Friday, 9 July 2010 12:57 PM
By George Kouroumalis (Photo by Cindy Nitsos)
In what is looming as one of the most important games in the 2010 Victorian Premier League season, South Melbourne FC will travel to Olympic Village on Sunday to take on old foe Heidelberg United in another instalment of the famous derby.
The lakeside team will go into the game with some confidence behind them, with South Melbourne FC bouncing back against the Altona Magic, defeating the reigning premiers 3-1 in a very dominant display.
South Melbourne FC will welcome back Rama Tavsancioglu into the squad for the big game, with the club captain missing last week’s win after serving a one match suspension following a send off the week before. He is expected to come into a back four which looked reasonably solid last week.
South are also expected to go into the game with three ex-Heidelberg players in the line-up, with James Stefanou, Hamid Basma and Marinos Gasparis all pushing for a position in the starting eleven for the big derby. Basma started his first game for the club last week and will be looking at doing so again this week against his old club.
Over at Olympic Village, Heidelberg United are on a seven game unbeaten streak and have forged their way into the top five with a solid 0-1 away win against the Bentleigh Greens last Friday night. Heidelberg United will go into the game fully aware they have not lost a derby to South since the 2006 VPL season, a trend that Heidelberg United will be intent on continuing on Sunday.
In the only league meeting so far in 2010, South Melbourne’s Carl Recchia scored a 92nd minute equaliser to snatch a point away from Heidelberg United at Bob Jane Stadium, whilst in the pre-season South managed to overcome Heidelberg in the Hellenic Cup semi final.
Kick-off for the derby is at 5pm.