By John Kyrou
Lakeside Stadium will host National Premier League football for the first time when South Melbourne FC welcomes the Ballarat Red Devils tonight. South will be going for five straight League wins (and six straight across all competitions), whilst Ballarat will be aiming to win their third League game in succession, having only played two League matches so far in 2014.
South defeated Hume City 0-3 at Broadmeadows Valley Park last Sunday afternoon with a clinical second half display as Nick Epifano scored a double and Milos Lujic scored the other goal. Centre-forward Lujic has scored five goals from four League games this season and is currently leading the 2014 NPL Golden Boot standings. South defeated Hume with a professional performance – especially in the second half – and Coach Chris Taylor will be looking for another solid display from his side tonight. There are no major injury concerns which means that Taylor will have a full squad to choose from.
Ballarat was due to play Heidelberg United at Olympic Village last Sunday evening but the match was postponed until Easter Monday. Ballarat’s Round 1 NPL match against Bentleigh Greens was also postponed, meaning that the Red Devils have played two less matches than most teams in the division but they incredibly are in fifth spot on the ladder due to two League wins against Goulburn Valley Suns (2-3 on 29 March) and Northcote City (1-3 on 5 April). These results – especially the win against 2013 Champions Northcote at John Cain Reserve – shows that James Robinson’s side will certainly be no pushovers and that South must work hard to achieve the three points.
Tonight’s match kicks off at 8:30PM and the membership tent will be open near the main gate for fans to either purchase or collect their memberships.