Monday, 12 July 2010 11:46 AM
By John Kyrou
Heidelberg United defeated South Melbourne FC 2-0 at Olympic Village on Sunday evening.
The match was a lacklustre affair, with both sides creating few chances and playing conservative football, however both teams created some decent half-chances in the first half. First, South’s defenders scrambled to clear a goal-bound effort away from danger and secondly the Bergers defence managed to clear away a potential Gianni De Nittis shot after the South forward had found space in the area.
The second half saw both goalkeepers called into action after both had been kept relatively quiet in the first half. Peter Zois made two crucial saves to keep the score at 0-0, firstly by pushing a fierce shot away from danger and secondly by tipping a goal-bound header over his crossbar and away for a corner. Steven Tilovski at the other end was called into action when he parried away a fierce shot by Joseph Youssef. Both sides won a series of corner kicks but were unable to gain anything from them.
The match turned when Heidelberg United was awarded a penalty with just under 15 minutes to go when Osagie Ederaro was judged to have been brought down in the penalty area. Nick Marinos stepped up to the penalty spot and sent Zois the wrong way to open the scoring. With eight minutes remaining in the match, Heidelberg United was awarded a second penalty, with Carl Recchia adjudged to have handled the ball. The result was the same with Marinos sending an unlucky Zois the wrong way again.
South’s Kyle Joryeff went down with what looked like being a bad injury late in the match and he was stretchered off the ground. Earlier on in the match, Rhodri Payne also had to leave the field after picking up a minor knock. The club will be hoping that the injuries aren’t too serious although initial signs do not look good for Joryeff.
South Melbourne FC hosts the Melbourne Knights next Sunday afternoon at John Cain Memorial Park in yet another must-win match. South needs to win at least four of its remaining five matches to give itself any chance of finishing in the top five.
FINAL SCORE: HEIDELBERG UNITED 2-0 SOUTH MELBOURNE (HT: 0-0)
Heidelberg:
Steven Tilovski, Paul Miller, Yanni Galanos, George Slefendorfas (Denis Alilovic 66′), Nick Marinos, Tony La Verde, Luke Byles, Craig Elvin, Steve Martin, Osagie Ederaro (Laurence Gogorossis 90′), Saso Alexovski (Les Doumbalis 86′)
(Scorer: Nick Marinos pk 76’, pk 82’)
South Melbourne:
Peter Zois, Rhodri Payne (Rama Tavsancioglu 13′), James Stefanou (Jason Ricciuti 75′), Steven O’Dor, Carl Recchia, Daniel Vasilevski (Sebastian Petrovic 83′), Joseph Youssef, Kyle Joryeff, Joe Keenan, Hamid Basma, Gianni De Nittis
SMFC Man of the Match: Peter Zois
Venue: Olympic Village
Date: Sunday 11 July 2010
Crowd: 1,000