Thursday, 22 July 2010 4:04 PM
By John Kyrou
South Melbourne FC hosts second-placed Hume City on Sunday afternoon at John Cain Memorial Park in another must-win match for the home side. South currently sits five points out of the top five and with only four games remaining must start to consistently win games in order to challenge for a finals spot.
South will go into the match confident following the hard-fought 3-0 win over the Melbourne Knights last Sunday. Despite the score line making the match sound like a foregone conclusion, South had to work very hard for the victory against a dangerous Knights outfit. The side had Peter Zois to thank for making some outstanding saves to give South a clean sheet and the three points. Gianni De Nittis returned to the goal scoring charts with a double last Sunday and the South forward will be looking to add to his goal tally against Hume on the weekend.
Hume have every reason to be expecting three points on Sunday as the side currently sits in second place on the League standings, having beaten high-flying Oakleigh 3-1 away from home last Friday night. Hume are in exceptional form having won three matches in succession and have the opportunity to reclaim top spot on Sunday with a positive result over South. With Lou Acevski, South legend Tansel Baser, Richard Cardozo and Zoran Petrevski in the Hume line-up, South has alot to worry about.
The last time the two sides met, South stunned Hume and the entire League with a comprehensive 0-6 drubbing of Hume at Broadmeadows Valley Park on ANZAC day this season. De Nittis scored four goals that afternoon and joined an exclusive list of only nine South Melbourne FC players to have scored four goals in a League match throughout the club’s entire history. Whilst the likelihood of a result like that occurring on Sunday is extremely rare, it will certainly give South confidence to know that they can defeat Hume and keep their finals hopes alive.
The match kicks off at 3pm on Sunday afternoon at John Cain Memorial Park.