Mood Lighting - South Melbourne 3 Melbourne Knights 1

Another week, another match attended in a suit because I'd come straight from work. At least I had my beanie with me this time, for recognition purposes. Am I like Clark Kent and Superman if I'm not wearing some sort of headgear? 

Collected my membership, including the 30 years of Lakeside scarf and all four stickers. The conundrum of the stickers is that if you put them up anywhere, that's them gone, really. They'll fade and blister in the sun or whatever, or get your car's rear window smashed in by some idiot, because why not? But if you don't stick them up anywhere, they're not really stickers then, are they?

The 30 years at Lakeside thing was a nice touch, albeit another reminder that it wasn't meant to turn out this way. Ten or so years as a national league venue, and then twenty years and counting as Victorian soccer's version of Miss Havisham's ruined mansion, for which the ever increasing darkness is a nice touch. I can deal with no beer taps, or the occasional broken seat, but the lighting situation is just getting worse. We've had our issues with the Trust staff forgetting and/or not knowing how to turn the lights on, but on Monday the lights were on, and it still sucked. It being twilight at the start mitigates the issue only somewhat, because it was still awful when the it was night time proper.

Should there be so few working light bulbs on each tower that I'm able to count them without any trouble? Should the brightest lights at the ground really be those within the far end of the southern grandstand, and which may be there only because they're actually security lights meant to shine a light on possible idiotic behaviour by the handful of Knights who bothered to show up? Our treatment by the Trust continues to be worse than less than ideal. It's outright insulting. Oh, their staff were aware on Monday night that the situation wasn't good, but it hasn't been good on several occasions from a lighting point of view, and what's being done about it? All of our senior men's matches are played at night or at twilight, so this issue isn't going to go away. Someone should do something about all the problems, and all that.

But back to 30 years at Lakeside. That's about 30 matches against Knights at Lakeside, for a total of three Knights wins Two league wins (2005, 2012) and one cup win (2014), not counting the farce of the 2007 forfeit. To put that in some historical perspective, we've beaten Knights 22 times in 43 matches at Somers Street. To further emphasise the point, Knights have as many wins at Lakeside against non-South opponents (1996 and 2014 Dockerty Cup finals; 2017 promotion-relegation playoff) as they've had against us there.

Such history doesn't do much for attempts to make this rivalry seem relevant. But it's always been a strange rivalry in an Australian context. No obvious/inevitable ethnic beef, as with other match-ups. Not always in the same league. Just happening to be the two strongest Melbourne ethnic clubs for most of the period 1984-2004, and then finally, the last two Melbourne clubs standing. To be honest, even with the exhaustion of getting drawn in the cup against each other so many times, the interest had worn off this rivalry anyways.

As for us, it's early in the season, but I'm feeling like in the two games so far that I've been watching something different from everyone else. Maybe I have! I thought the Port game wasn't a great watch, but under the conditions, it was fine. Others saw it differently. This game, I thought long stretches of the first half were absolutely dire, from both teams. Others were pleased that we were at least playing it along the deck, instead of long balls. I don't know. I like having Nahuel Bonada up top, because it means fewer long balls, but we're still one bad tackle on him (by the way, check out this Jackie Chan shit from Friday night) from having to rely on the Danish guy.

Danish guy is clearly unfit, but he scored, so there's that. Was it a difficult chance? Not so difficult, but he was in the right place at he right time, and the ball went where it needed to go. That at least elevates him closer to the status of the new Kevin Nelson, in that no one's actually convinced this guy can actually play, but he's got at least one goal on the board, so... maybe there's at least a few more fortunate goals to come?

Next game
Monday night against Victory's NPL team, at the Home of the Matildas. Probably the worst time of year to get an A-League youth team, as they haven't shed most of their better players, something which tends to happen towards the middle of the year. There is a reserves curtain raiser beforehand. As far as I'm aware, Victory are charging an entry free at the gate. As for any possible unpleasantness... I suppose it's hope for the best, expect the worst, as is often the case. 

Some made up Q&A on the future of this blog
Q. Wait a minute, didn't you quit?
A. Yes, I did.

Q. So why are you back?
A. Not sure really. I know that some people miss some things about this enterprise, and I did feel a little guilty about letting those people down.

Q. Is the blog going to be an earlier good version, or the more recent bad version?
A. Probably more the latter.

Q. So... I shouldn't expect much?
A. Probably not. Think of it less as coming out of retirement, and more as moving into my over 35s/Sunday league phase. Relaxed, comfortable, maybe doesn't always turn up. No more trying to do everything, no more heroism, no more advertising, no more trying to change the world.

Final thought
Always check the fixturing details for local matches carefully. And then check again. That is all.

Knights can’t catch a break but South can throw a goal (guest post)

This post was originally posted by Manny on his own blog

Well here we are again. I managed to pull myself to another South game this season between work, study and the rest of it. Funnily enough it happened to be the return leg of the my last attended match. I headed down to Knights Stadium with a few of the boys and couldn’t be happier with how I spent my Friday night. We parked in one of the side streets and managed to get a seat before kick off – beer and cevapi in hand!

The First Half was really just a warm up

Heading into the match, I think most people were pretty confident. South have been flying on top of the table (Avondale match aside) and have been scoring buckets of goals. Knights on the other hand are struggling this season and even recently replaced their coach with Ivan Franjic. South were expected to walk this one, but as is often the case, the match itself was never going to be so simple.

South did not start the game in a flurry of goals, but rather, seemed happy to sit back and watch Knights control the tempo in the first half. The Knights though couldn’t make the most of their possession and only really created in a few nerve racking goal square skirmishes.

South’s efforts with the ball on the other hand seemed few and far, with a number of direct plays on transition failing to generate any clear cut chances. South were borderline reckless with the ball in the first half and seemed to lack any attacking structure. Ball after ball would fly down the right wing, and the few times where it found its target there wasn’t anyone waiting in the box to complete the play.

Rain rain rain

As half time came to a close, the heavens opened up and completely obliterated any chance of neat football for the rest of the day. Thankfully though, the rain was coming in from behind the grandstand so everyone was kept dry (except for the mini-roos who were absolutely drenched during their half-time kick-about).

Although I was grateful to be in the stand I was surprised that I didn’t have any other choice. This was the first time I had been to Knights Stadium where only the main grand stand was open to spectators. I’m not sure why the terraces were closed on the night, but considering that the Knights won’t be joining us in the NST next year, I think there might be little reason for the full stadium to open in the near future…

Return to the status quo

In the second half South showed a lot more promise. The boys were holding onto the ball and controlling the tempo of the game. South looked to create more structured and less rushed build ups in addition to the occasional direct transition play. It was better to watch, but ironically, these less compact tactics actually allowed the Knights to create their most threatening opportunities of the game.

Lopez put in a man-of-the match performance in that second half alone and made a number of game changing saves to keep the Knights off the scoresheet. At the other end of the ground, it appeared only one thing was going to break the deadlock – once again a long throw was met by Lucas Inglese to put South up 1-0 and ultimately pinch the three points.

Knights Stadium: Where Chap Laps and Eurovision meet

We made our way out of the game relatively smoothly (and a little smugly as we walked by the slowly moving car park traffic), however not before appreciating the music over the stadium P.A. system. I can only assume the stadium DJ was heading out after the match, because the home team result was completely ignored in favour of an upbeat playlist that traversed EDM, Croatia’s Eurovision entry, and early 00’s dance hits.

I used to think South was alone in solidifying their golden years in this way, but just as Lakeside is always blasting 90’s and 00’s dance hits I was glad to see Knights had a similar energy. Rated it!

Knights and the NST

Compared to Lakeside, Knights Stadium offers much more for the football purists. I can’t help but envy the homeliness of their stadium and the better, closer view of the pitch. But a nice view doesn’t pay the bills, and looking around the Stadium you can understand why the Knights aren’t gambling on the NST next year.

Unlike Lakeside, Knights Stadium is managed by the club. This means the Knights need to source funds to maintain their huge property in addition to football operations. As we know these days, cash flow is hard to come by. I say this not to suggest that the Knight’s don’t have the financial capacity (I don’t know their arrangements well enough to assume that), but I say this to make the point that the club has far more financial obligations than other clubs and it is understandable why they would want to take a conservative stance in relation to the NST.

It will be a shame not to have the Knights in the NST next year. Fingers crossed the competition is a success and they can join in soon after its launch.

What else of the NST

Things have been unusually quiet. The FA have done a great job managing the public communications the process, specially in that they have been able to limit communication leaks. I think the most important things fans can do though is be aware of the FA’s stated process. Specifically:

• Formal proposal and bid submissions which are due in mid-April.
• The Assessment and Review (A&R) Phase is scheduled for April and May
• The Completion Phase will commence in June 2024.

This also explains why there were some public leaks in April (including the Knight’s negative statement) as this is when clubs were finalising their submissions.

So what next for the NST? Well, I suspect the few remaining clubs either know they are in and have no reason to leak news ahead of a group announcement, or they know they are out and have lost interest in public comments as a means of negotiation.

Perhaps the Preston vs South game will be used as a platform for an announcement (I doubt that) or perhaps the FA is waiting until after the A-League Grand Final. If you are really desperate you can listen in to the 3XY Sunday Soccer program for scraps of rumours but otherwise we simply have to wait.

South vs Preston

Let’s say this first. South already played the Knights in the cup and now that we are facing Preston I find it hard to believe anything other than the fact these fixtures are less than random. Regardless the game is happening, and I’ll be missing out for reasons of both study and nerves.

This is a danger game in more ways than one. On the pitch it could be a huge banana peel considering the team’s relative ladder positions. Having attended a few Preston games over the years I can confirm that South will also face a vocal and passionate crowd, unlike what they have seen for a while – and considering our performances in high pressure Grand Finals… I am not getting my hopes up.

Also – and for this reason I doubt the FA will make any NST announcements at the game – this match will be secured like an A-League match. Over 80 security staff and police are expected to be in attendance in addition to a number of other security measures. After the recent Preston vs Oakleigh game ended with a bit of fuss I’m inclined to think some heroes may try use this fixture for their own ultra-lite grandstanding, but I sincerely no incidents occur. Not just for the match itself, but considering these clubs are due to play each other a couple times a year in perpetuity, it would also bode poorly for the future prospects of this fixture.

Regardless, a sell out crowd is expected and I think many many people around the country will be keeping an eye on this match. Fingers crossed… let’s go South!

Postecoglou in Prahran – Again! – Kind of! – But also, actually maybe!

I can’t believe it’s happened but after reading two books about the man this year, watching a dozen games, and hours of press conferences I am finally ready to admit it… I am looking forward to a break from tracking Postecoglou for at least a few weeks.

Optus Sport, Tottenham have now completed their season and have done very well by securing 5th place. Please consider this note my explicit blessing for you to slow down your relentless Ange-posting, for at least three weeks.

Also, special mention to KeepUp’s efforts this season – this $30m platform was seemingly designed to report on Postecoglou’s career but amazingly couldn’t make this intriguing business case work, commiserations.

That said, there actually is a little bit of Ange news left to squeeze out this season. A paper mural had been erected in Prahran, just a stones throw away from Albert Park, and of course Tottenham will be coming to Melbourne this week! Will we see Ange at Lakeside?

It’s nice watching South beat the Knights (guest post)

This post was originally posted by Manny on his own blog

Despite a big week at work the prospect of watching the opening match of the season, doubling as a potential NST preview, proved too much to deny, so I made the last minute decision to go to Lakeside.

Despite the obvious attraction of the match I can’t help but feel the early season kick off sucked a bit of the energy out of the fixture. Although I had a few mates going down, I had others who didn’t realise the season had even started.

To avoid the notorious canteen lines we grabbed a bite on Clarendon Street ahead of the game. This proved to be a great choice. When we did enter the social club, the place was pumping, but you also could hear impatient patrons arguing with the kitchen about food wait times.

I didn’t sit near the Clarendon Corner this week and was content to watch the game rather than participating in the chants. There was a decent active turnout overall with the Knights fans also occupying a small section near the Lake end of the ground. It does make for a better atmosphere with two sets of dedicated fans, and I can’t wait for more of this in NST games. Even last night with the Knights fans relatively quiet, just knowing they’re there makes the game feel a little more meaningful.

The night itself was absolutely beautiful, and a perfect night for Lakeside. The view from the grandstand were near their best and the weather was perfect for football. Despite this the the crowd seemed sparse when I got there and filled out less than I expected after kick off. There were probably about 2k there, which is fantastic for this level, but I did expect more.

The game itself was a pretty simple affair. South scored early through Harrison Sawyer. It was a great way to kick off the season for South’s main man who was actually awarded the captaincy this year after returning from a brief stint in India and Finland.

After Sawyer’s goal, South never really felt out of control and the game was pretty choppy. South did manage to start the second half well with a few clear cut chances but after the that the Knights kept the majority of the possession. Despite holding the ball the Knights never really looked threatening and South proved too hard to break down.

It’s a good early result for South to start the season, remembering that Knights are coming off a finals appearance last year. I am hoping to see some more fluid play from the boys as the season progresses, this performance had pre-season cobwebs in a few too many places.

NPL on Youtube again

After the collapse of ClutchTV, the NPLVIC’s former streaming provider, the league is again being broadcast on YouTube, and may I say, thank-you! I did have the old NPLTV app, but found myself watching less football last season, mostly because the app would freeze or I would forget my password.

The accessibility of YouTube is unmatched, no log in, quality streaming and easy search. I do wonder how this will impact crowds throughout the season but if the numbers last night are any indication (12k views) than the league is better placed for a further reach and better sponsor exposure value. That said, one of the reasons I nearly didn’t go was because I would have been able to watch the game at home on TV easily.

Youth League

Interesting development too the other day. It looks like there has been a last minute change to Football Victoria rules which would allow NST teams to compete in the VPL2.

I guess the one club one team principle doesn’t hold Australia is firming on the Spanish Style system of reserve teams in the lower leagues. Does this mean the Y-League is also actually dead? I suppose there’s a chance to run some sort of Frankenstein A-League / NST youth league but this wouldn’t run in line with both seasons. Seems like there will be a bit of administrative movement until the NST starts.

NST News

Brisbane United is officially out of the race. The partnership was between a a number of Brisbane clubs and was always going to be tough to manage. It also faced administrative questions from Football Queensland, about its multiple senior teams, promotion and relegation. After Brisbane Strikers removed themselves from the partnership, United effectively lost their planned ground access which was pivotal to their bid.

With no real alternative in Brisbane, that’s effectively lights out for the bid. There is a chance now that Australia could have two professional leagues in 2025 and only one team from its Olympic city. A farce at all levels.

Right place, right time - Melbourne Knights 1 South Melbourne 2

Another week, another thoroughly enjoyable contest, provided you watched it through the filter of the netting behind the goals. Well, that's a little harsh. It was actually a pretty good game to watch, better for us having won it, but let us not forget that for a good chunk of the first half, we were on the back foot, and probably should have been behind. 

But we weren't. And then Jack Painter-Andrews, waiting on the edge of the 18 yard box and taking advantage of a poor clearance from a not very good corner, hit it low and hard through the sea of legs for the opening goal. There is nothing better than being behind the goals, even with a big black net in the way, when a player takes one of those low shots from a half-clearance, and you can see the ball going n even before it's crossed the line, with the goalkeeper and his friends on the line helpless to do anything about it; and even better for it being right on half time.

Second half, copped the equaliser, but didn't stop coming and stepping up. And for all of Knights' commendable new found commitment to a short passing game, there was evidence that they are vulnerable when trying to play out of the back. It was evident against Oakleigh the week before, and when the moment presented itself last Friday, we managed to take it. The game of risk vs reward fell in our favour this time.

Leaving the game, I had two thoughts first how nice it was to watch a win in a meaningful league game between these two sides, a game of decent quality, with an ever improving stadium experience, and that we might well meet again in the finals, maybe even in the final; the other thought was how few people had watched the game. It wasn't a poor crowd, but it deserved more than it got. But that's where we are now.

Next game
Dandenong Thunder at home on Sunday.

Is there a curtain raiser?
Yes. Our senior women take on FV Emerging, kickoff at 1:30

Fixture news
Our round 19 fixture against St Albans, originally scheduled for Friday June 23rd, has now been brought forward to Tuesday June 20th. I guess the Women's World Cup must be really keen to get into the stadium.

Congratulations to Ange Postecoglou
What's left to be said that hasn't already been said? Ange's profile is so high now, that every man and his dog have had their say on his latest move. Just as importantly, for many years now Ange has been in the position of when he talks, people listen, and he has significant say on how the narrative around his career now gets played out. It's a long way from Panachaki and Whittlesea Zebras, and this blog being among the few English language places even taking a cursory interest in his years in the wilderness. That's not intended to sound like backslapping for this outlet, only remembering what it was like at the time. Now, even Ange's stint in Patra is being raked over for insights into what came after, as is his time at Zebras.

(both stories, through no fault of the respective writers, lacking input from the man himself)

That Whittlesea stint keeps getting brought up by a lot more people than were actually there, like that White Stripes gig in Melbourne that reputedly only had 13 people show up. I think of that second match at Lakeside between ourselves and the Zebras in 2009. There were many lows in that season for Zebras, but for Ange personally that one might have stung an little bit more, coning back to the scene of your then greatest accomplishments, and copping four (and should have been more) with one of said four being scored by a 37 year old who you were coaching a decade earlier.

But that puts it all a bit too simply, even neatly. I see some Spurs fans, as did their Celtic counterparts a couple of years ago, bring up Ange's background (not from European football) and age (now 57), and ask what's he done and why has it taken so long? And it's like, can you even comprehend the footballing distances and barriers - the mental, the psychological, of reputation - that any Australian coach has to overcome to get even close to being taken seriously in Europe? The fact that Ange even got close, considering those obstacles - and the prejudices of those who make decisions at that level - should be right up there with whatever other qualities he has as a manager.

I mean, at his first peak in 2000, coaching in the World Club Championships, the team he was in charge of was fobbed off (by people from the home of the "romance of the cup" no less) for containing tax advisors and petrol pump attendants. Never mind that the petrol pump attendant had a solid decade at a leading Greek club behind him. A decade later, he's coaching against ex-opponents, ex-teammates, and even players like the petrol pump attendant whom he coached, in no man's land. Now he's in the same league as Manchester United. My disinterest in anything above this mess we're in right now aside, I can at least admire the accomplishment of even getting close.

Vale Rale Rasic
Of the three men who have coached both South Melbourne and the Socceroos (Rasic, Arok, and Postecoglou), Rasic had by far the shortest South stint. Brought to South in late 1982, Rasic lasted just 13 matches of the 1983 NSL season, with a muddling record of four wins, three draws, and six losses. Others who were there at the time can perhaps shed some light on what went wrong, because it seems like the pieces were there for the side to finally win a league title; indeed, the team went on to finish in fourth place, just a game and a half behind champions St George. Unfortunately, Rasic's biography doesn't give away much on that period of his career, preferring to let sleeping dogs lie. The club would have to wait one more year to finally break its national league drought under Rasic's replacement Len McKendy, while Rale would win the 1987 NSL title with a dominant APIA team.

Second to last thought
I haven't paid as much attention to the senior women's team as I should, but if anyone can make sense of this what's going in this NPLW Victoria season as a whole, you're a better person than I am. Seems to be a case of get to the finals however you can, hope you have enough of your good players left, and then just pull a name out of a hat to decide a champion. Chaos league.

Final thought
The Futbol24 app is now for the tip.

Outsourcing - South Melbourne 2 Melbourne Knights 1

South Melbourne FC maintained their perfect start to the season with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Melbourne Knights on Monday night at Lakeside Stadium. Due to an athletics meet that took over the stadium over the preceding weekend, the match between South Melbourne and Melbourne Knights was played as a one-off Monday night fixture at Lakeside Stadium. However, it is unclear if the move made a difference to the number of people attending.

The hosts started brightly and were rewarded in the 23rd minute when Marco Jankovic rose highest to head home off another Max Mikkola long throw-in, much to the delight of the home fans. In the second half, they doubled their lead with Pat Langlois pouncing on Chris Oldfield's save from Marcus Schroen's curling shot.

The Knights pulled one back from the penalty spot after goalkeeper Javi Lopez made a desperate attempt to collect the ball in the box, resulting in a foul. The remainder of the match saw South Melbourne revert to overly defensive tactics. While the victory was cause for celebration, the disheartening prospect of goalkeeper Javi Lopez winning the club's MVP award again looms large. Lopez was once again instrumental in South Melbourne's win, making several crucial saves to keep the Knights at bay. 

The match saw South Melbourne's star striker Ajak Riak being kept well in check by the Knights' defense, but Langlois was a standout performer in midfield, scoring a goal and creating several other chances throughout the match. The victory also raises questions about whether South Melbourne fans should be happy with the team's style of play, given their excellent start to the season. Some argue that the club's winning record should be enough to satisfy fans, while others maintain that the team's tactics should reflect the club's traditions.

Next game
Away against Dandenong Thunder on Saturday night. I almost hope that we lose so that Esteban stops wearing that non-club branded polo top. Very superstitious man, I'm told. Me, I abhor superstitions, and especially sporting superstitions. It implies a lack of trust in your ability to get results on your own merits. Leave the augury and haruspicy to the mug punters, I reckon.

There was a cup draw
Yes, I know. Came home from work, fired up the old laptop, launched Twitter, and saw that we'd been draw as the home against Kingston. Then I went to check out the tail end of the live draw video on Facebook, and the person commenting on the draw kept saying "verse" instead of "versus", and I couldn't shut off the video quickly enough. 

What's a truck?
What's an AGM? By the way, if they don't announce a date by tomorrow, the earliest the next AGM can be held will be April, a full month after the last AGM was held, which itself was held way later than it should have been. Maybe this is all part of the plan to align our financial reporting with the actual season, rather than the financial year. Maybe I just made that up.

Amway! Amway! Amway!
32 consortia - mostly single clubs, but also a handful of group efforts or partnerships - have put in an expression of interest for the National Second Division. The expression of interest is merely a first step of course, because afterwards you actually have to make a bid. Eight Victorian clubs have put in an expression of interest, and South Melbourne is one of those eight clubs. 

Of the 32 consortia, 15 have some connection to National Soccer League participants, almost all of them as standalone prospects. Consider the numbers I suppose. There were about 40 odd teams which played in the NSL. About a dozen of them are no longer in existence; another three are in the A-League. So of the 25 odd remaining NSL clubs, fifteen are still keen on taking another stab at something approximating national league football. You can take out of that what you will.

Without going into this too deeply, showing mock shock at the gumption of some of these upstarts thinking that they can compete at that level, I will make note of a couple of interesting absentees. Queensland Lions, objectively one of the wealthiest clubs outside the A-League, are sitting this process out, figuring I suppose that once bitten, twice shy. The other surprise absentee, considering the, er, "caliber" of some of the Victorian clubs who have expressed an interest, is Oakleigh. Who knows what their rationale might be in making that decision.

Uh, excuse me, Professor Brainiac, but I worked in a nuclear power plant for 10 years, and, uh, I think I know how a proton accelerator works
Of all the... look, let's get the disclaimers out of the way. I only got to see other people's responses to whatever the original comment was, because the original comment maker has me blocked on Twitter, which is absolutely their right to do so; that is what the block button is there for. Anything else then is me inferring what was said, which was probably something to do with how great it would be for South Melbourne Hellas and its fans when the new Anzac station is up and running when the Metro Tunnel project is finished in a couple of years, and how convenient it will be for getting to and from Lakeside.

Maybe. Look, I love public transport, even when it hates me. There is no one at South Melbourne that's more gaga for more trains and more non-car ways to get to all the grounds. And as someone currently living within the catchment of a station on the under-construction Metro Tunnel line, I can't wait for the project to be finished, even if it will mean an additional interchange to get to my workplace, assuming AI hasn't made my role redundant by then. But will Anzac station make getting to Lakeside Stadium easier by public transport? 

Well, yes, kinda, sorta, under one very specific set of conditions, and even then only if you're coming in from the south-east and you don't mind a vigorous constitutional, ala Sideshow Bob. That's it. If you're coming in from anywhere else, it'll do diddly for you, because you'd still be better off getting the number 12 or the 96 or even the bloody no. 1 from the CBD, unless you really, really like walking. 

Let's assume for argument's sake that both stands and both gates are open. The no. 96, whose nearest station to Lakeside is Albert Park, is a 700 metre odd walk. The no. 1, which stops at the corner of Park and Clarendon, is about 600 metres away, though you also have to deal with slow meander through the theatre and arts district. The no. 12 is about 150 metres away, with the main bit of awfulness being the very bad tram stop, which fortunately (from a safety standpoint) rarely has to deal with large crowds.

The future Anzac station/former Domain interchange site is over 1.2 kilometres away from Lakeside. Being that far along a busy road, there are also several traffic lights which need to be crossed. The average person takes about five minutes to walk 500 metres. Realistically, you're looking at a walking journey of over 15 minutes. If you're walking along the north side of the route, it's not exactly the most pedestrian friendly pathway. If you're walking on the park side, especially within the park itself, it's not the best lit place at night. 

A few years ago now, I walked from Lakeside after a match to the now defunct Domain interchange (which is slightly to the north of the future Anzac station) in order to go watch The Godfather at The Astor with my brothers. What a slog, and I'm not just talking about the movie. I occasionally walk between Sunshine station and my house (when public transport lets me down, or when the weather's nice), which is about five hundred metres more than Lakeside is from the Anzac station site, and my goodness, what an awful experience. Looking back at my Google Maps data from the day, it says I traveled 1.6 kilometres by foot, and that I ran. That's how fast I was apparently walking.

And I mention this because it seemed to be that someone was making the claim (and I hope that I am wrong about that) that it was merely a four minute walk from the Anzac station site to Lakeside. That's pure nonsense. From Sunshine to my place, it's a leisurely 15 minute stroll, with just one set of lights and a couple of small pedestrian crossings to navigate. And one could, of course, more often than not choose to catch the bus. There is no bus or tram service between the future Anzac station and Lakeside. So in short, the eventual arrival of Anzac station is actually going to be of negligible benefit to South fans.

The answer to none of your questions
So, why was Pat Langlois' goal from the corner against Moreland not filmed by the NPL cameraperson? Because they are under instruction to film all substitutions, and being inconsiderate, we decided to take the corner quickly.

On the streams
Everyone has a vice
Someone goes to me the other day, "you seem to watch a lot of NPL TV"; a comment which sounded to sit halfway between observation and accusation, and that's the way I've decided to take it. If there was somewhere to go, I would've gone. If there was something else to watch, I wouldn't watched it. If there something else to do, I would've done it. Or maybe I'm just kidding myself? Maybe I'm sick enough about this league to stay home, and watch Gully pick up three points in a grey away with indecipherable green numbers. The flick it over to watch the Bergers look hopeless against an energetic St Albans. The next day, there was some spiciness behind the goals between Avondale and Hume supporters, and once again no one in Avondale's little shed stand; I'm told that this is because its safety permit has lapsed, and they're awaiting council approval to let people into it again. And they want to join... well, who knows.

Final thought
Sure we used about 40 odd players that year, but of all the things to lie about, claiming to have played for South Melbourne in 2011 seems like one of the more stupid lies to come up with about yourself.

Losing sucks, and yet... - Melbourne Knights 2 South Melbourne 1

Six days a week of election work (two kinds!) has taken its toll on my social life over the past month and a bit, and thus here we are again with another ridiculously late post. I've barely even been on my computer in the last week, except to visit government and banking websites. 

And look, I'm disappointed with how last week ended, but also - it was a whole week ago. There's something to be said for writing posts immediately after the fact - or as close as possible to the conclusion of a match - because it gets the frothing anger vibes down good, which certainly makes for more visceral communication. But the further one gets away from the match, the more one sees the whole affair in perspective, which also has its merits.

So, while unhappy that we lost the game, and the manner in which we lost it, it's not the end of the season for us, much less the end of the world. After several weeks of brute force heroics which saw us win games that we probably didn't deserve to win, a couple of elementary defensive errors and some poor decision making cost us a game we otherwise had the better of. Josh Wallen was at the heart of these affairs, playing in the uncustomary position for him of right-back.

(my favourite comment on this game, perhaps the season, is the observation that Quintas' attempt to turn Wallen into a right-back is like John Anastasiadis trying to turn Gianni De Nittis into a left-back)

A few people have asked why he is playing there, when there are other options available who aren't injured or suspended. Lirim Elmazi, Morgan Evans, Chris Irwin... all more experienced and suited to playing in that position than Wallen. Maybe playing Chris Irwin at right-back would mean you could play Jai Ingham on the wing for a half, and then replace him with Andy Brennan for a half, since that is all either Ingham and Brennan seem able to manage.

(and again, what was the point of allegedly kidnapping Ingham at the airport to only play half games? or can we only afford to pay him for half a game?)

Anyway, the other big talking point was why didn't Max Mikkola start the game? Apparently he did train during the week, and thus was not selected as a starter. But apparently he did not train this week, because he was trialling at Central Coast Mariners. Which, if that is the case, it would seem silly, perhaps, even stupid, to exclude a player who was missing because of football commitments. and not because he was ill or on some kind of bender.

That's assuming what gets posted on smfcfans forum is true. 

Anyway, there were enough moments where the ball could have bounced a different way, and things would have been better for us. That's football. Well, I suppose one can be more prosaic about these things because Oakleigh are still trailing us, thanks to their 0-0 draw at Dandy Thunder. Still, we wait for them to eventually catch up and surpass us, as Chris Taylor coached teams are designed to prosper in the second half of the season, while Esteban Quintas coached sides make hay during the first half of the season and hold on for dear life during the second.

Or so the mythology goes.

As for mythology, the myth of the Original Derby took another beating, with a small crowd, and not that much tension. Maybe the last-second drama reminded people that there's something more to this fixture. Just as likely, a last-second winner in any game gets people fired up. Blame the cold, blame live streams, blame Friday nights. But all the excuses in the world won't help make the argument that these teams and this league is not only a going or worthwhile concern, but also one that deserves to developed into part of a national second tier.

Or is that what we're all waiting for? It's seemed somewhat counter-intuitive to me to talk about loyalty, and hanging in there through thick and thin, all while people hedge their bets about whether it's worth bothering to turn up unless we're in a better league. After all, we supposed to support the club, and not the league it plays in, right? 

Simple truth is that everyone's older, both literally and demographically. The young guys who used to make up the terraces are now middle-aged, with more commitments, and less time. And the young guys who should/would have replaced them don't exist. We have been staring at demographic oblivion for twenty years, and seemingly every week now we ask ourselves how much worse it can get.

Well, at least my election work is over, so I'll have to think of another excuse for why the next post is late.

Next game

Tomorrow (Saturday) evening against St Albans at home.

Positive vibes

Driving up to the gate, I could overhear the gatekeeper to the car park telling club photographer Cindy Nitsos up ahead in the queue to write something positive about the Knights. 

Then it was my turn, and I got the same treatment, after flashing my media pass, which helped me get out of paying five dollars for the car park.

But also - five dollarydoos for parking! Three was fine, but five seems obscene. 

Anyway, positive things about the Knights. They produce a serviceable match program for this league. Their players seem much less thuggish than usual. I didn't notice any racist chants this time.

Final thought

Good to see the reappearance of an old friend last Friday. Sometimes winning and losing takes a back seat to more important things.

The Dying Derby - South Melbourne 2 Melbourne Knights 0

Another week, another six points, and that's all you can really ask for if you have low expectations combined with a sense of the absurd. Football Victoria's bespoke solution rolls on, but good luck trying to find an amended and in-progress 2021 table keeping tabs. It's not much easier finding a commentator on the match streams willing to bring it up as well, though I have come across it once.

Somehow no one at a South game seems quite sick of this nonsense arrangement yet, but what else is there to talk about? The National Second Division? Still not quite worth the digital paper its been pixelated on. The social club trying to stuff loose souvlaki-like meat into a Turkish panini instead of an ordinary, but nevertheless structurally sound bread roll? The lack of Knights fans who turned up?

On that last point, I think everyone noticed it. Maybe they were there and didn't make a sound, but if so, that doesn't say much good about their enthusiasm for all of this at the moment. It's hard enough getting any away supporters to Lakeside, so seeing another formerly half-enthusiastic visiting cohort become further diminished lessens the appeal of these so called derbies.

It's not like we haven't done the same in recent seasons, but that's usually been when we've been poor, we're away from home in the middle of winter, and not usually where this so-called derby is concerned. Maybe the Knights fans have adopted the styling of a middle-aged homebody, which is their prerogative I suppose. Maybe it's all about the near inevitable cup match ups these days, which probably makes sense on a whole range of levels, not least Knights having been largely rubbish in league competition for the better part of the last 25 years.

The game itself provided few great moments. A Marcus Schroen free kick looked good, but was saved in no small part because it was hit where the keeper should have had it covered anyway, but otherwise he'd have been more useful on patrol with the coppers trying to prevent non-existent trouble. Harrison Sawyer was reliving the worst moments of the past two seasons, when in one of our now standard phases of playing without a midfield, he was trying his best to do it all himself. He got some help in the second half, and helped set up a goal. Andy Brennan was sent chasing long diagonal ball after long diagonal ball, being reduced to the role of a dog let loose at an off-leash park. After his customary hour of doing that he was done, but credit to him for putting in some good corners.

Alun Webb didn't have a great one, and while I liked things that Max Mikkola did, getting pinged for a dive wasn't one his better moments. Still, you keep him on because he does nice things, and he can throw the ball a long way, which came in handy on Friday when Patrick Langlois headed one of those long throws from the edge of the box, had the ball bounce, and sneak in at the back post. It was an absurd goal, it won't ever happen again, but it was nice to get, especially if you're not going to be scoring more goals.

This giving up of momentum, combined with an inability to retrieve the initiative within a match until the opposition has been gifted several opportunities, doesn't fill me with much confidence about the other 23 league matches to come. We should have been punished harder last week, and this time around too, but the Knights were gun-shy to the extreme, even when staring the gift-horse in the mouth - and those were just the moments when your defense and your goalkeeper can't figure out who's meant to cover what angle. When your otherwise competent goalkeeper tries his second failed superman impersonation in as many weeks.

Nevertheless, if the opposition doesn't want to score, that's on them. We managed to get up to the other end of the ground and Jai Ingham - one of five substitutes, because that's how we still roll in pandemic times - found himself with a half-time warm-up caliber opportunity on the edge of the box. Give him  credit on two fronts - first, that he got the ball on target, and second, that he hit the ball hard.

Two-nil still didn't feel quite secure, but Knights could only manage a disallowed for offside goal. Unless their enthusiasm was tempered by seeing the assistant referee's flag go up before the ball went in, even that bit of action failed to raise a stymied response from their fans. Meanwhile over in Clarendon Corner, it was chants for more throw ins, and top of the league (for now), and six points. 

At least someone was enjoying themselves - even better that it was us.

Next game

St Albans away at Churchill Reserve on Sunday, in a top of the table clash. Get your head around that.

Final thought

During the week Port Melbourne was docked 18 points for the 2021 minor premiership race, for reasons only a select few know. You can't even call it a retrospective decision, because that title race is still going.

That's a shame - Melbourne Knights 1 South Melbourne 0

There's lots of ways to look at a result like this. Tiredness after a short break from a cup tie three days before which went for 120 minutes, on top of a league game three days before that. The opposition was tired, too, and had its injuries, and the theory is that with our superior squad depth that we should have done better. I'd argue that we did do better in this game than our opponents, but a toothless attack on the night came back to bite us on the arse. Overall though, the game did not reach any great heights. It wasn't unwatchable by any stretch of the imagination, but it lacked any zazz, zing, zork or kapowza.

You could put it down to another overly defensive set up from the coach, who has a safety first approach that's held him (and us) in surprisingly good stead so far this year. The superlative cliché is that a solid defence is the foundation for a championship, but you've got to score goals as well. Or something like that. But he's also a strange kind of tactician, not just a cautious one. The tactical rotation policy made more sense this week than others, but the three subs at once thing was a tad more than baffling. That's a lazy FIFA video game player stunt if ever I've seen one. And why take off Perry Lambropoulos, who's barely played this year, and who was our best player by some way during the first half of this game?

Maybe it was just one of those days. Lambropoulos playing on the right wing put in enough good crosses in the first half, but there was no one there to meet them. Gerrie Sylaidos had a shot tipped wide, and Marco Jankovic had a header saved likewise. Those were the pick of our chances, as we struggled to connect with anyone in the box, or take meaningful shots from outside the box or from its edge. Left footers whose right leg is only good for standing on were the culprits later on, but the lack of two sided shooters didn't help earlier in the game either. 

It beats me how players can get to this level without being able to shoot on both sides of their body, but my catchphrase of "if they were as good as we think they should be, then they wouldn't be here" has become so worn that people at games are quoting it back to me in real time. I should probably get new material; but then again, if I was a better writer, then I probably wouldn't be here either. 

There was also the pact with the devil made by multiple people on Tuesday night, whereby we bargained for the cup win at the expense of a league loss. That deal made sense at the time - we were top of the table, well clear of the relegation zone, so it's not like we really needed a league win. Knights' players and supporters treated the victory like it was a major event, which I suppose it may have been for them. After a heart-breaking loss three days before, and playing with ten men in the closing stages, it could well be read as a morale booster. Still, their keeper grabbing his genitals and gesturing towards us Hellas fans behind the goal after the final whistle was a bit much. Each to their own I guess.

I think for us the loss was more disappointing than tragic. What it all comes down to is inevitability. While it's not like we ever had to lose another game ever again, the nature of statistics, chance, random number generators - in a nutshell, the universe in its tumbling nihilistic glory - means that we were likely to lose a match at some point. That point happened to be Friday night, but it could have been the Tuesday before. It could well happen again on Saturday afternoon.

As is customary among the fickle, or at least those persistently death-riding this team from within, this loss has opened the door to calls of imminent doom. The doomsayers may be proven right, because having lost the first in a series of four tough (and apparently season defining) league matches, we are told that we are likely to lose all of them, thus proving that we are more terrible than the other teams competing for finals, who vary in esteem to these commentators from "pretty good" to the "almost as terrible as we are, but not quite, because pathological self-loathing means I want us to be worse".

Look, whatever floats your boat and keeps you coming back for more I guess. Some people like positivity, some people like negativity, and some people (probably me) like floating around aimlessly between both extremes, with a dose of contrarianism and giving into whatever the dominant bandwagon is at that point.

It's a very tight season, so any slip up holds the risk of seeing a team tumble down the standings. The Bergers dropped two points to St Albans, and Avondale had to dig itself out of a deep injury time hole to get a point against Hume. That leaves us tied on 22 points with those teams, and just two points ahead of fifth placed Bentleigh. The top five sides have just one loss between them in the past five weeks; the bottom four no wins in five, and the bottom no wins in the last three. 

We've made hay while the sun shone, and now we're heading to a difficult part of the season. I'm neither terrified nor looking forward to it.

Next game

Avondale away on Saturday afternoon, a huge blockbuster first vs second clash. We'll probably lose.

FFA Cup draw news

Yesterday, Football Victoria held the draw for the sixth round of the FFA Cup. We have been drawn against fellow NPL1 side Eastern Lions. The outcome of the draw could've been worse for us - some of the other all NPL1 match-ups are pretty rough - but we also missed out on being drawn against any of the three remaining state league teams. So, all things considered, this is something in the middle.

The fixture will probably be played in between either the Bentleigh and Heidelberg matches, or in between the Heidelberg and Eastern Lions league matches. Much squad management to come.

Around the grounds

Life in other soccer jurisdictions

The other week I was up in Wollongong for a wedding (all the best to Nick and Seonne!), and favourable scheduling allowed for a trip up the highway to Balls Paddock for Bulli vs Bellambi. Of course I could've taken the coward's way out, toed the party line, and been less of a football hipster, and just gone to the NRL game near my hotel with everyone else. But because I am a soccer historian of sorts, and because I don't like rugby league all that much, and because I am prone to being wilfully difficult, I decided to do my own thing.

Turns out that the main reason I was even able to catch a Sunday game - most Illawarra games are played on Saturdays - is because of a referee shortage.

Now, here's the thing - I know of Bulli and Balls Paddock because of If You Know Your History, but until you see the ground in the flesh a lot of that book learning doesn't quite get fleshed out. Walking down the hill to the ground (which used to be in a slightly different location), and setting foot there, the picture of Illawarra soccer history starts coming together. The northern end hill with massive gum trees; the shed behind the southern goal which was transported piece by piece from somewhere else; Mt Keira and its coal seams in the west. 

And no food worth fetishizing to speak of. I had my back turned ordering a sausage in a roll (and a beer) when the underdogs Bellambi - who had had not won a game after five rounds - scored after ten seconds. Bulli applied the pressure after that. but found themselves 2-0 late in the first half from a counter attack. Bulli pulled a goal back early in the second half, but the visitors withstood their woodwork being hit three times, and six minutes of injury time, to win the game.

After the game I was driven around the northern suburbs of Wollongong by local soccer historian Travis Faulks, groundhopping to Tarrawanna, Balgownie, Woonona, Corrimal, and Bellambi among others. Lots of talk explaining the history of the grounds, the waxing and waning fortunes of the various clubs and the game, the power held by the leagues clubs, and the way in which the local scene works - who can afford to compete in their top division and who can't.

Very educational, very informative, and an afternoon much better spent than watching a rugby league game. 

Final thought

Kids, marriages, grey hair. Lots of people on Friday night wondering where the years have gone. Same place they usually do would be the glib answer, but I get what they were driving at. You stop for a moment and find out you're middle-aged. Worse, that you spent a good chunk of your youth watching state league football. 

South Melbourne 1 Melbourne Knights 1 - South wins 4-1 on penalties

This derby is an anchor; amid the meaningless chaos of the rest of our days spent playing against opponents who struggle to come up with meaning, the fact that people still care about both South and Knights, gives matches between our two clubs a weight that is scarce within our league. Looking at an NPL fixture list and searching for games with a weight of history and feeling leaves most people coming up short. There's games against Knights, games against the Bergers, and little else. 

Now not every game and every opponent can and will have equal meaning, let along significant meaning. But clearly we all look forward to some games more than others because, as South Hobart blogger Richard Rants wrote about when we played his mob in 2014, it feels like somebody cares. Depending on the day and despite the best efforts of our behind the scenes team, so much of what we do nowadays feels like a chore, or going through the motions, or as a social gathering.

But the league games between these two sides over the past 15 years or so (the results of which heavily favour us) have hardly set the outside world on fire. No matter how good the games have been - and there have been several good league games between the two sides in the post-NSL era - few of them have had any meaning in regards to final placings, or been finals themselves. That's not helped by our erratic appearances in the finals, but especially Knights - in fifteen completed post-NSL seasons, they've made the finals just four times.

Say what you will about our bouts of mediocrity, but we've made the finals eight out of fifteen seasons, and won an additional title when there was no finals series. Apart from that one blessed moment when we stole that finals game in front of that Cro Tourney inflated crowd in 2013, we've barely been in the same postcode when it comes to competing for league honours. During that same time, we've had multiple finals matches against Heidelberg, Gully, Hume, Bentleigh, and Oakleigh, but this so called "OG Derby" has been a letdown in terms of the league.

But that's where the cup comes in - specifically the FFA Cup, and not the Dockerty Cup, much to my ongoing chagrin. Because cup matches allow for one off and focused moments of success, and because the FFA Cup brings (or at least used to) with it all that garbage of national stage, relevance, promotion and relegation, and that brief moment to be able to exploit national and nostalgic attention. As thoroughly sick I am of being matched up against them in the cup - that ridiculous four times in seven years - it is nice to have that attention on this fixture in a way that we used to.

Still, that didn't mean the crowd turned up in proper droves on Tuesday night. Knights had their pockets, we had a stronger than usual contingent, and we were boosted by enthusiastic South junior players to Clarendon Corner's left. But it wasn't an earth-shattering crowd. For every person that turned up, there were far too many clicktivists who tagged their mates into the event on Facebook in the usual way, and were never going to show.

So while I feel sorry for those that genuinely couldn't make the game having to make do with no livestream, and while I feel bad for our media team that we couldn't get a large stream audience to accentuate their promotional efforts, I also kind of feel like for the rest of the stay-at-homes and we-shoulda-gones that they got their just desserts. 

I don't care what people say - for me, the proof in this fixture's popularity, or lack thereof, lies not in minutes watched at home, but minutes watched in person.

So, you know, if you squibbed attending this game because it was too cold (it wasn't) or made only half-hearted noises about maybe possibly thinking of being interested in attending: well, fuck you. There's a handful of "meaningful", old school rivalry games each year in the NPHell and its affiliated competitions, so if you're complaining about missing on a livestream because you decided to stay home, that's on you.

Our clubs need bums on seats, not couches. I get that not every game has the same appeal, not every opponent brings the same vibe, and not every timeslot suits everybody. But if not this fixture, than which one? An elusive grand final between one of the current NPL's NSL Three of South, Knights, Bergers (with apologies to Gully)?  

The best thing about it is, all those stay-at-homes missed an absolute cracker of a game. Missing out on a classic like this won't mean that they'll up to the next game, but it did bring a smile to my face when I was reading the Facebook comments later. That was an old-school vibe - either you were there, or you weren't.

And what a game it was, end-to-end, ebb and flow, and no shortage of drama; another chapter added to this strange generational rivalry which is both ethnic (because in the Australian soccer scheme, we are inevitably ethnic), and not ethnic (because our ethnicities share no obvious hereditary animosity). It is a rivalry founded on two teams who once excelled at the same time, and then became the default remaining Melbourne-based national league teams, and finally two of the few teams left that everyone who's moved on can name.

I thought we had the better of the first half, but it wasn't like Knights were far off the mark. You could feel a goal coming from somewhere, some mistake, one piece of luck, one stroke of brilliance. Both teams were looking to attack, and if the skill level didn't quite match what the players would have liked to have done, it was still a very watchable affair. Then we conceded a corner early in the second half - Knights first for the game - and fell behind.

I was ready to concede the game at that point, not because I thought we couldn't make our way back into the game - but mostly because I thought we'd had a good run this year, and it was bound to end at some point. Losing would be disappointing, but not disastrous, nor even shameful. And besides, considering we had a day's less preparation and our best three attackers on the bench, it;d make sense if we lost. I'd made my peace with the eventuality.

Strangely though, rather than maintain a sort of moderate attacking focus, Knights decided to try and kill the clock from the 60th minute. Dangerous stuff as far as many of the people around me were concerned, all that going down injured, taking extra time to take free kicks, goal kicks and throw ins. I mean, if it works, you look like the master of shithousery. If it doesn't, it looks like what it did on Tuesday night - simultaneously arrogant and insipid.

So credit to our team for admittedly doing what was necessary and fighting and pushing to the end, and riding its luck to get the game at least into extra time. Credit to the South crowd, too, for helping push their side when the players were showing clear signs of exhaustion. I'll say this - despite some of our misses, the team didn't get disheartened.

I suppose it helps when Matthew Breeze - the focus of much mirth and mischief on the night - slammed what clearly should have and would been the sealer - against the crossbar from Pierce Clark's mistake. And it helps when the referee (who I felt had a good game), had the guts to make the right call on Harry Sawyer being dragged down by Nikola Jurkovic.

And my goodness, the placement of Marco Jankovic's penalty, and the (what I learned later) lack of shenanigans about who was going to take the penalty, considering Sawyer and Gerrie Sylaidos have taken them this season, and Marcus Schroen is always on hand to have a go as well. I remember Chris Taylor telling me back in the day (I think he did, anyway) about penalties being best left to those who want to take them. Still, we had that situation a couple of years ago when too many players wanted to take a penalty, which almost left to fisticuffs.

So while at 1-0 I was happy enough to take the loss on the chin and move on, at 1-1 I was rady to be appalled and heart-broken if we lost. Into extra time, and with the allowance of a fourth substitution meaning we could back to a back-four after having to chase the game with a back-three, we really should have won the game before penalties. I wish we had, because that way there's clearer moral clarity about the final result.

Too bad we don't replay cup matches anymore. And I hate penalty shootouts, not just because of their moral ambiguity, but also because our history with them is not good - like 30 years not good. Knights fans might say much the same on the later point. We handled the situation much better that our opponents, and everyone was free to revel on the eerie and hilarious similarities between this game and the 1991 grand final, whence we snatched an equaliser from the jaws of defeat, squandered the chance to win it in extra time, and then won the thing on penalties.

Almost thirty years to the day it was, too. The crowd went nuts, there was much smiling and playing of the trumpet, and we move on to the next round to get knocked out by a team of much lower historic pedigree than Knights, that of course being the magic of the cup. I can't say anyone played poorly for us; even the players I don't particularly like played well, or at least better than I usually expect of them. Not in that category was Ben Djiba, who is coming along very nicely thank you very much. A super game in the back-four and back-three setups, and some clinical one-on-one wins at very crucial moments.

So, yes I left this part of the game well pleased with the quality of the game, the generally lively atmosphere, and the result.

But also, I am over this shit

Some people cannot help themselves it seems. There was an admittedly small amount of South fans which stormed down to the players' race at the end of the game to heap abuse on the departing Knights players, instead of celebrating with their fellow fans or with our own players. Who knows what motivates those kind of antics. We'd just won a thrilling cup tie, there was nothing to be upset about, and yet these people's attention was unnecessarily sent outward to undeserving (in the sense of they do not deserve our attention) targets. 

Worse though were reports of an isolated pocket of what I assume were now very irregular attendees of South games, spewing political and sundry comments that were once more common, but which had otherwise all but disappeared from South games. Some similar bullshit came from the Knights fans, as is often the case. This nonsense continued after the game outside the social club, when for some reason a couple of our fans - I assume the same fans as those mentioned just before - and a few of theirs decided to aggressively taunt each other in the dark of the car park.

It being well known that some Knights fans hardly need any excuse to fight opposition fans, the antics of our supporters were just stupid - not for what would happen to them necessarily, but what would potentially happen to innocent bystanders (like yours truly) caught in the crossfire as an easy target. Credit to those trying to get their mates to pull their heads. No credit to our idiot fans trying to start shit for no possible conceivably good outcome; especially when they come to realise that, actually, they parked in the opposite direction to the one in which they were heading, meaning me and a couple of others had to go back into the social club to kill some time instead of taking the risk that we'd get jumped in the dark for someone else's malakies.

Most of us just want to turn up to games, hang out with our mates, support our team, feel bad about after a loss, feel less bad after a win, and then get home in one piece like a normal human being. Some of us might even be good enough to accept a loss with good grace with an opposition supporter, or even be something other than smug and fuckwitted after a win. It's not too much to ask for.

Next game

Back to league action, away to Melbourne Knights on Friday night. Keep in mind that this game kicks off at 8:15, not the Knights now customary 7:30 kickoff time. The curtain-raiser however is not the under 21s fixture, but rather Knights senior women taking on Preston.

Final thought

Apart from the spirited chanting from Clarendon Corner, the most pleasing aspect was the chanting from our youth team players, including their "where is your hair" chant toward Matthew Breeze. Simple, funny, delivered with no malice. Good to have them along for the ride.

The shorter, the sweeter

Some tiny bits of news.

Last night South beat the Knights 1-0 in a closed doors session at Lakeside.

The AGMs have been announced for Wednesday 24th February in the social club, at 7PM (SMH) and 8PM (SMFC).

Every now and again I get to add another match program scan to my collection. Here's Nrothern Spirit away from 2003-2004. Thanks to Mark Boric, Greg Stock, and Geoff Coy for teaming up to get us another one from the late NSL era, where things tended to get a bit more iffy on the program front.

The season starts now - South Melbourne 1 Melbourne Knights 1

Everyone seemed fascinated by this pink-purple sky, with some of ours
 fans forgetting their troubles momentarily to take photos of the unreal sky.
Photo: Luke Radziminski.

Walking into the social club on Sunday, and seeing the trophy cabinets empty of all their trophies and associated paraphernalia, I was little bit concerned. Where was everything? Had we been robbed by people so careful so as to not break the glass cases? Did we melt down the silver - assuming there were any precious metals in the trophies - to pay off debt collectors?

Well actually it was because everything had been taken out because the social club had been used to film some television show about WAGs. Still, nothing had been put back in by game day Sunday, so there's three or four us squinting at photos of what the cabinet layouts used to look like, arranging display boxes, putting the trophies back in, and worst of all, hopelessly trying to put the various pennants in.

Instead of having convenient hooks from which to hang the pennants, the pennants almost invariably required to be screwed into tiny-and-very-difficult-to-access-without-Olympic-gymnast-contortions  holes in the ceilings of the cabinets. And you'd thought the social club's kitchen layout was messed up! I would love to meet whoever was responsible for choosing tiny screw holes instead of well-placed hooks.

But at least we got most of the stuff back in there (on way or another) before most of the visiting Cros turned up to shame us for our empty trophy cabinets. Still, at least we have our NSL championship trophies, unlike another club - just don't ask me where our NSL Cup trophies are

Speaking of the social club kitchen, I know I get to the ground pretty early compared to most people, but the arrival of my hamburger was very fast this week regardless of this fact, and I'm sure we're all really happy for me. I sat down to enjoy my burger (and later washed it down with a tasty beverage), and then watched the women's game being played outside but watched by me on the big screen (when it was eventually put on), only to see that we were already 2-0 down to the mighty 2019 Calder side, and thus pretty much already cooked.

Credit to our girls - and they mostly are girls, age-wise - they put in a good fight, and even tried to cheat their way to an own goal via a handball (which was easily spotted by the referee), but they were outclassed and out-muscled. Worse, it looks like we may have lost our starting keeper Erin Hudson, who came off midway through the second half with what looked like a serious arm injury - she was replace by an outfielder in goal, which didn't really result in a shellacking any worse than I would've thought we'd have copped before the game.

It does help keep the scoreline somewhat respectable when your backpass(?) floats over the makeshift keeper's head, bounces onto the sodden yet still springy turf and somehow up into the crossbar, staying out. But that and the late goal we pinched were just about the only things that went right for our senior women on the day - it's been that kind of season, and yet they're still in with a shot at the finals.

The rain came down throughout the senior men's game, but managed to avoid hitting Row H, which is all I really cared about. Now some people said this was a terrible game, the worst ever derby between two sides, but I felt that was a bit harsh. The game was played in difficult conditions, by two fairly ordinary teams, but it was attacking and entertaining. I don't think anyone was bored by what was on display on Sunday. Unimpressed? Sure, why not, that's their right - people are overly cynical these days and just as prone to nostalgia as they've always been - but I don't expect miracles of skill from NPL players and teams (or maybe I've subconsciously lowered my standards since the end of the Chris Taylor glory days).

The players are there (for at least some of us) to entertain us as well as try and get points, and on Sunday they did that. Gerrie Sylaidos put us ahead after 16 seconds with a nice low drive from distance, and that was nice. Of course all one could think of after that was how long would it take for Knights to equalise, and the answer was ten minutes, with pretty much their first meaningful foray forward. The game ebbed and flowed after that - we had the better of the first half, Knights the better of the second, but neither side dominated an entire half, nor were they able to prevent their opponents from creating chances against the run of play.

Each team had a candidate for miss of the season in this match. For us, it was Billy Konstantinidis inexplicably refusing to stick a toe out to tap in a Brad Norton cut-back that was rolling right in front of him in the six yard box. For Knights, it was Gian Albano blasting a loose ball over the bar from from eight yards out directly in front, with the whole goal at his mercy. There were too many close calls to count apart from that, but thankfully we managed to walk away with a point, because we could've ended up with less.

Apart from surviving a nervous finish, the other highlight was getting to pig out on leftover Krispy Kreme doughnuts that the women's team hadn't finished, and getting called a fat bastard (or words to that effect) for my troubles. I regret nothing.

Next game
Hume away on Saturday night

Relegation battle (status: nearly safe)
Being typically bold in my prognoses and estimations of the future, I'm prepared to call it... almost. Look, it's no longer a question of misplaced optimism or even that chewed out phrase "mathematical possibility". We're pretty much safe. It would take a monumental disaster for us to fall into the bottom three even from this far out, and trhe chasing pack would have to climb over a couple of other sides to get there first in any regard.

Kingston's win over the Bergers on Monday night is irrelevant to us. They're still on the bottom of the table, twelve points behind us, with just 15 points up for grabs. More relevant to us, Pascoe Vale and Dandy Thunder both lost, and are eleven points behind us. While it's not beyond the realms of possibility that we could fail to take any points from our remaining games, it would still require either Paco or Thunder to go on the kind of run that their form thus far this season has suggested they will not.

Those two teams also play each other on the run home, so one or both will probably be knocked out by the result of that game by that stage, with their best hope likely being getting into the playoff spot and facing what could be a very weak NPL 2 team.

Of course from our point of view, such things are nothing to be proud of, especially for a second season in a row - but it could be worse.

Blessed technicalities 
On the terraces I was having a chat with everyone's second or third favourite viking (depending on whether you're a Hagar the Horrible fan or not), about whether a team had ever been relegated from this competition despite reaching the 28 point tally that we have already accrued this season. And the answer is, "short answer ‘yes’ with an ‘if,’ long answer ‘no’ with a ‘but.’”. In 2014, Werribee City finished in 12th place, in what would later become but was not in that season the playoff spot. It is also worth noting that while officially Werribee and Port finished on 28 points apiece, the video tape of the game they played against each other in the final round of that season went missing almost immediately, and thus one is tempted to not consider the resultant points tallies anything resembling a legitimate outcome.

Retro/commemorative jerseys
The club is close to releasing some retro style jerseys - see the details below if you're into that kind of thing.

Out 60th year anniversary tops by @Kappa_Australia are nearly ready to go. Register your interest with @smfc or me to secure your limited edition top. 1-20 will be available in a beautiful frame only, 21-100 will be top only. Full pricing details to be released over the next week pic.twitter.com/qyItSpKhXI

— Tony Margaritis (@sthmel) July 17, 2019

Match programs
I have added a couple of programs from 1979, and several away programs from season 1999-2000. More stuff will be added as the weeks go by, I hope.

On the couch
Dead but alive, alive but dead
Tuned into the Kingston vs Bergers game on Monday night. Kingston scored a rank dodgy early goal through Chris Irwin, and managed to keep the Bergers to few meaningful chances for the rest of the game. That's about all I could really say of this game, which was neither a great nor poor spectacle, and had little influence on whatever it is that South is trying to accomplish this season.

Final thought
We didn't want him!

85' GGOOOOOOOOOOOOAL CAVS!!

Oliver Minatel the trailer as Sergio Camargo comes up the left side and swings the ball through!#HFX 0-1 #CavsFC#TakeTheHill #CanPL #CanPLxOneSoccer pic.twitter.com/AGmbIyEKGQ

— Cavalry FC (@CPLCavalryFC) July 13, 2019

See you next year - Melbourne Knights 4 South Melbourne 2

This is late not for any particular reason other than laziness. Not that anyone asked at any rate, which is reassuring

Since I didn't expect to win this game anyway, I can't say I'm particularly disappointed with the result. Sure I'm annoyed with how the result came about, but it was only an exaggerated variant of so many of our losses - and even some of our wins - that there were few surprises for anyone who's watched this team this season. And the key moments of utterly shambolic defending aside, it wasn't even close to our worst performance of the year. We scored goals, created chances, and fought the game out to the end, things which you can't necessarily say about our actual worst performances this year.

But you can't go coughing up certainly three - and probably all four - goals of that nature, when you're already in the habit of conceding at least one utterly avoidable goal every game. Our forwards have at least sorted out their end of the bargain to be scoring at least one and usually two goals a game to cover those defensive frailties - and the fact that we are inexplicably the form team of the league over the past five weeks backs up that assertion - but there's only so much they can be expected to cover at the other end.

Why not celebrate with us, Kristian Konstaninidis?
Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

The first goal we conceded came after three rather predictable examples of what we have been all about in 2019. First, we had by far the better of the first ten or so minutes, peppering away shots and crosses, and generally looking up for the contest. Second, we conceded from basically the first real chance that Knights had. Third, that chance was created because of poor defensive discipline by Marcus Schroen (and really, it could've been anyone, but as one of the few long term experienced players in the squad, Marcus has carried a target on his back all year), who dived in at a loose ball in midfield, when being more risk averse and keeping his feet to push the Knights player who would have got the ball wide would have been a safer, more productive move.

It's like I've said all year. If the opposition is scoring bombs from 20 or 30 yards out, you get upset but you also grin and bear it (unless it's a player like Andreas Govas who should never be allowed to line a up shot from any sort of range). But we give up these awful, gift-wrapped goals week after week, and while I know that it's also an NPL speciality across the board, we're just terrible at it.

After managing to get back into the game via a Kristian Konstantinidis header - and for all his other cock-ups this season, there's probably no other player in this league that's as hard to mark from set pieces as KK - we copped a goal straight away. This happened not necessarily because Knights created an irresistible bit of football - though good on Hamish Watson for getting unmarked in the six yard box so easily - but because we were distracted by KK's antics celebrating in front of MCF of all people. South fans hate it when opposition players celebrate in front of us, but we're not too fond of our own players doing the same to opposition sides. It's admittedly a rare occurrence from our end, but it was such a stupid, hubristic thing to do by KK, especially when he couldn't easily celebrated with the fans behind the goal at which he'd scored.

Billy Konstantinidis appeared to injure his shoulder after scoring his goal.
Photo: Cindy Nitsos.

Clearly KK and the team were fired up by the equaliser, but they were so fired up that they forgot the golden rule of state league reserves teams everywhere - after you score a goal, just kill the game off for three minutes to take the sting out of the game and avoid conceding a goal via adrenaline and lack of concentration.

Sadly, any realistic chance to win the game was lost by the third goal we conceded. This was a goal that was so comically bad, if I was a European or Asian gambler watching the game I'd be be thumping the keyboard in disgust. Now on closer inspection there was a push against Marshall, but at the time the confusion between Marshall and Roganovic looked so bad that I gave up all hope then and there.

When Billy Konstantinidis pulled it back to 3-2, some people decided to get all excited. The fools! Knights got it out to 4-2 right away, and that was that. Nick Krousoratis hit the post, and the team kept trying, but what a waste of time and energy it all was. We lost, mostly fair and square, and more or less by our own hand and hubris. Even with a lot of the changes to the first team in order to deal with the three day break and the cup-tied players, it was going to be an uphill battle. Part of that was going to be the fact that we couldn't use the cup-tied players who may have been useful, but that's the nature of recruiting in this league now, that unless you go searching in New Zealand or the abandoned A-League player pile for mid-season transfers, just about any player you sign is going to be cup-tied.

We can't even really blame the narrowed dimensions of the field. It's Knights' ground, and they're entitled to do what they want with it, and it was known weeks in advance that this was going to be the case. I'm reminded of an episode of King of the Hill (a show I have rarely ever watched) where Hank takes the role of grounds-keeper for the high school's football field, and adjusts the condition of the field, like leaving the grass long in the wide areas to combat the opposition's gun wide receivers. Everyone knows that South's offensive strength this year lies in its wingers, so why not use every means at your disposal to negate that? Meanwhile, though the injury to defensive midfielder Kosta Stratomitros early in the game didn't help, at our worst we kept banging the ball long to Billy Konstantinidis, who was out-gunned all night in the air. Thus the game at times resembled our recent loss to Dandenong City, where the opposition won the game because they got to direct affairs on their terms.

And where we sought to muck around with the ball in half dangerous areas in the back half, the Knights defence played a very disciplined style, getting any half dangerous ball out of play, adapting the old rugby union adage, "if in doubt, kick it out". That non-reluctance to give us back possession could've backfired of course, but since we decided to put in our worst defensive performance of the year, their overly cautious approach looked like genius by comparison to whatever it was that we were doing.

Now in this game at least we weren't completely outplayed in the way we were against Dandy City, but giving up the goals that we did, and failing to adequately adjust to the narrow ground and Knights' defensive set-up, meant that we had to work extra hard to create chances and score from them, while Knights only had to wait until our next screw-up or lapse in concentration.

It'll sound like a commentator's cliché, but the least you could hope for after this loss is that we learn something from it.

How about that atmosphere?
As tends to happen after a South visit to Knights Stadium, there were allegations of racist chants from the home side directed toward either our fans or players. This time it was "you dirty Turkish bastard" chants directed at Kristian Konstantinidis.

Some South fans (rightly) attempted to bring this to the attention of the world and/or Football Victoria powerbrokers like FV CEO Peter Filopoulos, while knowing full well that almost certainly nothing would be done.

This is all the more hilarious (for want of a better word) because Filopoulos took aim at South fans for their alleged cruelty toward Heidelberg player Harry Noon when he got injured last year, and also took aim (rightly) at anonymous homophobic bigots on Twitter who were targeting the Matildas.

I feel sorry for Filopoulos on one point. As a former Hellas man, if he was to initiate action against the Knights, he'd be on a hiding to nothing in terms of "bias". Still, the more pertinent issue is that everyone just seems to accept that this is how some Knights fans behave, and there's nothing that anyone with any authority on the matter can do about it, if they even want to.

Things got a bit weirder online after this when a couple of people pointed out the hypocrisy (or irony?) of some Knights fans being at the forefront of trying to take down the National Club Identity Policy, while some Knights fans continue to sing racist chants. One might even think that some of these people could be doing both.

Anyway, there's no hypocrisy here as far as I'm concerned, because they are mutually exclusive behaviours. And maybe for some Knights fans, chanting racist garbage is part of the cultural heritage they wish to maintain or propagate?

Of course all that got lost in an argument about which club was best at not partaking in the other's post-match hospitality, so we'll see you back next year* for our next visit to Knights Stadium and the ongoing fan shenanigans which nothing will ever get done about.

Happily for all concerned, that will all get overshadowed by the vile antics of some Dandy Thunder/North Sunshine fans at Paisley Park tonight.

*Assuming we don't get relegated.

Next game
Avondale at home on Sunday, that is, tomorrow. The curtain raiser for this match will be the senior women taking on Bayside.

On the couch
Tonight on Wings... ah, who cares?
Watched Hume vs Oakleigh on Tuesday night. Doesn't matter now.

Final thought
At least now we can focus all our energies on avoiding relegation, and then settling into our natural position for 2019 - either 7th or 8th.

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.