Sunday, 8 May 2011 10:02 PM
By Peter Kotsiris and George Triantos
South Melbourne FC suffered a 5-0 drubbing at the hands of its sister club Northcote City in the big Mother’s Day clash at John Cain Memorial Park on Sunday afternoon.
South Melbourne FC went into the match on the back of an excellent performance against the Dandenong Thunder to ground out a goalless draw given the large number of missing players. This week was no different, with South losing Trent Waterson prior to kick off with an aggravated groin injury, compounding the existing headaches for the South coaching staff that were already reeling with the unavailability of Ljubo Milicevic, Jesse Krncevic, Carl Recchia, Nick Jacobs, Sebastian Petrovic, Kliment Taseski and captain Steven O’Dor.
Northcote City started the better of the two clubs and opened the scoring through captain Trent Rixon in the third minute after the striker was fed a wonderful cross from James Kalifatidis that enabled him to side foot into the net from six yards, giving his side the lead and in the process ending his goal drought which stretched back to Round 4 when he scored a brace against the Richmond Eagles.
Even though South was down a goal early in the match, the away team managed to slowly work their way back into the match and maintain possession through midfield. Subsequently, denying Northcote City any rhythm and fluency to launch any attacks of note. However, the away side could not convert its possession on the score line, and entered the half time break a goal down.
The second half commenced with South determined to pull itself back into the game, as a win would see it take top spot on the Victorian Premier League ladder. However, a goal mouth scramble that nearly saw Northcote double its lead was a sign of things to come for the away side. In the 60th minute Jason Trifiro eventually doubled the home team’s advantage after he converted brilliantly from just inside the box, bending his shot into the near corner after Rixon laid off another Kalifatidis cross.
Things would turn from bad to worse for South with Northcote adding a third goal five minutes later and effectively ending the game as a contest. The goal came from a set piece, with Glen Trifiro’s corner landed at Rixon’s feet and after a goal mouth scramble, the big striker smashed home the rebound into the net from six yards.
The home side went further ahead in the 73rd minute from another set piece. Glen Trifiro’s corner went to the back post for Rixon to loop his header back over Abdelhadi Deroune’s head to make it 4-0.
Northcote City continued to press and was rewarded with their fifth goal of the game two minutes from time after wonderful interplay from the Northcote attackers saw the ball end up with Glen Trifiro, who curled his shot beyond Deroune to round off the scoring.
Earlier in the day, South’s Under 21 side earned a 2-2 draw.
South Melbourne FC’s next match is on Saturday 14th against Green Gully at Green Gully Reserve. The match kicks off at 3pm.
FINAL SCORE: NORTHCOTE CITY 5-0 SOUTH MELBOURNE (HT: 1-0)
Goal Scorers:
1-0: Trent Rixon (3’)
2-0: Jason Trifiro (60’)
3-0: Trent Rixon (65’)
4-0: Trent Rixon (73’)
5-0: Glen Trifiro (88’)
South Melbourne FC
Abdelhadi DEROUNE (GK), Bobby RUSSELL, Jake VANDERMAY, Kyle JORYEFF, Marino GASPARIS, Joshua COLOSIMO, Fernando DE MORAES, Gianni DE NITTIS, Steven TOPOLOVIC, Daniel VASILEVSKI, Rhodri PAYNE
Subs: Zain ZENELLI (GK), Kamal IBRAHIM, Robert NAUMOSKI, Leigh MINOPOULOS, Bradley TRELOAR
Northcote
Chris THEODORIDIS-PETROPOULOS, Hayden D’AGOSTINO, Kristian KONSTANDINIDIS, Paul SAVIO, Nicholas CURTIS, Glen TRIFIRO, Jason TRIFIRO, Samuel TORRENS, Dean PIERMONTE, James KALIFATIDIS, Trent RIXON
Subs: Charles TREACEY (GK), Harry KINIGOPOULOS, Eddie SOARES, Jonathon VOULGARIS
Venue: John Cain Memorial Park
Date: Sunday 8 May 2011