South Melbourne FC returned to the top of the Ps4 NPL Victoria ladder with a comfortable 3-1 victory against Northcote City at Lakeside Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Milos Lujic scored a hat-trick as South ended a tough week in style with a second victory within five days.
Chris Taylor’s side wanted to continue their winning ways following the 2-0 win over North Geelong in the FFA Cup Sixth Round on the Wednesday night and made a great start against Northcote. The lurking Lujic took full advantage of goalkeeper Phillip Petrovski not being able to hold Nick Epifano’s shot by tapping the loose ball into the back of the net. It was 2-0 by halftime when Brad Norton’s low ball into the area found Marcus Schroen, who turned provider by cutting the ball back for Lujic to tap in from just inside the six-yard box.
Michael Karvouniaris then gave Goran Lozanovski’s side a glimmer of hope just before the hour mark when Lujic’s attempted defensive clearance of the ball fell straight to him to head past Nikola Roganovic and into the back of the net. Any chances of a Northcote comeback were killed off only minutes later however, when some nice lead-up play down the left wing saw Schroen pick out Lujic at the back post for a nicely taken header past Petrovski for his – and South’s – third goal of the afternoon.
The scoreline could have been greater had it not been for some excellent goalkeeping from Petrovski, however the job was done and South returned to the top of the table after the Bentleigh Greens temporarily displaced them on Friday night.
South has a huge week coming up, hosting Port Melbourne in the league on Friday night before travelling to Kingston Heath to play Bentleigh next Tuesday night for a spot in the FFA Cup Round of 32 proper and the Dockerty Cup semi finals.
South’s Under 20s were scheduled to play Northcote City at Albert Park Field 19 but the match was cancelled due to the weather and will be played at a later date.
FINAL SCORE: SOUTH MELBOURNE 3-1 NORTHCOTE CITY (HT: 2-0)
Goal Scorers:
1-0: Milos Lujic (17′)
2-0: Milos Lujic (45′)
2-1: Michael Karvouniaris (58′)
3-1: Milos Lujic (60′)
South Melbourne FC
1. Nikola ROGANOVIC (GK) / 2. Tim MALA, 4. Michael EAGAR (C), 23. Matthew FOSCHINI, 11. Brad NORTON / 77. Stephen HATZIKOSTAS (12. Amadu KOROMA 86′), 99. Iqi JAWADI (27. Leigh MINOPOULOS 65′) / 18. Matthew MILLAR, 17. Marcus SCHROEN, 7. Nick EPIFANO (14. Chris IRWIN 90′) / 9. Milos LUJIC.
Unused Subs: 8. Mathew THEODORE, 21. Zaim ZENELI (GK).
Northcote City FC:
1. Phillip PETROVSKI (GK), 3. Nicholas BAVCAR, 4. Gregory LOMBARDO (C), 5. Marcus DUNCAN (Steven PAPADOPOULOS 90+1′), 7. Borbor SAM, 10. Braedyn CROWLEY, 14. Anthony RAMZY (15. Todd DEKKER 88′), 18. Keenan GIBSON, 20. Anthony TARANTO (22. Thomas DEMELIS 65′), 21. Michael KARVOUNIARIS, 23. Jonathan BOUNAS.
Unused Sub: 25. Anthony BOUZANIS (GK).
SMFC Melbourne City Toyota Man of the Match: Milos Lujic
Venue: Lakeside Stadium
Date: Sunday 5 June 2016