By Skip Fulton
The Youth teams were on the road again this week representing South Melbourne FC against Box Hill United and Dandenong Thunder in Round 17 of the Zagame’s NPL Youth leagues.
George and George secure braces in U15 dominating performance over Box Hill
The Burwood East Athletics Reserve was the venue for fixtures this week against Box Hill United. The team walked on to a somewhat muddy pitch as the fourth match of the day. The field would certainly hold up to standard and facilitate some excellent football, obviously for the South Melbourne team.
The boys in white made a positive start attacking from the first whistle. Julian Zinni immediately took up the role of play-maker as he made run-after-run down the right wing easily getting in behind the defence. It wouldn’t take long before his colleagues up front would get into the action.
In the twelfth minutes Captain George Kalas would be the first to find the net when a solid strike from the edge of the area made its way past the keeper. Four minutes later Kalas would repeat his efforts and double the lead for South Melbourne.
The midfielders would continue to fuel the aggressive assault on the Box Hill goal. It would spark a frantic five minutes of football where South would score three goals.
Nicky Edwards launched a corner kick into the area and it found an unmarked Nikita Vovos who easily headed it into the top right corner over the top of the defender on the back post. Just a minute later, Zinni made a solo run into the area and his left foot strike would go across the keeper and into the side netting. Increasing the lead to five was George Hronopoulos at the back post who tapped in a fumbled saved off a solid shot from Andre Polendakis.
The team would see out the first half with a five nil lead. The opposition in Box Hill United haven’t recorded a win this season and the confidence of South Melbourne in the second half would see them relax and go through the motions. The structure was maintained however individual efforts took over from the strong team passing that was characteristic in the first half.
Not to be denied from further goals, Hronopoulos found himself in a good position on the right wing with two options inside the area who were perfectly placed and unmarked. Not wanting to give up the opportunity, he took the ball himself into the area on the right and slotted it past the keeper to secure his brace.
The final goal from the match would come from the slightest of touches by Costa Mesourouni who came back on from the bench for a run at the end. His goal would round out an excellent performance by the team and finalise South Melbourne FCs win 0-7 over Box Hill United.
After the match, Nicky Edwards was nominated by the boys to represent the team and talk with smfc.com.au. Asked to share his thoughts on the game, Edwards provided a blunt assessment on the game saying “We killed ‘em, smashed ‘em. Good up front, good midfield and extremely good defence. We all worked as a team, put the ball in the back of the net and got three points.” Asked about who in the team really stood out for the team, Edwards didn’t hesitate in his answer saying “Luka, the goal keeper by far.”
South Melbourne Under 15 team coach Samuel Young also reflected on the game talking with smfc.com.au. “It was a good performance. I said to the boys at half time when we were five nil up, the word perfect doesn’t get mentioned a lot in football. It was faultless really, the first half. We created a lot of chances and we put them away. In the second half we got a little bit carried away, maybe did things we wouldn’t normally do as we were five nil up and that’s what happens. We could have been double figured but the boys deserved to win seven nil” he said.
The results and goal scorers were:
U12s played Box Hill United and lost 0:3
U13s played Box Hill United and lost 2:4, scorers: Alan Fogel and Elis Karagiorgakis
U14s played Dandenong Thunder and drew 1:1, scorer: Bradley Chick
U15s played Box Hill United and won 7:0, scorers: George Kalas x2, George Hronopoulos x2, Julian Zinni x1, Nikita Vovos x1 and Costa Mesourouni x1
U16s played Box Hill United and won 5:1, scorers: Lachlan Beever x2, Tom Baker x1, Kirk Kiriakopoulos x1 and Timothy Tselepis x1
U18s played Box Hill United and won 4:2, scorers: Edwin Stangherlin x2 Nashir Hussain x1 and Jonas Markovski x1
U13 Match Photos: http://on.fb.me/1oLAqHA
U15 Match Photos: http://on.fb.me/1sxAOAX