Thursday, 14 April 2011 11:08 AM
South Melbourne FC travels to Broadmeadows Valley Park to face Hume City this Sunday afternoon in a game that has been played for the ANZAC Day Cup in the last few seasons. A win for South could see it resume top spot on the Victorian Premier League table after being replaced midweek by Dandenong Thunder.
South goes into the game in excellent form, being undefeated in six Victorian Premier League fixtures and having won four matches in a row. The most recent triumph was a 1-0 home win against Richmond at John Cain Memorial Park last Sunday afternoon, with Carl Recchia scoring the winning goal with his head after 72 minutes. History is leaning towards the winning trend continuing this Sunday as South has a 100% winning record against Hume at Broadmeadows Valley Park, with a 2-1 victory in 2009 and the famous 6-0 victory last season when Gianni De Nittis scored four goals. The 6-0 win was a sign of what South was capable of doing to Premier League teams, even to a top five club like Hume City. South will be hoping that captain Steven O’Dor will be fit to play on Sunday, with the experienced centre-half limping off injured at halftime during the Richmond match last Sunday. Despite losing their captain, South managed to keep a clean sheet against the Eagles, with stand-in captain Recchia having another outstanding match and leading the team to victory.
Despite all signs pointing to a South victory on Sunday, Hume will no doubt provide stiff opposition for the South to overcome. Hume are presently in fourth position on the Victorian Premier League table and have proven that they know how to beat South, having defeated South twice at Lakeside Stadium and also in the 2009 Elimination Final at Epping Stadium. Hume will no doubt be very tough to break down despite the fact they suffered a 4-1 defeat away at Bentleigh Greens last Friday night. That loss was largely due to a controversial red card to reserve goalkeeper Kenny Gerochristodoulou on halftime (playing due to first choice keeper Lou Acevski being injured), meaning that third-choice keeper Evan Van Der Byl was called upon to play for the second half. Another red card in the second half, this time to Izzy Erdogan, meant that Hume finished the match with only nine men, and means that both should be missing for Sunday’s match, which will no doubt be beneficial to South.
Sunday’s match kicks off at 3:00pm at Broadmeadows Valley Park.