Summary: Dandenong City have secured their third win of the season after a comfortable 3-0 win over South Melbourne. South’s inability to employ tactics in the midfield, as well as City utilising some massive signings saw an arguably one-sided game play out.
Securing a draw with Avondale the week before, I’m not sure if I underestimated the value of Dandenong City securing three A-league players, or whether I overestimated the merit that comes with South winning 5 games in a row. Both seemed to offer glimpses of change, but when meeting in the middle, as was on Friday night, a somewhat unexpected outcome (at least to me) occurred. While the beginning of the season saw us struggling to find a goal scorer, a pervasive issue in the second half of our season is the organisation of our defence. With Luke Adams out for the rest of the season, and Brad Norton injured indefinitely, we either need to restructure how we want to bring the ball up the field (i.e. not through the left wing), or change around our defensive lineup to provide consistency.
Dandenong started the match threateningly, flexing their new signings as they continually brought the ball up the pitch. We also found ourselves in our attacking half on a few occasions, but were rarely able to get a shot off. Irrespective of his performance at Perth Glory, Brendon Santalab was the focal point of City’s attack, and he made it known through multiple acknowledgeable shots on goal. One of these A-league threats, however, was “neutralised” before the game had really started up. While attempting to fend off a advancing Konstantinidis, Adrian Leijer found himself at the feet of his keeper, being rewarded for his defending with a nasty gash to the face. He was immediately taken to Dandenong hospital, where he is said yo have received over 20 stitches. Despite a shove from Konstantinidis being argued as the cause, no punishment was served, and play resumed.
Our midfield remained detached for most of the first half. Our defence would only be able to bring the ball up through long balls, which were easily turned over. As Paul alluded to last week, Perry Lambropoulos on the left wing resulted in more attacking work to be done for Giuseppe Marafioti, who was asked to both bring the ball up the field and play high up on the wing in case of a quick turnover. Even when he was played to during set pieces, the balls were played either too high, or too low for him to bring up before being closed off by a Dandenong player. Similarly to last week, this problem was mediated by pairing Marafioti on the right wing with Ben Djiba, and bringing Zac Bates onto the left. And in doing so, we started to make more compelling plays. The first of which was a run from Bates, who danced past multiple defenders, probably too far, firing off a weak, unbalances shot before losing his feat.
We continued this attacking revival in the last few minutes of the half, which led to a Marcus Schroen cross being tapped in by Billy Konstantinidis in the 38th minute, only to be deemed offside. However, it was Dandenong who would open the scoring at the cusp of half time. They caught us on the counter, and an awarded free kick was lobbed into the six yard box. As Roganovic reaches up for the ball, he clatters into Jake Marshall, who is sent to the floor. With one defender down, and Roganovic struggling to find his feet, Santalab is able to header the ball into an unguarded net. It was an ugly goal to concede, and an unfortunate goal to concede, as it didn’t look like we had much in us in terms of replying. Going into half time trialing by one is a funny feeling. It’s not necessarily that of total defeat, but with it comes an anxiety, particularly when watching a team like South, who can just as easily revert to poor shooting tactics as they can switch on.
Dandenong restarted the match in their favour, first by dominating play, then letting us keep the ball. We couldn’t do much with it, and when we did they pressured us enough to force errors. Roganovic was required to make multiple reflex saves during the next 15 minutes, though he is unable to mitigate poor defending. After Roganovic sends out another wide long ball out, rewarding Dandenong with throw in, they are able to capitalise on our errors once again. While we regain possession, Bates’ back-pass is dispossessed by James Kelly in the 62nd minute, who is able to bend the ball passed Roganovic, smashing the crossbar on its way in. An impressive, but completely avoidable goal, much like most we have conceded this season.
Dandenong continued their dominance, and we looked less and less likely to bring one back. Melvin Becket and debutant Peter Skapetis were unable to revive our midfield, as our desire to win seemed outmatched by theirs. It was through desperation we made our attacking plays, smashing the ball up quickly, but not establishing a strategy about what to do with it. Our hopes of catching their defence asleep were unsuccessful, and another poor midfield run sees City on the counter again. Completely past our defence, their cross was finished by a Santalab back-heel. Another embarrassing one to concede. After one more South chance is deemed offside, the match comes to an end.
If anything, this match highlighted how important Norton has been in setting up attacking plays. The loss of a left back with attacking insight has stifled our options in the last two weeks, and has also led to restructuring the squad mid-game. Whether that was the change that effected our midfield’s fluidity, or City just outplayed us, it seems like an issue that should be reflected on before our game against Port Melbourne. While beating top teams is important, taking points from relegation battlers is essential.
Notable players: Zac Bates
South Melbourne FC: 0
Dandenong City SC: 3
Next match: Port Melbourne SC at Lakeside stadium