Thursday, 5 August 2010 9:41 AM
By John Kyrou
It is do-or-die time yet again as South Melbourne FC travels to Jack Edwards Reserve to play the Oakleigh Cannons on Friday night. The Cannons can almost certainly book a place in the top five with a win, whilst the three points is a must for South as anything less will mean missing the finals.
South go into the match in better form, having drawn 2-2 with the Richmond last Sunday but having clearly outplayed the League leaders. South’s last two opponents have been the League’s top two sides and South have managed two positive results from the two games. Oakleigh come into the match having conceded two late goals against Sunshine George Cross to lose 2-1. The result was a surprise but it continued to prove that anyone can be defeated in the VPL and that ladder positions are irrelevant, especially in the later stages of the season when the sides near the bottom are scraping for points to avoid relegation.
In the corresponding fixture last season, current South coach Vaughan Coveny’s equalising goal earnt South a 1-1 draw at Jack Edwards Reserve. Earlier this season, the Cannons won 2-1 at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex after Fernando De Moraes had given South the lead 14 minutes in. South has not beaten the Cannons at Jack Edwards Reserve since its first season back in the VPL in 2005, when Kosta Salapasidis was brought down in the penalty area and Peter Koutsoupias scored from the loose ball after Coveny’s penalty kick was saved.
The match kicks off at 8:30pm on Friday night at Jack Edwards Reserve.