Summary: Fouls, Free kicks, fruitless fights and four goals is the easiest way to sum up round 4’s clash between Avondale FC and South Melbourne FC. The undefeated team was just too strong for South, and indicated a clear divide between the top of NPL Victoria.
Apologies for this report coming to you a bit later than usual. While I would have liked to spend my weekend polishing this piece off, my friends and family insisted that I celebrate my 21st Birthday. Nonetheless, I bring to you my experience on that scorching Saturday at the new Avenger park. Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed. With no seating arrangement nor cover from the sun, it was far from a comfortable viewing.
As I watched Avondale undergo their pregame shooting drills, I couldn’t help but be impressed by their accuracy. While practices are not always indicative of match performance, their finishes were both precise and powerful, which isn’t how I’d describe our efforts on the other side of the pitch. Seeing Marcus Schroen prepare for his first starting position this season was exciting, but saddening to see Gerrie Sylaidos on the bench. The match didn’t seem like one he’d thrive in, relying a lot more on physicality, but if it was purely performance based I don’t think last week’s effort truly warranted a substitution role. Going in, I always believed that Avondale would dominate possession, and that we were going up against aggressive and clinical finishers. And this was indicative from the starting whistle. I would say it was only a matter of time until we conceded, but I can’t, because their first opportunity went in. After a push expectedly aggressive, Avondale won a corner, which was amicably defended. It was crossed back in, and a Towns header bobbled over Roganovic and into the net. This was, mind you, in the second minute.
Again, we always have to look for positives, and at least the first goal woke us up. We have yet to sulk around after conceding, a key element in our destruction last season. More possession gradually came our way. Some great physical work by Howard led to a Schroen free kick, which almost unleashed Krousoratis, striking just wide. It was Marafioti’s most compelling game this season, springing the offside trap on his opponents multiple times and creating more opportunities than should have been afforded to us. One such possession allowed him to surge past his defenders, and while hitting the ball wide, actually filled me with excitement. For a split second I thought the game may have more merits than just a learning opportunity. This feeling, however, was quickly diminished.
This game was very heated (both temperature-wise and intensity). The only thing that stagnated play more than the shortage of balls were the constant skirmishes in and out of play, leading to the aforementioned formula of foul leading to free kick, free kick leading to fight, both fight and free kick leading to nothing. Our back-passing to the goalkeeper was very confusing for me, as every time he was given possession, Roganovic held onto the ball far to long before passing it off. Not only did he cut it too close on many occasions, it very rarely led to strong build-up play. In fact, most efforts either found the side line or kicked off a counterattack. And that’s not even taking into consideration that we were lagging by multiple goals very early on, and instead of intense aggression we appeared to be time wasting.
Stefan Zinni, another excellent ex-South player put on a great performance this match. His pace, vision and skill worked against us throughout the whole game, and we struggled to defend him on multiple occasions. In the 31st minute, he decided he’d had enough, taking on multiple players before tucking it into the bottom left corner. Our squad was completely outplayed, an instance that summed up our entire game. Avondale’s second goal was met with… another goal. 3 minutes later, having been awarded a free kick, the ball was swung in and grazed Boland’s head. Despite a weak connection, the ball remained on target, and Roganovic’s late outstretch was not enough to keep it out, though he really should have done better. The reason our replies were so frustrating to watch was because we put so much effort into them. Our runs were often executed well enough, but we just didn’t know how to finish them. If it wasn’t fruitless runs, it was desperate long balls with no accuracy or pace to capitalise on. The half continued with more Avondale domination in-between free kicks, until the final whistle blew. Now, that’s not to say that the action stopped.
While I’m not entirely sure what event led to breaking point - perhaps it was a Schroen handball in the dying moments of the half - but while walking through the tunnels and into their respective change-rooms, the teams locked up, and a lot of pushing and screaming ensued. While tarps prevented onlookers from seeing the key culprits, we could see the boots, and make out silhouettes, and I heard someone scream “get in the room!” numerous times. More information as to the cause of the skirmish may be revealed in later days by other people, but all I’m aware of is that there was a scuffle and it included the two teams. To be honest, it seemed like a bizarre time to have such an intense outlook; Avondale were up 3-0 and didn’t have much reason to partake in a brawl, and by no means was this game particularly special to anyone; the crowd certainly weren’t as incensed as the players. But anyways, yes, we were down 3-0 with no clear signs indicating a comeback. All we could hope for was less intensity from them in the next half to prevent our goal difference from being severely affected.
The second half actually started quite positively. Though they would go on to dominate the attack also, there was a period of time where Avondale played more defensively, and allowed South more attacking opportunities. A few minutes in our centre forward George Howard was able to get a header on target, though it was too central. The physicality from the first half continued throughout the second, spilling into our defensive area, and a clumsy shepherd from Marshall awarded Avondale their fourth goal. There isn’t too much to report after that unfortunately; we had been outplayed in both halves, and it was a clear indication of what top of the league quality looked like. It was good to see Stratimitros return from injury, and he did play a role in pushing South up the field. But at the end of the day, we didn’t need players pushing the ball up, we needed player pushing the ball into the net. There were so many instances where we looked pretty on the ball, doing little kick overs and tricks, but would usually culminate in dispossessions. By the final whistle we were exhausted, and thoroughly defeated.
Despite my initial protests, all that can be taken from this match is a learning experience. We versed and incredibly strong side, one far too developed for us to defeat. We still don’t have a consistent goal scorer, nor someone who can reliably set them up. Our clearances from the penalty area, particularly Roganovic’s, often waist time when it’s not on our side, and lacks precision. It would be facetious to say we don’t have any skilled players, but their individuality needs to be mitigated by an overall linkup in the team. There is need for growth, but the players we possess also seem to show signs of development. Versing Kingston on Monday night will be a very tight match, one which may have lasting repercussions on our season.
Notable players: Stefan Zinni?
South Melbourne FC: 0 Avondale FC: 4
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