Day: July 26, 2013

Friday, 26 July 2013 1:56 PM

By George Kouroumalis

South Melbourne FC take on Dandenong Thunder this Sunday in what is expected to be an intriguing affair between both sides sitting just outside of the top five.

Both sides are coming off relatively unconvincing wins in the FFV State Knockout Cup midweek, with a very sluggish South coming from two goals down to defeat Preston 4-2 at Lakeside Stadium, while Dandenong were also tested by lower opposition, winning their fixture on penalties against Werribee.

South will go into the match without suspended pair Peter Gavalas and former Dandenong midfielder Iqi Jawadi, both of whom were sent off in last Sunday’s defeat at home to Bentleigh. However in more positive news South will have new signings Luke Hopper, Jonathan Munoz and Christian Maynard available, with the latter certain to replace the suspended Gavlas in goals.

South is also expected to have Shaun Kelly return from a hamstring injury, joining Brad Norton and former Dandenong duo Bryan Bran and Tim Mala in a formidable back four.

In the only meeting between the club’s this season, South Melbourne were soundly defeated at George Andrews Reserve by 3 goals to nil, with new South signing Luke Hopper finding the back of the net for Dandenong.

Kick-off at Lakeside Stadium on Sunday July 28th is at 3pm.

Last time we met

Friday, 26 July 2013 11:30 AM

By George Kouroumalis

South Melbourne FC has made a remarkable comeback to avoid embarrassment against Preston in the FFV State Knockout Cup on Tuesday Night.

South were without all of its recent signings due to them being cup tied, as well as Alan Kearney, who had to serve a one match suspension after being sent off in the last round of the Cup against Northcote City.

Despite dominating the play, the only meaningful chance of the half came when Preston caught the South napping, with Sanni Dauda scoring a speculative shot from range.

Preston was reduced to ten men three minutes before halftime after Michael Santoro was handed a second yellow card for a quickly taken free kick without the referee having blown his whistle.

Preston doubled it’s advantage early in the second half, when horrendous marking from the corner allowed for Dauda to bury a volley from inside the six yard box.

With South staring down elimination and the home crowd getting quite boisterous, Rhys Meredith latched onto a wonderful cross by Fernando De Moraes to pull a goal back for the home side.

South continued to pile on the pressure and were rewarded in the 81st minute when Meredith and Andy Vlahos combined to cause mayhem in the Preston defence, forcing Igorce Kolevski to turn the ball into his own net.

South were now dominant and moments later a super free kick by Fernando De Moraes found it’s way through everyone, slamming into the back of the net and sending the small but vocal crowd into delirium.

Fernando then topped off a man of the match performance by scoring a second of the night just before full time.

South now face Green Gully in the Semi Final of the State Knockout Cup, with the fixture likely to be on either August 20 or 21.