Friday, 17 May 2013 10:25 AM
By John Kyrou
South Melbourne FC is back on the road this weekend, as Peter Tsolakis’ side travel to Broadmeadows Valley Park to play Hume City. The match is South’s fifth away match in the opening six rounds of the Victorian Premier League season, with the side having already played at Green Gully, Southern Stars, Bentleigh and Dandenong. A win on Sunday would give South its fifth win from six Victorian Premier League matches.
South Melbourne goes into the match on the back of a thrilling 3-2 victory against Richmond at Lakeside Stadium last Sunday evening, with South winning despite going behind 0-2 early in the second half. A double from Tyson Holmes – including a wonder overhead kick – and a goal from Rhys Meredith secured all three points for South in its first home Victorian Premier League match in 2013. The goals were both Holmes and Meredith’s first for the Club, with the Queenslanders having moved to Melbourne over the summer.
Hume City goes into Sunday’s match having lost their last two Victorian Premier League matches and having been in inconsistent form throughout 2013. Lou Acevski’s side has a record of two wins and three losses from its opening five matches this season and desperately needs a win on Sunday, having lost their last two matches 1-4 at home against Bentleigh on 28 April and 4-0 away against Dandenong Thunder on 11 May. One thing that Hume can use as a positive going into Sunday’s game is that they defeated South 5-0 the last time the two sides played each other at Broadmeadows Valley Park. On that day (Sunday 17 April 2011), Jesse Krncevic and Ljubo Milicevic were both sent off in the first half and Carl Recchia badly rolled his ankle as South could do nothing to stop a rampant Hume scoring five goals. Former South played Steven Weir scored twice that day before joining South in the transfer window later on that season.
Alan Kearney trained during the week but is still 50-50 about selection this weekend. Trent Rixon and Tom Matthews may still be given game time in the Under-21s to get back to match fitness or could be included in the Senior squad. Hume City used Epping Stadium as their home ground in 2012 and in the corresponding fixture there last season (Friday 11 May 2012), a goal from former Captain Steven O’Dor after 87 minutes won the three points for South. Coach Tsolakis will gladly take the same result on Sunday afternoon.
Sunday’s match kicks off at 3PM at Broadmeadows Valley Park .