South Melbourne FC defeated Avondale FC 2-0 at Knights Stadium on Friday night to confirm six straight wins in the month of April. Nick Epifano’s first half penalty and a late goal from centre-forward Milos Lujic ensured three points for Chris Taylor’s side against a difficult Avondale side.
South started the game positively but struggled to create clear-cut opportunities in front of the determined Avondale defence. On 24 minutes, referee Alessandro Arbizzani spotted a handball in the area by Baki Efe and pointed to the spot, where Chris May dived the right way but could not stop Epifano scoring from the spot. South should have gone into the break 2-0 up when Kristian Konstantinidis’ low cross from the right side was somehow missed by three incoming South players, with Avondale let off the hook.
The home side certainly had the better of the second half, with South goalkeeper Nikola Roganovic to thank for making several excellent saves to preserve the away team’s clean sheet. Former South NSL player Massimo Murdocca was substituted onto the field on the hour mark and caused his former club plenty of headaches down the right side of the field. Unfortunately for Avondale, they failed to capitalise on all opportunities they created, with Murdocca, Michele Crazia, Omar Ammache and Oleksiy Khrapko all either putting chances wide or being denied by Roganovic saves.
At the other end, what looked like a handball by May outside his goalkeeping area was missed by the referee as South tried to get a second goal to kill off the game. They did eventually get a second goal with what proved to be the final action of the game, when Lujic found himself one-on-one with May deep into injury time before rounding the goalkeeper and slotting the ball into the empty net to seal a hard-fought but very important 2-0 win on the road.
It was further good news in the Under 20s, with goals from Maker Maker (10′) and Brandon Jansz (73′) helping South Melbourne get back to winning ways with a 2-1 victory against Avondale FC.
South returns to Knights Stadium on Friday night for what is shaping up to be a big Melbourne derby against the Melbourne Knights. Kick-off is at 8:30pm.
FINAL SCORE: AVONDALE FC 0-2 SOUTH MELBOURNE (HT: 0-1)
Goal Scorers:
0-1: Nick Epifano (24’p)
0-2: Milos Lujic (90+3′)
Avondale FC:
1. Chris MAY (GK), 2. Nicholas SYMEOY, 3. James CUMMING, 4. Baki EFE, 5. Jeffrey FLEMING (C), 9. Oleksiy KHRAPKO, 12. Mathew SANDERS (10. Jonatan GERMANO 66′), 13. Yitay TOWNS (8. Massimo MURDOCCA 60′), 16. Omar AMMACHE (37. Abrahim YANGO 84′), 17. Phil RICCOBENE, 31. Michele CRAZIA.
Unused Subs: 11. Jem BERKANT, 40. Evan MARKOGIANNAKIS.
South Melbourne FC:
1. Nikola ROGANOVIC (GK) / 3. Kristian KONSTANTINIDIS, 4. Michael EAGAR (C), 5. Luke ADAMS, 11. Brad NORTON / 23. Matthew FOSCHINI, 8. Mathew THEODORE (17. Marcus SCHROEN 60′) / 27. Leigh MINOPOULOS (99. Iqi JAWADI 65′), 18. Matthew MILLAR (77. Stephen HATZIKOSTAS 83′), 7. Nick EPIFANO / 9. Milos LUJIC.
Unused Subs: 6. Filzgerald MBAKA, 21. Zaim ZENELI (GK).
SMFC Melbourne City Toyota Man of the Match: Nikola Roganovic
Venue: Knights Stadium
Date: Friday 29 April 2016