Friday, 27 April 2012 9:41 AM
By John Kyrou
There is a break in the Victorian Premier League this weekend as South Melbourne FC plays Malvern City in the fourth round of the FFV State Knockout Cup on Sunday afternoon.
With many of South’s players sustaining knocks in the match against Richmond last Friday night, South coach Peter Tsolakis will be tempted to rest them and instead give fringe players the opportunity to play. This means that the likes of Trent Rixon, Tom Matthews, Luke Byles, Fernando De Moraes, Dimi Hatzimouratis and Dimi Tsiaras may be rested and players like Marinos Gasparis, Gianni De Nittis, Matko Budimir, Nick Jacobs and Christian Skok could be given an extended opportunity to play.
On the other hand, Tsolakis must be careful to pay the utmost of respect to his State League Two opponents Malvern City, who will no doubt be keen on causing a major upset by knocking South out of the Cup. It happened last year when State League One side Port Melbourne came from a goal down to triumph 2-1 against South Melbourne in extra time, causing major embarrassment to Eddie Krncevic’s side. Tsolakis and South will both be keen on ensuring that this mistake doesn’t occur again and that the team safely progresses through to the next round.
Sunday’s match kicks off at 12:30PM at John Cain Memorial Park. The match is the first of a double-header at the ground, with Northcote City hosting Morwell Pegasus afterwards at 3:00PM