Tuesday, 29 July 2008 8:21 AM
South
Melbourne will now face an uphill battle to reach the top six playoffs,
after the club from lakeside were defeated by the Fawkner Blues in a
tough contest at CB Smith Reserve on Sunday.
South went into the match after a committed and reasonably unlucky
performance against the league leading Melbourne Knights outfit, with
the knowledge that a win against Fawkner would see South get within one
game of sixth placed Richmond.
Fawkner were in a different position, with the relegation
threatened side desperate to grasp all three points in an attempt to
propel themselves out of the danger zone.
This desperation was on show from the opening minute of the
contest, with the Fawkner defence able to thwart the early South
thrusts forward.
Despite this, South continued to push forward in numbers and came
agonizingly close on two occasions via the head of Nathan Caldwell, who
had started off the contest in his typical hard working nature.
South continued to pile on the pressure in the 33rd minute, when
newcomer Sebastian Petrovich found himself in space with only the
keeper to beat. In an unlucky twist of fate for the former Whittlesea
player, he hit a timid shot just wide of Michael Fiorenza in the
Fawkner goal.
With a vocal away contingent behind them, South thought that they
had the lead just before the interval when a well taken opportunity by
Fernando was disallowed for offside.
South once again started off well in the 2nd half, where Caldwell
tried to atone for his earlier misses by pouncing on a Daniel Rocco
error in defence. However his well struck shot flew well wide of
Fiorenza and out for a goal kick.
In a stunning twist of fate, all the hard work by South was undone
in the 70th minute when Chris Greechen managed to dart past the South
defence before launching an astonishing long range curling strike from
outside the area to send the small pocket of home fans into delirium.
South continued to push forward at every chance, but the
combination of the solid Fawkner defence and poor conditions thwarted
South at every opportunity. With the home side content for this to keep
happening, Fawkner managed to survive until the final whistle and keep
their slim hopes of survival alive.
South will be keen to atone for this result next weekend when it
hosts Altona on Sunday afternoon, knowing that a loss will rule the
club out of finals action in 2008.