A hard earned point - Dandenong Thunder 1 South Melbourne 1

Considering the outs we had, especially defensively, and the relative form of the two teams, I wasn't too optimistic about this one. But we ended up with one more point than I thought we would, and despite picking up only one point from the last two matches, I strangely still feel that we are on the right track. This sort of optimism in the face of adversity is not sitting well with me.

Credit to the team for fighting hard, though. That's the very least we expect.

Counter-attacking
Still not up to scratch. Rixon needs more support.

Crosses
We're scoring most of our goals from crosses. We should put in more crosses.

Dimi Hatzimouratis
Lot of improvement to be had yet from this player, but he worked hard yesterday and earned his goal. The connection isn't quite there yet with Trent Rixon, but hopefully we're on the right path.

Filip Jonsson
The fringe Swedish defender had packed his bags, ready to head home, but injuries to Luke Byles and Steven O'Dor (apparently not from his exuberant goal celebration against Hume, even though that's a cooler story) made his debut, and did OK.

Futsalroos

Fernando in action for the Futsalroos against South Korea

Fernando De Moraes and the squad are currently at the 2012 AFC Championships in the UAE. They lost two warm up matches to Thailand, but have won their opening two group games at the tournament proper. They beat Qatar 3-1, and South Korea 6-0 (Fernando scored a brace), to secure their passage to the quarter finals. Their final group match is against regional heavyweight Iran. The four semi-finalists qualify for the World Championships to be held in Thailand later this year.

Gazoza
It was listed on the board, I had my five dollars(!) worth of coins ready to go after the match, but they were out of stock.

Inventory
I've been helping out with the social club's inventory/stocktake, as we near the start of the renovations there. Finding some amazing items - more on that in another article - but I'm also worried that a hundred boxes worth of the club's archives will be thrown out. I've got nowhere to put them, and the argument so far has been that the club also has no place to store them. Hope that a solution can be found.

Kyle Joryeff
Had a quick chat with Kyle after the match. Among the issues discussed, were visa statuses and tribulations. Quite topical with the deportation of Stephen Weir who apparently overstayed his welcome. Just as interesting was discussing his futsal career, which had an interesting twist - in 2008, he even played against the Futsalroos, including our own Fernando De Moraes, at the Kuala Lumpur 5s tournament.

Language
Mine. Bit foul yesterday. I blame the orange tic tacs.

Luck
Probably on our side for once.

Next Week
Northcote A vs Northcote B. Northcote vs Southcote. At Lakeside, which is nice, because it lessens the confusion just a little bit. Another one of those no win games - in that, even if we win the game and take the three points, the moral battle can never be won, But once more, more on that in a different article.

Referee
Unusually outstanding, and a credit to their selection for the Olympics.

Squibs
Certain people decided not to turn up to this match, preferring to watch it on the FFV's live stream service. They know who they are.

Zenith
The Public Transport Faction was down to one member yesterday. I felt about as popular as the People's Front of Judea.

At Last - South Melbourne 1 Heidelberg United 0

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It just happened to fall our way this once.

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

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

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

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

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

My brain hurts just trying to think about that.

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

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

The Great Escape - South Melbourne 3 Northcote City 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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