Friday, 6 May 2011 11:04 AM
South Melbourne FC play sister club Northcote City on Sunday afternoon at John Cain Memorial Park in what will no doubt be an exciting match. A win for South will see it keep in touch with League leaders Oakleigh whilst three points for Northcote will see it further consolidate its position in the top five standings.
South goes into Sunday’s match with Jesse Krncevic and Ljubo Milicevic still suspended, whilst there are a host of injuries to key players such as Steven O’Dor, Carl Recchia, Kliment Taseski and Sebastian Petrovic. Despite the fact that half of South’s regular starting eleven were missing from last weekend’s League match against Dandenong, the Club’s young players performed admirably and battled hard for a deserved 0-0 draw against the high-flying Thunder. League debutants Abdelhadi Deroune (goalkeeper) and Jake Vandermey (centre-half) were both very solid, as were Trent Waterson (right back) and Nick Jacobs (forward). The coaching staff will be expecting that if selected, these players can keep up their good form this weekend.
Northcote City will not be an easy side to defeat, as they showed last season by earning a 3-3 draw against South on 13 March before defeating South 3-2 on 6 June. Target man Trent Rixon caused all sorts of problems for South’s defence last season and will no doubt be keen on taking advantage of the fact that several first-choice South defenders will be missing on Sunday. Former South player Nick Curtis has had a solid 2011 with Northcote and will be another player to watch out for, as will James Kalifatidis. Northcote goes into Sunday’s match on a four match unbeaten run in the League in addition to a 2-1 win over Box Hill in the Mirabella Cup on Wednesday night, progressing through to the Fifth Round of that competition.
Sunday’s match kicks off at 15:00. South members are reminded that although the match is being played at John Cain Memorial Park, it is a Northcote City home match and therefore SMFC memberships will not gain entry into the venue.