Day: May 19, 2011

Thursday, 19 May 2011 1:15 AM

South Melbourne FC is delighted to announce the arrivals of Jean Dubois, Junior Camargo, Tom Matthews and Daniel Dragicevic to the Club. Dubois, Junior and Dragicevic have all arrived from the Melbourne Knights, whilst Matthews has arrived from the Bentleigh Greens.

Dubois is a forward that made 11 appearances for the Knights this season, scoring 2 goals. He will provide South with another option up front and may possibly link up with Jesse Krncevic.

Junior is a defender and has also been with the Knights, making 5 appearances this season for them. Dragicevic made 12 appearances for the Knights this season, scoring 2 goals so far in 2011. He is an attacking right midfielder and will provide more options for the midfield.

Matthews made 13 appearances for Bentleigh this season and is arguably the best signing out of the four players. The right back has also played for Hull City and Boston United in the United Kingdom.

South Melbourne FC is delighted to welcome all four players to the Club and would like to wish them all the best.

Thursday, 19 May 2011 1:09 AM

South Melbourne FC announces that it has released Gianni De Nittis after seven seasons with the Club.

De Nittis was one of the inaugural players in the South squad for its first season in the Victorian Premier League in 2005. He played eight games that season before really making his mark in John Anastasiadis’ side in 2006. Gianni will always be remembered for scoring the winning goal via a header from a Fernando De Moraes cross in the 2006 Victorian Premier League Grand Final against Altona Magic in 2006. He will also be remembered for scoring both goals against Altona in the Major Semi Final at Knights Stadium a fortnight earlier to ensure South’s progression into the Grand Final.

Gianni was always a feature in the South senior team from then on and always contributed with goals every season. In 2010 he scored four goals in a Victorian Premier League match against Hume City, joining an exclusive list of only nine South Melbourne FC players to achieve that effort. Later on that year, he scored two goals in the second leg of the RHB Singapore Cup Quarter Final against Bangkok Glass that almost sent South through to the Semi Finals of that competition.

South Melbourne FC wishes Gianni De Nittis all the best for his future and thanks him for his contribution to the Club.

Gianni De Nittis – South Melbourne FC Statistics

2005: 08 appearances (01 starts, 07 subs), 0 goals
2006: 21 appearances (08 starts, 13 subs), 8 goals
2007: 19 appearances (15 starts, 04 subs), 2 goals
2008: 23 appearances (21 starts, 02 subs), 8 goals
2009: 20 appearances (13 starts, 07 subs), 6 goals
2010: 23 appearances (22 starts, 01 subs), 9 goals
2011: 07 appearances (05 starts, 02 subs), 2 goals

Total:

Victorian Premier League: 117 appearances (81 starts, 36 subs), 31 goals
Singapore Cup: 3 appearances (3 starts, 0 subs), 2 goals
Mirabella Cup: 1 appearances (1 starts, 0 subs), 2 goals

Overall: 121 appearances (85 starts, 36 subs), 35 goals

Achievements:

• Member of South’s 2006 Victorian Premier League Championship side
• Scored the winning goal in the Victorian Premier League Grand Final against Altona Magic
• Member of South’s 2007, 2009 & 2011 Hellenic Cup Championship sides
• Scored four goals in a Victorian Premier League match against Hume City in 2010

Thursday, 19 May 2011 1:07 AM

By John Kyrou

South Melbourne FC hosts the Springvale White Eagles on Sunday afternoon in what is simply a must-win match for the Club following an extremely disappointing month of football. South has slipped out of the top five as a result and no less than three points will be expected in order to change the Club’s fortunes around.

South go into Sunday’s match on a horror run of form that has seen the side gain only one point from four Victorian Premier League matches, only scoring two penalties and conceding 13 goals in the process. The most recent result was a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat against Green Gully at Green Gully Reserve last Saturday afternoon, with South conceding three disappointing goals despite playing patches of good football and fighting back twice after going behind on the scoreboard. The positive news from last week was the return of captain Steven O’Dor, Jesse Krncevic, Ljubo Milicevic, Trent Waterson and Sebastian Petrovic. Despite the loss against Gully, the side looked a great deal better with the return of these players and will no doubt be hoping that they will help the team get over the line against Springvale on Sunday.

The White Eagles are in deeper trouble, with only two points from its last five games and an overall goal difference of -22 thanks largely to a 0-5 home defeat against Green Gully and a 9-0 away defeat against Heidelberg. This leaves Springvale in third-last on the Victorian Premier League table and fighting tooth and nail to ensure that it does not go straight back down a division after being promoted at the end of last season. The White Eagles gained a positive result last weekend with a 1-1 draw against Bentleigh and will be hoping to go one better and win three points against South on Sunday. One of their most dangerous players is former South forward Goran Zoric, who has scored five goals in the League this season and who tore South apart in the match between the two sides at the Serbian Sports Centre earlier this season. On that day, two goals from Zoric gave Springvale a 2-0 halftime lead before South ran riot in the second half with six goals to win by a tennis scoreline of 4-6.

The last time South hosted Springvale was on Sunday 13 May 2007 at Lakeside Stadium. A double from Nathan Caldwell (9′, 59′) and singles from Fernando De Moraes (24′), Yusuf Yusuf (25′), Ricky Diaco (73′) plus a fantastic volley by Gianni De Nittis (85′) gave South a comfortable 6-0 win in a season that saw the White Eagles relegated to State League One with a miserly five points from 26 League matches. Springvale have already surpassed that with 9 points from 13 League matches and they will be hoping to have 12 points from 14 matches at the conclusion of Sunday’s match. South will simply be hoping to be back in the top five at the conclusion of the round.

Sunday’s match kicks off at 3:00pm at John Cain Memorial Park on Sunday afternoon.