Wednesday, 30 January 2008 10:33 AM
By George Kouroumalis
South Melbourne has a booked a Thursday night quarter final clash with Bentleigh Greens after easily progressing through the group stages of the pre-season Hellenic Cup tournament.
After defeating Port Melbourne last week, South had to contend with the two Springvale teams on the weekend, having to play games both on Saturday and Sunday.
The first game was the more crucial of the two, with a win assuring that South would progress after other results had fallen the clubs way.
In what seemed to be a lop-sided contest on paper, South Springvale came out quite determined and tested South in parts of the game.
However in the end, the experience and quality of the South side prevailed with experienced striker Nathan Caldwell scoring a double to ensure that the boys from lakeside would take the 3 points.
Impressing in the hitout was Sam Poutakidis in a holding midfield role, as well as new recruits Hamlet Armenian and Goran Zoric who gave the club some bite in the forward half with their pace and attacking attitude.
The second game of the weekend saw a primarily u/21 South side taken on amateur outfit South Springvale Serres.
In a game which essentially was a dead rubber due to already qualifying for the next stage, South opted to only play three senior players, with Bill Natsioulas, Miladen Tosic and new recruit Antonio La Verde required to suit up for the boys in blue.
With Springvale playing 10 behind the ball at all times, the game was destined to be a one sided, frustrating match, with South acquiring the bulk of possession in their attacking half.
In the end South ran out 2-0 winners in what turned out to be a spicy game, with the Springvale side giving everything to try and stop SMFC from overpowering them.
With South maintaining a perfect record throughout the tournament, they now must face Bentleigh Greens in the quarter finals on Thursday at the Grange Reserve in Clayton, with kickoff being at 7.45pm.
All fans are encouraged to come along and support the boys as they continue preparing for their opening round match of the Foxtel Cup against Heidelberg United.