Summary: South Melbourne have dashed any relegation fears after a convincing 3-0 victory over Dandenong Thunder. An early Billy Konstantinidis goal saw the home side control the game for its entirety, with two late goals from Kostas Stratomitros and Marcus Schroen putting it to bed.
This, unfortunately, has not become an uncommon occurrence, but this round saw another massive change in South’s lineup. No Tom Aulton, no Ben Djiba, no Peter Skapetis, no Bradley Norton. There was a complete re-shuffle in defence, marked by the return of Perry Lambropoulos and Jake Marshall to the starting lineup, and the inclusion of youngster George Gerondaras. Gerondaras’ under 20s had won their league hours beforehand, and as someone who’s been impressed by the talent of our younger players, was more excited than apprehensive. Round 23 marked a big game for South, but an even bigger game for Dandenong. It was fairly unlikely South would find themselves in the relegation zone, and it was more about in which round would concerns be extinguished. For Dandenong, not getting any points essentially marked their departure from the NPL.
The match started how you’d expect. Trying to replicate his efforts against the Knights a few weeks prior, within the first 20 seconds of play Gerrie Sylaidos lined up a long range shot to open the scoring early. His shot requires and athletic save from an agile and alert Pierce Clark, but his side couldn’t control South’s aggressive start. This round, excitedly, was one where we were able to funnel our early aggression into a goal. In the tenth minute, Melvin Becket was able to dispossess a Dandenong in the midfield, and send an excellent through ball down the right side of the pitch and to Giuseppe Marafioti. He was able to weave passed two defenders, before setting up (?) a tap in for Billy Konstantinidis. Clarke gets his toe on the ball, and a Dandenong player attempts to clear it on the line, but the linesman awards South the goal.
Dandenong weren’t given an opportunity to use the adrenaline of conceding to push forward, as South still had more to give. Seven minutes later, Nick Krousoratis cuts a ball in on the right hand side, this time finding Marafioti. He’s able to set the ball up with his left foot and strike with his right, but his powerful cross slams into the crossbar. Sylaidos has another opportunity to bundle the ball over the line a few minutes later, but is unable to do so. Around the 25-30 minute mark, South’s intensity began to wane, and Dandenong were given more time on the ball. While they didn’t make anything meaningful out of it, beside a long shot from Kieren Dover, it did give more of an opportunity for Gerondaras to show his capabilities. And for the most part, he showed himself to be another youngster with the capacity of blooming among the senior squad. While he didn’t possess the same physicality as Djiba, he brought with him more pace and tight challenges. His challenges required a lot more precision, and therefore were more lacerating; but they’re the type of challenges you have to win, or you’ll punished. And Gerondaras was capable of winning those risky challenges, at least after receiving a yellow card early on.
While testing out how much we really needed to be on the ball to control play, our receding aggressiveness didn’t stop us from creating more chances. In the 35th minute, Krousoratis was able to cut into the box on his left side and smash a ball at the keeper. While the ball’s trajectory was central, Clark couldn’t control it, and the ball was parried just wide. By half time, it was clear this was a very winnable game. But without a second goal, this game between two clubs clinging for life really could topple the other way within the next forty-five.
And Dandenong came out swinging, setting up an opportunity within the first minute of play. There were a few nervy minutes at the beginning of play for South, but slowly they found their footing and began pushing back. In both the 50th and 60th minute, set pieces were flung in by Schroen and Sylaidos to the head of Marafioti, but both of his attempts were well wide. Thunder were far from out of the game, and were at their most threatening during this period. In the 72nd minute, Brandon Barnes plays a ball into Cavallo, who beats Roganovic, but the linesman brings the ball back for offside. The returning Marshall did an excellent job of mitigating the threat of Brandon Barnes, who had evaded our defence multiple times earlier in the season through looping long balls. They were almost able score again two minutes later, with a header flicked over Roganovic seeing the keeper dart to his line to parry it out.
They were pushing quite hard, and it was during this period where South had to respond. And in the 76th minute, the home team caught them on the counter and capitalised. A Sylaidos corner was whipped into an unmarked Stratomitros, who’s powerful header couldn’t be stopped by the keeper’s outstretched boot. Dandenong’s attack was silenced, and their comeback unlikely. But skipper Marcus Schroen made sure of it in the 80th minute, after dribbling past multiple defenders and setting up Marafioti on the wing. He runs into the box, and when Sylaidos’ strike is deflected into his path, Schroen pelts it into the top corner. Seeing Marcus run to the fans to celebrate was an exciting moment for me, and in that moment, I forgot about the pervading issues we’ve been facing this season. Leigh Minopoulos found himself on the pitch for the first time in a while, and was able to find himself in a one on one with Clark in extra time, though his shot was saved.
Our relegation fears are now over. And to go with it, we were able to get our biggest win of the season, and keep a clean sheet (which is somewhat of a rarity). It’s also reassuring to see the use and success of our under 20s players. While I’m sure their great senior matches come from being surrounded by experienced players, I can see how promoting a bulk of them into the senior team (as they’d already know each other quite well) seems a very attractive idea to many. A finals run doesn’t seem particularly likely, but at least we can wholeheartedly humour the dream, knowing we have very little to lose.
Notable players: George Gerondaras, Gerrie Sylaidos, Marcus Schroen
South Melbourne FC: 3
Dandenong Thunder FC: 0