Summary: In a high intensity, high quality game at Lakeside stadium, South Melbourne FC have defeated Bentleigh Greens SC 3-2. While South were caught out defensively on multiple occasions by the Greens, they were able to reply (twice) before Kostas Stratomitros buried the winner, and his first goal for the club.
A lot has changed since round 1. We have slowly shifted from being a relatively unstable, newly formed squad to one that possesses structural integrity and, as the year progresses, more and more glimpses of quality. After one or two victories it may be dramatic to say that we are on our way to the top, but after five consecutive wins, two of which being against Heidelberg and… Bentleigh, our efforts cannot be overlooked. We’re slowly reaching a level of success that has been expected of this club. Seeing newly signed keeper John Dorren was reassuring (from a size perspective at least), as we slowly flesh out aspects of our squad. It’s never an easy game against Bentleigh, but I couldn’t help believe we could provide some form of competition. Our players had begun finding form and identifying strategies which suit their play-style, ones which have been able to best some of this league’s strongest squads.
As expected, the match started with instantaneous aggression. While locking horns, the first chance of the match came in the 8th minute, as Kostas Stratomitros sent a looming ball into the box. It’s fumbled by the Bentleigh defence, landing square at the feet of Marcus Schroen. Unfortunately, the ball bounces a half inch off the floor as he goes to strike it, resulting in a blazing kick over the bar. What would lead to our undoing was being unable to score or conceding early. If given the opportunity, Bentleigh’s aggressive play-style would allow them to run away with the game. We couldn’t afford to switch off, nor would we be afforded enough opportunities to repeatedly squander them. We were able to create another opportunity ten minutes later, when Gerrie Sylaidos was able to bring the ball up the centre of the field, and to the goal square. He was taken wide by Webster, and the angle was too acute for anything meaningful, as his cross is headed by Konstantinidis into empty space. Stratomitros had a few long range shots, but around the 30th minute, our chances dwindled, and Bentleigh began their siege.
Unfortunately, we had another defensive injury in this game, as skipper Bradley Norton was subbed off very early in the game, replaced by Perry Lambropoulos due to a hamstring injury. While Lambropoulos tried to provide structure (and counter the likes of Valentino Yuel) while still being an attacking figure on the wing, our defence struggled to handle Matt Thurtell. His pace and positioning saw our defence scrambling to block him multiple times, and he could have easily pocketed a handful of goals if permitted. While his first attempt of the match was a volley into the hands of Roganovic, his future attempts would contain much more venom. A few minutes later, a cross swung in bounced off heads in the box, until Thurtell smashed his attempt into the top right corner. Roganovic’s acrobatic effort saw the shot palmed away, but he wasn’t done yet. Another Bentleigh corner is awarded, and not cleared properly. A long-range volley sends Roganovic to the opposite corner of his goals, and once again he is able to prevent the Greens from leading, showing Dorron the standard we intend to uphold with our goalkeepers.
Bentleigh never let up, however, and made it clear that we couldn’t compete with their attacking abilities. As the ball falls to Tyson Holmes, he volleys it just outside the box, but the Stratomitros deflection sends it spearing straight to the head of an unmarked Thurtell. All our defence could do was half-heartedly raise their hands in an appeal to the referee, and all Roganovic could do was question how their most threatening striker was by himself as he nodded the ball passed him. They closed us down for the remaining half, pressuring us in the midfield, as we were unable to create chances or dished out poor crosses. Much like half-time in round 1, it felt like we could come back, but not if we kept playing the way we were. Bentleigh aren’t a team that play conservatively, and we could capitalise on that. But we would also need to mitigate their aggression, which seemed impossible in the opening minutes, as Thurtell somehow evaded all defenders before scuffing his shot. We had begun pushing hard, but we were still making mistakes.
Luckily, they didn’t have any intention of playing defensively, and in the 56th minute a South counter allowed Gerrie Sylaidos to stream down the right side of the box. His shot was on a tight angle, but still required a save from Ryan Scott. His parry goes to the chest of Marafioti, who’s able to tap it in for the equaliser. Scoring that early in the second half was huge. It put the pressure back on the Greens, as we continued to match their aggression. We almost found the lead a minute later, if not for two great saves from Scott to deny both Marafioti and Konstantinidis. This would directly impact the game, as a few minutes later, a long ball saw Thurtell catch our defence sleeping again, in the exact same position, but this time his strike flew past Roganovic and saw us trailing again.
Around this time, Marshall is taken off for debutant Melvin Beckett, whose attacking presence added options as the game progressed. In the 71st minute, Marafioti was able to find some space in the box and let off a somewhat compelling attempt. However, a deflection in the box allowed the ball to bobble past Scott and provide the second equaliser for South. There was no time to celebrate, because Bentleigh almost replied instantly through Thurtell once again, and put our consistency once again to the test. Both teams were creating great attempts, and luckily, none of there’s went in, but one of ours did. In the 79th minute, Schroen’s cross is deflected to Kostas Stratomitros, who buries the goal in the back of the net for the first time in a South shirt.
Again, both teams were threatening in their attack, so being in the lead didn’t secure victory. The last fifteen minutes were hard-fought, and we were able to consolidate our efforts and fend off an onslaught from Bentleigh’s attacking players. While our start to the match was slow, particularly when on the back foot, to comeback from two deficits and win the game shows character, and we’ve gone from a goal-lacking side to one that can rattle them off against the NPL’s best. As our goal difference is still dismal, securing a large chunk of points is essential in our success this season, and hopefully we can overcome our complex and begin beating clubs in the lower half of the ladder.
Notable players: Giuseppe Marafioti, Kostas Stratomitros, Nikola Roganovic, Gerrie Sylaidos
South Melbourne FC: 3
Bentleigh Greens SC: 2
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