Summary:
While they have been unable to completely outplay Dandenong City SC, South Melbourne FC were able to clench their first victory of the season thanks to a late goal from new signing Gerrie Sylaidos. A reliance on counterattacks and absent strikers made it difficult for the team to utilise their opportunities, though the arrival of Billy Konstantinidis seems a relief for the squad. Next week they play Port Melbourne Sharks at JL Murphy Reserve.
Round 2 kicked off on the 22nd of February at Lakeside stadium, or first home game of the year (and for the foreseeable future). Going into Friday there seemed to be a lot of positivity, more so than expected for a team coming off a loss. To play “well” against one of the top teams was a relief for some, and indicated how developed our new team was. Going up against Dandenong city SC, and then Port Melbourne FC are also great ways to gauge where we might sit in the 2019 season. If Bentleigh is a top tier team, Port mid tier and Dandenong bottom tier, it’s not a bad first few games to extrapolate from. The exciting announcement that NPL Victoria will be live streaming matches each week was a massive bonus for those intending to re-watch or just pinpoint certain moments of the game (as well as those who can’t attend).
Like last week, the weather was ideal for spectators, a sunny day that had begun to cool off. It was exciting to see debutant Billy Konstantinidis having a pre-game warmup, as his inclusion in the starting 11 will likely improve our forward lineup. Bereveskos replaced Stratomitros due to last week’s injury, which I hope is not the beginning of another injury/fitness/suspension epidemic (like last year). We also saw a few ghosts of recents-past, with Iqi Jawadi and Liam McCormick playing for the visitors side. I can’t help but feel nervous when watching previous South players compete against us, because it feels like they always perform better (probably just my imagination).
Unfortunately, this round’s game was much less compelling than the last. It was evident that the play styles between Bentleigh and Dandenong were completely different, with the Greens opting for more aggressive attacks, while the latter played with more conservative/defensive tactics. It limited what seems to be our most threatening path of play, counterattacks, leaving us to build up attacking play by ourselves. Because of this, we held possession for most of the game, but didn’t look like we were going to do anything with it; almost as if we were keeping it out of necessity so Dandenong wouldn’t score. That’s not to say there wasn’t action in the first half. One of our few successful build up plays allowed Krousoratis to pass through to George Howard directly in front of goal… and miss. Everyone misses now and again, but to squander such a great opportunity felt like something that would come back to haunt us later on.
36 minutes in, an out of play incident led to Dandenong’s James Kelly being sent off. I didn’t see it live, and I couldn’t see it in the tape, but Kelly didn’t seem too shocked to receive his marching order for an action against Dean Bereveskos. As in all games, a man down is ideal, particularly when your playing unconfident football, and particularly when you’re in a match you’re expected to win. Like last week, Gerrie Sylaidos and Nick Krousoratis did well bringing the ball up the field, but it often fizzled out, sometimes without even a shot at goal. The last few minutes of the first half were our most threatening, and some build up play between the aforementioned pair saw Krousoratis jab the ball in, only for it to come off the woodwork on the stroke of half time. When the referee finally blew his whistle, I was nervous. We hadn’t really done anything to assure me we had secured a victory. Our defence had played very well, stamping out most of Dandenong’s attacks, but we only needed to fall asleep once to be on the back foot. And if they could utilise their opportunities better than we could, we’d be in a lot of trouble.
The second half felt like more of the same, with unfulfilled runs and an inability to crack Dandenong’s defence. Perry Lambropoulos had a more active game, regularly bringing the ball up the right side of the field, but once again, our key source of goals was benched (and probably still jet lagged). Still, we pressed on, and a South corner saw one of our best chances of the night. After a deflection in the box, Sylaidos set up a Marafioti flick on, only to be denied by Kyle Kennedy on the line. Again, a good chance but no goal, and a Dandenong counterattack allowed Piemonte to almost hit a long range shot a few minutes later. After a bit more of the same, and Luke Adams copping a bloody nose, Coach Tangalakis made 3 attacking substitutes within the span of ten minutes, playing Marcus Schroen in the 62nd minute, and debutants Bill Konstantinidis and Zac Bates in the 68th (to replace Gage, Marafioti and Howard). Though I was unsure of Bates’ capability, I was excited to see Schroen and Konstantinidis, and felt they may be pivotal to the game.
We did being feeling more threatening after the substitutions, Konstantinidis and Bates connecting to set up Krousoratis with a decent shot on target a few minutes into their play time. Even if they didn’t necessarily contribute to any plays, they made South look more confident in the attacking half, and like we may actually be able to put the game to bed. And after a set of good corners by Schroen, we did just that. A deflection found its way to Gerrie Sylaidos, and our most valuable player was able to slot the ball in the bottom left corner in the 78th minute. Billy Konstantinidis would then go on to almost double our lead, with a low shot saved by Kennedy once again. After out goal, we played much more conservatively, allowing Dandenong more possession, leading to a flurry of attacks that contributed to a couple of very tense minutes. Still, we held on, and the referee’s whistle indicated that South Melbourne had one their first game of the season.
Round 2’s game left me satisfied but unconvinced. 3 points is 3 points, but it was a scrappy game in a game I did not think would need to be scrappy. We are really suffering up front, with no threatening forward who can be relied on by the midfielders. Hopefully Konstantinidis and Schroen can find some form soon, because we need their attacking prowess in the pitch. I was satisfied with our defensive work this round, but I wonder whether an increase in confidence would elevate our team, or if we just need more time to develop. We lost to Bentleigh, we scraped past Dandenong, how we fair against Port Melbourne next week will be a big indication of our this season’s success.
Notable Players: Gerrie Sylaidos, Marcus Schroen, Luke Adams, Jake Marshall
South Melbourne: 1 Dandenong City SC: 0
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