Friday, 25 May 2012 9:48 AM
By John Kyrou (Photo by Cindy Nitsos)
In one of the games of the round, South Melbourne FC travels to George Andrews Reserve to face high-flying Dandenong Thunder on Saturday afternoon. South is in desperate need of a win, whilst Dandenong has enjoyed seven wins from their opening seven Victorian Premier League matches in 2012 and show no signs of slowing down.
Last Sunday afternoon, goals from Adam Zilic and Jacob Colosimo were enough for the Melbourne Knights to prevail 2-1 against South in the derby at Lakeside Stadium. The only consolation for South was Bradley Norton scoring his first goal for the Club. Later that evening, Dandenong travelled to Olympic Park and defeated lowly Heidelberg United 1-0 to maintain their 100% winning streak in the League this year.
South will be boosted by the fact that it has not lost at George Andrews Reserve in three visits there, with the first being a come-from-behind 2-2 draw in 2009 before a professional 0-2 win in 2010 was followed by an extremely hard-fought 0-1 victory in 2011. On that occasion, Jesse Krncevic’s first half bullet header was enough to see off Dandenong and give South’s prospects of finals football a real boost. Coach Peter Tsolakis will be hoping for a similar result this Saturday. South will also be boosted by the likely return of Captain Steven O’Dor to the starting eleven. Fernando De Moraes will miss this match due to still being overseas representing the Futsalroos, but he will be available for the Northcote fixture next week.
Saturday’s match kicks off at 3:00pm at George Andrews Reserve.