Monday, 7 March 2011 12:26 PM
By John Kyrou
South Melbourne FC has won its second match of the 2011 Victorian Premier League season after defeating leaders Bentleigh Greens 2-1 at John Cain Memorial Park on Sunday afternoon. The win was thoroughly deserved as South was clearly the better team on the day, even with one less man on the field for most of the second half following the dismissal of Kliment Taseski.
On what was an extremely warm afternoon at John Cain Memorial Park, South opened the scoring after just two minutes of play. Jesse Krncevic’s deflected shot went wide for a corner that Taseski took and sent a wonderful outswinging corner to the penalty spot that Sebastian Petrovic got his head to and flicked the ball into the far corner of the net.
South continued to enjoy large amounts of possession but was unable to find another avenue through to goal in order to double its slender lead. On the half-hour mark, they were made to pay by Bentleigh, after a set piece from the right flank following a free kick was headed home by Sean McIlroy.
The home side did not have to wait long to regain the lead though, following a wild goal by Kyle Joryeff shortly before halftime. A switch from the right side was well trapped by Joryeff before he fired a shot across his body that went into the goal after bouncing off the far post. It was nothing less than South deserved and ultimately proved to be the winning goal for the afternoon.
In the second half, South were dealt a severe blow when Taseski was controversially shown a straight red card following a late challenge. This meant the home side needed to battle the rest of the match with only ten men, which the team did admirably. Stefaan Sardelic was called upon to make a few interventions but apart from this Bentleigh hardly created many clear-cut chances to level. At the other end, South wasted several opportunities to score a third and end the match as a contest but was unable to do so. In the end, the home side did enough to earn a vital three points ahead of the derby against Heidelberg United next weekend.
South travels to Olympic VIllage this coming Sunday knowing it will take a huge effort to get at least a point from a venue that the Club has not won since the opening round of the 2006 Victorian Premier League season. The match kicks off at 18:00.
FINAL SCORE: SOUTH MELBOURNE 2-1 BENTLEIGH GREENS (HT: 2-1)
Goals Scorers
1-0: Sebastian Petrovic (2′)
1-1: Sean McIlroy (30′)
2-1: Kyle Joryeff (38′)
South Melbourne FC
1. Stefaan SARDELLIC, 3. Rhodri PAYNE, 4. Steven O’DOR, 6. Steven TOPALOVIC, 8. Carl RECCHIA, 10. Kliment TASESKI (sent off), 11. Jesse KRNCEVIC, 15. Fernando DE MORAES (9. Gianni DE NITTIS 82′), 18. Marinos GASPARIS (5. Daniel VASILEVSKI 49′), 23. Sebastian PETROVIC, 25. Kyle JORYEFF (14. Kamal IBRAHIM 63′)
Bentleigh Greens
1. Kile KENNEDY, 3. Thomas MATHEWS, 5. Steve LAURIE, 6. Stephen DOWNES, 8. Wayne WALLACE, 9. Sean McLLROY, 10. Hayden DOYLE, 11. Scott BULLOCK (7. James McGARRY 70′), 14. Aron WILFORD, 16. Ryan DAVIDSON, 17. Jack WEBSTER (4. Craig SMART 46′)
SMFC Man of the Match: Carl Recchia
Venue: John Cain Memorial Park
Date: Sunday 6 March 2011
