last hurrah before moving into at least semi-retirement, was dire. There have been Hellenic Cup matches with more of an edge than this, and not just because of a price hike in the price of souvlakia for the finals day.

The game itself at least had a couple of sides that tried to provide some sort of entertainment value. Heidelberg struggled to get too many chances, but were efficient initially. Some better crossing from our end would have seen a higher score, but who's complaining? Rixon, who came on in the second half for the first time since his six match suspension was ended, smashed a well hit shot against the crossbar. Another goal - possibly in the same sequence of play - was disallowed for offside. But we also had a smidgen of luck for once as well - one of our goals in the first half hit the post, went across the face of goal, hitting the hapless Heidelberg goalie before going in.

It was the first time we'd scored five against the Bergers since the NSL days, and the first time we'd beaten them three times in a row since that era as well. Don't ask for specificities on that though. Shaun Kelly, brought across mid-season for defensive replenishment, ended up as our top scorer for the season with a tally of four goals. Baggio Yousif managed to add his name to the list of South scorers, as did Matko Budimir.

Clarendon Corner had a ten year birthday/reunion celebration of sorts. Word is that the concept is being put into at least semi-hibernation. Six seasons of slop and a lack of new members will do that to people. There were a couple of new banners for the occasion, a march to the ground, solid chanting and some spirited moshpit activity.

Heidelberg Harismidis, in his role as ballboy, had a few chants and cheers directed his way, all in good fun. Somewhere between idiot savant and noble savage, and yet actually being possessed by something completely different altogether, his runs and up and down the sidelines of the VPL grounds will be missed, sort of.

Even George Katsakis, that most diehard of Alexandrians, managed to laugh along with a Clarendon Corner chant at his expense ('my cheesecake shop, is better/bigger than yours', I think it was). Gus Tsolakis pulled out a little party trick with a behind the leg pass from a ball going out of play. It was that kind of day, that kind of season. Both coaches have seen better days.

As far as we have fallen, at this stage at least we have not reached the depths that Heidelberg have fallen to. Yes, we hate them, want to thrash them, but it is also true that upon their eventual demise (should it actually happen) they will take with them a part of us. They are our shadow (our unheimlich, perhaps) - less successful for the most part, a perennial warning to what could happen to us if we ever get too hubristic, which is never too far away at South.

Later this week, we'll start talking about the NCR. Next week some time, I'll dish out my awards and a season review. I don't know about what the Kiss of Death has planned for the finals or for their awards, having being unable to provide content for the last month, and seeing as how they didn't manage to get an awards post up last season.

I can't promise much regular posting after that. Since I actually sorta work now, I have writing and reading that needs to be done for that part of my existence. But the NCR and social club work will keep us all enthralled. There'll be a best and fairest evening and an AGM.

Thank yous of course come at the end of the season, and you can wait your turn.

There goes Fortress Lakeside - South Melbourne 1 Melbourne Knights 2

Every South loss hurts. Does this one hurt more than the others? I'd say yes, except the VPL era South is turning into a blur of disappointment and battle fatigue, interspersed with only occasional moments of joy.

Is that too depressing, melodramatic, maudlin and self-pitying? I'll get back to you after we start stringing some wins together, maybe win a title.

Chants
'Worst steward ever'

I thought it was a little harsh.

Dropkicks of the evening
The two young MCF boys who planted themselves on the fence in front of Clarendon Corner at the start of both halves. Trying to bait them with adolescent one liners and Nazi salutes. Happy to say that it didn't work, in part perhaps because their credibility was lessened with one of them holding a bottle of Sprite. Very hardcore.

From Despair to Where?
It's a lousy song. But if I was on the internet five minutes after the game, instead of after a few hours of quiet contemplation, watching Lakeside the soccer venue being packed away, maybe I'd be one of those people as well.

Gains
Going overseas for a couple of weeks. Will miss two, maybe three games. Have a good trip, buddy.

Improvement
It was a very disappointing loss. Having said that, after not really doing anything for 40 minutes, we woke up and started playing some not bad football - probably the best we've looked going forward in about six weeks, and I think there's improvement yet to be had - we are getting more direct, we are starting to play through balls earlier and go wide, but it's not quite where it should be.

Well done to the Knights, they rode their luck a little, but they took their limited chances, while we didn't make the most of ours. We've got to work harder off the ball, and we've got to defend better as a unit, and we've got to be on the ball from the first minute of the game, not half way through. No point dropping heads when you turn the ball over in midfield, you have to track back, and mean it.

It's not a perfect squad, but it's a good squad, and there's nothing there that can't be fixed. I suspect though, that holding such an opinion will make me a bit of an island for at least this week.

Joryeff
Must be close to getting a start, surely.

Matko Budimir
Not too bad yesterday.

Luke Byles
So far, without doubt, our player of the season.

Need More Greeks!
When all else fails, someone always has to pull out that pearler. Never mind that Gavalas, Hatzimouratis, Tsiaras and Gasparis all started yesterday.

Next Week
Dandenong Thunder. Seven game winning streak to start the season Dandenong Thunder. Seven game winning streak to start the season and the only goal they've copped was the dodgiest penalty of all time Dandenong Thunder. Away from home. The immediate panic button pushing part of me says we're doomed. The other part, which I like to keep hidden away, says that there's no time like the present. Maybe being the underdog for once will help. Maybe not.

Pleasantville
Not a bad little flick. Toby Maguire is very earnest in it though. But that's Toby Maguire for ya, I suppose.

Referees
You have to wonder sometimes.

Steve from Broady's Positive Spin
Me: I'm going to need your positive spin this week.
Steve: Fuck you, Paul.

Stewardship
After making my steward/marshal's debut during the Altona East reserves last week, I was hastily promoted to the big league yesterday. The longtime stewards are getting old, and we need fresh blood. If you're interested, contact the club. I don't mind doing it most weeks, but it'd be nice if we have a rotational system going.

Trent Rixon
If he is injured, get him to have a week or two off. There's still two thirds of the season to go, and excluding the Thunder, most of the finals chasers are pretty bunched up.

Yusef Yusef and the Case of the Rose Coloured Glasses
The former South player tore apart our defence for the Knights' second goal, leading some to wonder 'what if'. Now without wishing to denigrate 'Yuey', we should recall his time with us, a time when downhill skiing was king, and our squad's main claim to fame was that they were 'good off the bench'.

And let's not forget that it was Yusef² who was beaten defensively on our left, leading to the cross which created our goal. As Heidelberg Harismidis said to my buddy Gains a few weeks ago at a bus stop in Thornbury, 'it's about balance, Yin and Yang, you know what I'm talking about'

Zenith
Ended up with Steve from Broady at the new Hungry Jack's at Spencer Street Station eating cheeseburgers. That's a genuine new low.

At Last - South Melbourne 1 Heidelberg United 0

This blog entry/match report will not be a linear account. Linear narratives are pretty stupid anyway. Five years of hurt was almost worth it yesterday. After five years of losing games we dominated, of needing late scrambling efforts to snare a draw from the jaws of defeat, of finding ever more ludicrous ways of not taking all three points against these chumps, to win with a semi or three quarters dodgy penalty, and see them miss their chance at the other end, was all too bloody sweet.

Stephen Weir was involved in most of our attacks. Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

Stephen Weir played his best game for the club - is that what I said last week as well? Quite simply, he was in just about everything. Next to him, Jesse Krncevic's absence has been incredibly evident, with five goals from his four games after returning from suspension. He challenges for the ball, chases well, and seems to have a decent rapport with Weir. Carl Recchia was also a rock in defense, and there seems to be a good vibe amongst the squad. Winning can do strange and unpredictable things.

So after all the unsubstantiated rumours (which we at South of the Border didn't start, but happily passed along) and innuendo (he's in Malaysia!) about Osagie Ederaro's visa ending, he of course did end up playing, allegedly at a cost of $5,000 per week to extend his stay. But George Katsakis, being the master tactician that he is - and seriously, how has this moron had the better of us for so long? - played his best player at his most optimum position of right back. Not forward, where he scores bucketloads of goals. Not perhaps on the wing, where he can dribble and run past defenders. But at right back where he was in a great position to hear the 'where's your visa' chant.

There was bad news from the game for us as well though. Steven Topalovic reportedly has a broken tibia - he came off just before halftime, with Trent Waterson replacing him. Topa's not everyone's favourite player, but you still don't want to see that kind of thing happen - mind you, the joke's have already begun that he still has one good leg, so Eddie may yet start him next week. Also missing next week will be Seb Petrovich, who was sent off about five minutes from the end of regulation after copping a second, and some say unnecessary yellow card.

A midfield and defensive reshuffle of sorts may be in order, but the main reason we'll even need one is because we're still in the finals. And apart from some desperate defending and Jesse's well taken penalty, we have Zaim Zeneli to thank for that. He gave away the penalty - I'd pass judgment but I couldn't see anything through the mass of bodies and all the way from the other side of the ground - but he also saved it, and it was a double save to boot, after he manged to collect the follow up shot.

The penalty was won about 20 seconds after Petrovich was sent off. A sense of doom spread around the ground, except amongst the small pocket of Heidelberg support on the hill who were celebrating as if it had already gone in. Surprisingly, it was Hamlet Armenian who stepped up to take the spot kick. To his credit, Hamlet works hard, but as first choice for a steely nerves moment of life and death, he wouldn't be my first choice. And yes, that is based a lot on the poor season that he had with us a few years back. But with Osagie and Saso Alexovski, two of the better strikers in the league at your disposal, or Craig Elvin, the experienced defender, why Hamlet?

Jesse's stoked after scoring from the spot. Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

Was our penalty legit? The talk after the game was apparently about whether or not the foul was committed in or out of the box. My thoughts at the time were about whether there was really enough contact, whether it was more of a 50/50 ball that Weir merely lost a battle of strength for. Normally I'd be more diplomatic, but after the last five years of crap, the dodgier the calls in our favour the better. Who could forget Osagie winning that penalty with the most blatant dive this side of Serie A? Or Vassiliadis getting Coveny sent off by rolling around like he'd been shot? Or fast forward to just a few months ago when Krncevic was sent off for calling Griffin McMaster a fucking cheat. No, I'll take a dodgy win. Screw Heidelberg.

It was a tight and niggly affair, without much flow to the game. Some have blamed the ref for that, but if there's dodgy tackles being thrown in what else can a ref do? Both sides hit the woodwork in the second half with the game still at 0-0, Heidelberg hitting the crossbar from a corner, and South hitting the back post when a Heidelberg defender almost flicked his header into his own net off another dangerous cross. Weir also his the sude netting from close range and should have cut a ball across for Krncevic in the middle. At the other end, there were times where we struggled to clear the ball from defense and Zeneli could be seen flying all over the place.

It just happened to fall our way this once.

The Other Game
So who are we playing next week? In retrospect, it was always going to be Oakleigh. Sure they were 2-0 up at home against Hume City, and then 3-2 up with 89 minutes having being played, but that just made the cosmically ordained choke all the more priceless, copping two goals in the space of about a minute. The rumours of Hume's demise have been greatly exaggerated - they might have some problems in defense, but going forward they are still incredibly potent - Richie Cardozo and Andy Vlahos are in awesome form, the latter in particular belying his age and his apparent two pack a day cigarette habit to run rings around his opponents.

So Oakleigh it is then, no time or day or place was available at time of print, though you'd imagine it'd be at Jack Edwards Reserve with a pretty decent crowd. Oakleigh have good players, but they, like everyone else in this league except probably Green Gully, are prone to making heinous and costly errors. We've beaten them twice this year already, and have a decent record against them overall - you've just got to wonder though how much longer we can keep this run going, and when finishing outside the double chance spots will cost us.

Will Fernando De Moreas and Marinos Gasparis get a look in this time? Gasparis wasn't in the squad list, Fernando wasn't used either. Is Fernando fit and injury free? Was there concern about either of those players ability to be effective in what ended up being a torrid and rough affair? Will Yanni Galanos get more game time? He's been back two weeks and could be an x-factor type of player. So many questions, so little insight.

The Perils of Taking Public Transport
I only took public transport to the pub yesterday, and got a lift to the ground. And then another lift to Oakleigh and home. Which meant that I got to avoid to the torture that is dealing with Heidelberg Harismidis. Poor Gains though didn't. Here's his text message to me relating his bus trip.

So yeah harismidis likens us to man u compared to berger's city. their limited resources that is.

My brain hurts just trying to think about that.

I'm Only Happy When It Rains Department
Apparently one of our own fans left the game early in disgust - and vowed never to come back - either because we were winning or because of the cynical attempts by the club to control information on Facebook. Makes sense to me. Each to their own and all that.

Final Thought
Took too long to happen, but when it came, how sweet it was. I was hugging randoms including Jesus, my hands were numb, I must've had the stupidest grin on my face for hours afterwards. I'd really love for us to win the title, and that's about the most obvious and dumb thing I could say about this season.

The Great Escape - South Melbourne 3 Northcote City 3

Before we get to the dramatic senior match, it's only fitting that we talk a bit about the under 21s.

Despite the substantial turnover in personnel during the season, they managed to work their way to the top of the table. But they needed a win in today's final round to seal back to back titles. Despite being well out of title contention, Northcote weren't keen on giving us the points, and they fought and kicked their way throughout the contest.

We took the lead in the first half, after a great dummy run in an offside position opened up the space for the young man to dribble through and pass to his teammate to score. Northcote leveled early in the second half, but our boys weren't going to rely on the other results going their way.

Nick Niagoran belted home a spectacular goal, right into the top right corner, to make it 2-1 - and that was the score at the end of the game. It was something straight out of a Boys Own Annual. Congratulations to coach Gus Caminos and all the boys who pulled on a blue and white shirt this year, for a title well earned.

Congratulations to the under 21s on achieving back to back titles. Photo: Peter Psarros.

The main event
When watching the first of last year's AFL grand finals, my arms went numb during the last three minutes of the game. Today, at Port Melbourne, I started losing the feeling in my hands about halfway through the second half. It was that tense.

Not much room under the social club roof. Photo: Peter Psarros.

The game had been hyped up considerably. The so called sister club relationship. The fact that it had been moved from John Cain to SS Anderson Reserve. The minimum five goals scored in each of the past three meetings. The possibility of Gianni De Nittis coming on late and providing a dose of karma.

Somehow, this game lived up to every expectation. The rain held off, the crowd wasn't too bad, and they didn't have to wait long for a goal, with Jesse Krncevic beating the offside trap and managing to slot it home on a tight angle to make it 1-0 after just three minutes.

But Northcote are nothing if not proficient in front of goals, and within a minute they had leveled, breezing through our right hand side for an easy finish. Soon after, they were 2-1 up, when Steven Topalovic gave the ball away cheaply on the last line of defence, exposing Zaim Zeneli. Topalovic had a poor game it must be said, and if Rhodri Payne is fit for next week there'd be serious doubts over him getting a starting spot.

When Trent Rixon scored his second to make it 3-1 after 33 minutes, after being unmarked but brilliantly controlling a long pass, it looked like it was just about out of reach for us. Defensively we were all over the shop, and we were being punished mercilessly for it. And when Stephen Weir met Daniel Dragicevic's cross, only to stub the shot straight at Northcote's goalkeeper, Charles Treacey, from a mere six yards out, the hope that we might come back just sank a little further.

Celebrations as Krncevic's second goal floats in just under the crossbar.
Photo: Peter Psarros.

But then Jesse Krncevic scored one of the goals of the season, and somehow we were still in with a chance. A ball was played wide out to the right into space, and Treacey came way off his line to try, possibly in a moment of madness, cut off Krncevic's angle. But the striker had a different idea, lobbing the ball over Treacey's head, and just underneath the crossbar. It was a more spectacular effort than last week's attempt to chip Stuart Webster, but it came off and at 3-2 we were back in the game.

Practice makes perfect - Weir celebrates after scoring from a free kick.
Photo: Peter Psarros.

And then we got a free kick just outside the box, in the same territory that Stephen Weir has been attempting to score from since he crossed over from Hume City halfway through the season. Most of his efforts from similar situations thus far had hit the wall - including against his former side Hume just a couple of weeks agao, which saw Krncevic pounce on the crumb. This time, the shot was perfectly placed into the bottom corner, and somehow the team went into halftime at 3-3.

Surely there would be more goals in the second half? Somehow, all the scoring dried up, though not without some desperate defending and alert goalkeeping on both sides of the ground. Either side could have taken the win, but even with an injured Zeneli, and Gianni De Nittis coming towards the end of the game as Northcote desperately searched for the winning goal - only all three points being good enough to see them in the finals at our expense - neither side were able to break the deadlock.

Jesse Krncevic had the best chance of the closing minutes, but even he couldn't add to his two goals. Yianni Galanos, coming off the bench late in the game to make his official South debut after almost an entire season laid off with a pre-season injury, provided the inch perfect cross. Perhaps there was too much time for Jesse to think about it, as his angled header went wide, and the opportunity to finish third and grab a double chance was lost

But it would be harsh to put all the blame on our fourth placed finish on that moment. There were too many other times during the season where we shot ourselves in the foot, and now we will have to do it the hard way, needing to win through four consecutive rounds. It's not impossible, but the room for error is just about non-existent.

And first cab off the rank is Heidelberg, who threw away their chance at getting at least a double chance courtesy of a shock loss to Springvale White Eagles. For some reason Heidelberg Harismidis was at our game rather then his own team's - probably too hard to get to for him. Spying he claimed.

No point in looking beyond the coming week however. Real one week at a time stuff, until we take the title or we bow out. It's a hell of a hoodoo to have to overcome, but we'll see how we go.

Still can't beat them - South Melbourne 0 Heidelberg United 0

At the start of the match, what with all the results going our way more or less, and with the fact that we hadn't beaten this mob during the season since 2006, only a win would have been acceptable. But by the end of the game however, after being reduced to 10 men for the last 30 minutes or so, a draw seemed acceptable, if not exactly palatable. That's football in a nutshell I guess.

The first half was dreadful. Comparatively, Heidelberg were slightly less dreadful than we were. Sure, the wind played havoc with both sides, but there was scarcely anything worth remembering from the first half, which would have been tolerable if it was two sides at the foot of the table, but it was two sides in the top half of the ladder. And I couldn't understand our reluctance to cross or shoot early instead of holding the ball for too long.

The game received a certain jolt of interest when a stray cross which was heading into goal was tipped over the bar by Griffin McMaster. The officials surprised everyone by calling for a goalkick, leading to Jesse Krncevic being sent off for dissent. Now I don't know what he said - he certainly didn't seem to be yelling or remonstrating in any obvious manner - but considering the poor tackles that go unpunished every week in this league, which sees the few genuinely talented players that give us some sort of joy in this cesspool receive no protection, surely cutting down swearing and dissent should be at the the bottom of the list of priorities?

Krncevic sees red; Vasilevski is shocked. Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

Anyway, the game livened up after that and we put in a decent effort, though it was helped by Heidelberg seemingly playing for the draw even more than we were. I felt we looked most dangerous from set piece situations, but a win after Krncevic's dismissal was always going to be a longshot. So while we're still winless against this mob in five years of league action, at least we haven't lost to them this year. It's a very small thing to appreciative of, I know.

Next Game
A tough midweek Mirabella Cup game against Port Melbourne, before we head over to Singapore. Recchia didn't get off the bench yesterday, which may mean we'll only get to see him play a bit part during our midweek cup clash. With Jesse missing for another few weeks, it'll at least mean he's less likely to get injured before Singapore.

Have you seen our dog?
Recent signing Jean Charles Dubois has apparently either done a runner to trial in Thailand and won't be coming back, or he'll be playing for us in the Singapore Cup after said trial. This is the risk you take when you sign up players on amateur contracts, and Knights fans, who were burnt in the same manner by the same player, are justifiably having a good laugh about the situation. Still, apparently we've signed a replacement from Hume, one Stephen Weir, who scored twice against us when we were down to nine men during the recent Anzac Day match. Take that whichever way you will.

Heidelberg Harisimidis (and friends) Watch
No sign of that lunatic running up and down the wing yesterday for some reason, which surprised me. Steve from Broady in particular would have been pleased with his absence, after Heidelberg Harismidis, without invitation, started eating Steve's chips at the Hungry Jack's inside Melbourne Central.

And a big shout out to the Heidelberg fans who tried to get in for free at the back gate. Three of you made it through, but the rest of you who tried didn't have so much luck once George Koukoulas came around and locked the gate. The reason that gate was unlocked in the first place? So stray balls that ended up over the fence could be retrieved. When Heidelberg sent one over during their warm up, the poor lad sent to get it couldn't get through.

Still, we should have had a marshal there in the first place, but it was funny seeing three Bergers fans make their way towards that gate after probably being tipped off about it and having to turn back. That's not to claim some sort of moral high ground - quite a few clubs around the place have supporters who will try and find ways around paying at the gate, ours included. But there was a small measure of justice yesterday.

Now that's what a derby is all about - Bergers 2 South 2

Still five years and counting. We got there early as per usual, but the reserves were called off due to the rain. I had nothing to do for an hour and a half except the usual chit chat and marveling at how Steve from Broady managed to just walk through the gates without paying - his argument about Maccas overs souvlakia with one of the gate attendants seemed to mesmerise everyone and no one realised he'd managed to walk through even going up to the ticket booth.

The match went on its predictable path of us spurning chances and having the misfortune of every save off McMaster landing in exactly the wrong spot - except for Topalovic's shot which was goal bound but headed off the line. Having said that, once again we gifted the opposition some goals with comical defending - the second goal will go down in history as one of the worst goals South Melbourne has ever conceded.

After letting Osagie walk through the defence and letting him have a shot, Sardelic at least managed to save it, only for the entire defence to then just ball watch for an eternity and let him follow up with another shot to put them 2-1 up. Still, we managed to fight out the game and earned a well deserved point after Fernando's pinpoint cross met either the head of Gasparis or Krncevic - I'm not sure if it's been decided who got the final touch on it - and Heidelberg Harismidis who was doing his usual thing of running up and down the line in his guise as a field marshal.

Stefaan Sardelic, who apart from getting in the way of shots had a poor game - his kicking proficiency at an all time low, so much so that goalkicks eventually started being taken by one of the defenders. That didn't last long because Sardelic soon got injured in a nasty clash in the six yard box and had to make way for Zaim Zeneli to make his South Melbourne debut. Didn't have much to do, as by that stage the home side had started parking the bus, but everything he did oozed confidence. Or perhaps we were unaccustomed as to what an adequate keeping performance was supposed to look like.

Afterwards, in an attempt to get to the bus stop in Northlands without going around the long way, we took a hitherto uncharted route through shops, down a ramp, through the underground car park and back up again only to find out that we still had to wait like ten minutes. Then back in the city I had the worst Chinese food ever, and corrected some group coming home on the train from FutureSounds music festival about the title and artist of Father and Son - oh yeah, and one of them was wearing a penguin suit for some reason.

All in all, it could have been worse. At least we managed to score again. Maybe one day we'll even get a clean sheet.