South Melbourne FC will be looking to extend its unbeaten start to the PlayStation 4 NPL Victoria season when it takes on the dangerous Hume City at ABD Stadium on Saturday night.
Chris Taylor’s side has not lost an NPL Victoria match since the 2-1 loss away at the Bentleigh Greens on Wednesday 6 August 2014. South has been unbeaten in 13 League matches since then, including the first seven League matches of the 2015 campaign.
South currently sit in third position on the NPL Victoria ladder just behind Heidelberg United and the Bentleigh Greens, however Chris Taylor’s men have a game in hand over each of those sides.
South will go into the contest against Hume City with plenty of confidence, following two tremendous wins during the week. Firstly there was the gritty come-from-behind 2-1 victory against rivals the Melbourne Knights at Lakeside Stadium last Saturday. This was followed up by an imperious display of football in the 8-0 Westfield FFA Cup triumph over State League 1 side North Sunshine Eagles FC at Lakeside Stadium on Wednesday night.
Andy Brennan was the star of the show in the Knights derby match by scoring the winning goal and causing all sorts of headaches for the Knights defenders. He also got on the scoresheet fifteen minutes into the match against North Sunshine before being substituted early as a precautionary measure ahead of the Hume City match. David Stirton scored a hat-trick in the FFA Cup victory, including a sensational curling free-kick, whilst the talismanic Milos Lujic scored in both fixtures to take his season tally to a very impressive eight goals across all competitions.
The fast pitch at the newly refurbished ABD Stadium is expected to suit South’s slick passing game, however the defending NPL Victoria Champions will need to be at the top of their game against a side that looked like a title contender after posting four successive wins in March.
Hume City have dropped points in recent weeks, drawing away to Werribee City and suffering a 1-0 defeat against the Bentleigh Greens last weekend. They bounced back to winning ways in mid-week with a resounding 4-0 victory over Geelong Soccer Club in the FFA Cup.
Hume City has one of the stars of the competition at their disposal in striker Jai Ingham. The former Brisbane Roar man has scored five goals in the League so far in 2015 and shapes as the most dangerous threat to South’s defence in this contest.
South Melbourne and Hume City have been playing each other in League competition since Hume (then known as Coburg United) was promoted into the old Victorian Premier League in 2008. Since then, the two sides have met fifteen times, with South recording nine wins, Hume City five wins and with one draw.
South won both meetings between the two sides in 2014, winning 0-3 at ABD Stadium on Sunday 13 April before triumphing again 2-0 at Lakeside Stadium on Sunday 13 July.
The match against Hume City kicks off at 7pm on Saturday evening at ABD Stadium, Westmeadows. Those who are unable to make the match can follow proceedings on the Club’s Facebook and Twitter accounts, using the handles #SMFC and #NPLVIC.