Photo by 80kms.smugmug.com
South Melbourne FC’s 2015 squad travelled to Adelaide last Friday for two pre-season friendlies against West Adelaide Hellas and the Adelaide Blue Eagles.
The first friendly against West Adelaide was played in very warm conditions on Friday evening at West Adelaide’s home ground at the Adelaide Shores Football Centre. This match was a curtain-raiser for Football Federation South Australia’s beyondblue Charity Cup between the Croydon Kings and Adelaide City.
West Adelaide opened the scoring after an hour through Ricardo Da Silva before Leigh Minopoulos equalised for South with a neat finish ten minutes from time. Alex Rideout secured a 2-1 win for West Adelaide in the final play of the game with a tidy finish from outside the area.
On Sunday afternoon, South Melbourne played against the Adelaide Blue Eagles at the Marden Sports Complex. Both teams struggled in the early afternoon sun, with South coach Chris Taylor rotating his players several times throughout the match. Adelaide Blue Eagles ended up winning the match 1-0 thanks to a late goal from Anthony Dimas. The team flew back to Melbourne following the conclusion of the match.
Although South Melbourne lost both matches, the trip to Adelaide was an enjoyable experience. It gave the players the opportunity to bond together ahead of the Charity Shield match against the Melbourne Knights this coming Friday night before the season begins proper against Oakleigh on Thursday 19 February.