Monday, 8 March 2010 12:17 AM
By John Kyrou (Photo by Cindy Nitsos)
The Bentleigh Greens produced a strong workmanlike performance to gain a point in the 1-1 draw against South Melbourne FC on Sunday evening. Despite playing most of the second half with one less man and despite being 1-0 down, the Greens fought back to level and ultimately share the spoils with the host side.
South entered its first home match of the 2010 season still missing the services of new signings Joey Keenan (appendicitis) and Carl Recchia, who played in the Under 21s side for match practice following a spell on the sidelines through injury. Stiven Mrkela started for the home side after missing most of the 2009 season and he replaced Joseph Youssef, who joined Fernando De Moraes and Sasha Vranesevic on the bench.
Bentleigh began the match looking more likely to score than South, however the South defence comfortably defended most of the danger that the away side generated. In turn, South relied mostly on the danger of Daniel Vasilevski at set pieces to create any problems for the Greens defence, of which everything was comfortably dealt with by goalkeeper Peter Gavalas.
In the second half, South coach Vaughan Coveny reacted by substituting Sam Torrens and Sebastian Petrovic with Fernando De Moraes and Joseph Youssef, with Youssef joining Gianni De Nittis up front. South instantly looked ten times the side it had been in the first half and really began to open up the game. South’s cause was helped even more with the sending off of its former player George Goutzioulis with half an hour remaining. Goutzioulis was dismissed for a behind-the-scenes incident that was spotted by the referee.
With an extra man and extra firepower up front, it was inevitable that South would eventually score. With ten minutes remaining, substitute Vranesevic won the ball on the right flank and charged towards goal. An attempted clearance off his cross hit the arm of one of the Greens defenders, which the linesman saw instantly and flagged for a penalty. De Moraes stepped to the penalty spot and coolly dispatched the spot kick by sending the ball to the bottom left corner.
The script was set for a comfortable win for South but that was scrapped five minutes later after the Greens equalised from a set play. Adam Fadljevic took full advantage of a ball to the back post by nodding the ball home.
South Melbourne FC’s next match is away to sister club Northcote City, with the game kicking off at 3pm next Saturday at John Cain Reserve.
FINAL SCORE: SOUTH MELBOURNE 1-1 BENTLEIGH GREENS (HT: 0-0)
South Melbourne:
Peter Zois, Rhodri Payne, Steve O’Dor, Daniel Vasilevski, Gianni De Nittis, Sam Torrens (Joseph Youssef 58’), Rama Tavsancioglu, Stiven Mrkela, Marinos Gasparis (Sasha Vranesevic 77’), James Stefanou, Sebastian Petrovic (Fernando De Moraes 58’)
(Scorer: Fernando De Moraes 80’ pk)
Bentleigh Greens:
Peter Gavalas, George Stavridis, Sam De Vito, Con Anthopoulos, Alex Rojas (Craig Metcalfe 68’), George Goutzioulis, Tony Ouliaris, Jack Webster, John Sapazovski (Damir Lokvancic 81’), Dean Piemonte, Denis Alilovic (Adam Fadljevic 68’)
(Scorer: Adam Fadljevic 85′)
SMFC Man of the Match: Daniel Vasilevski
Venue: Bob Jane Stadium
Date: Sunday 7th March 2010
Crowd: 1,500