South Melbourne FC returned to winning form by defeating Avondale FC 1-0 at Lakeside Stadium on Friday night. A first half goal from Milos Lujic was the difference between the two sides in a match that had limited goal scoring opportunities.
Chris Taylor’s side came into the game with a 100% winning record at Lakeside Stadium across all competitions in 2015 and were keen to preserve that statistic. In their way was an Avondale side that had made a solid start to the 2015 campaign following their promotion into the PlayStation 4 NPL Victoria at the end of 2014.
To mark the Mothers Day weekend and to also raise public awareness and funding for Breast Cancer research, South’s players shelved their usual blue socks and wore pink socks on the night. The match was sponsored by Principal Partner e.l.f. Cosmetics and all women involved at the Club, including the South Melbourne Womens team, were invited to enjoy the match in the Corporate area.
The home side threatened to open the scoring in the first fifteen minutes, with Lujic on a couple of occasions just failing to get on the end of low crosses from Brennan from the right flank. Those two players eventually combined to score the winning goal in the nineteenth minute, with Brennan’s perfect cross from the right side met by Lujic on the volley and he made no mistake scoring past Frazer Siddall.
The centre-forward continues his fantastic goal scoring record this season of nine goals in 11 League matches and eleven goals in 13 matches across all competitions. His League record with South now stands at a remarkable 32 goals from 39 matches. Including Cup matches, his record is 35 goals in 45 matches.
Avondale had two chances in the second half to level proceedings. Chris Irwin had a goal disallowed for offside before Alex Khrapko hit a stinging drive that South goalkeeper Nikola Roganovic did very well to get a finger onto the ball and deflect it onto the crossbar.
With the exception of those two opportunities for the away side, South seemed in control and closed out the match to continue its 100% winning run at Lakeside Stadium. Roganovic notched his sixth clean sheet in eleven League matches as South won by a single goal margin for the sixth time in the League this season.
Friday night’s game also marked Iqi Jawadi’s 50th League match for South Melbourne, with the player having joined South midway through the 2013 season.
South’s next match is a catch-up match against Dandenong Thunder on Tuesday 12 May at Lakeside Stadium, with kick-off at 8:30pm. If selected, both Tim Mala and Nick Epifano will join Jawadi in reaching fifty League matches for the Club.
FINAL SCORE: SOUTH MELBOURNE 1-0 AVONDALE FC (HT: 1-0)
Goal Scorer:
1-0: Milos Lujic (19′)
South Melbourne FC:
1. Nikola ROGANOVIC (GK), 2. Tim MALA, 4. Michael EAGAR (C), 5. Luke ADAMS, 7. Nick EPIFANO, 8. Mathew THEODORE (23. Andy KECOJEVIC 68′), 9. Milos LUJIC, 11. Brad NORTON, 12. Iqi JAWADI, 13. Dane MILOVANOVIC, 17. Andy BRENNAN (21. Jake BARKER-DAISH 83′).
Avondale FC:
20. Frazer SIDDALL (GK), 4. Chris IRWIN, 5. Jeffrey FLEMING, 9. Alex KHRAPKO, 10. Burakhan KOCA, 13. Michele CRAZIA, 15. Zoran PAJIC, 16. Jungho KIM (8. Simon TOLLI 75′), 17. Phil RICCOBENE, 18. Jonathan MUNOZ (31. Omar AMMACHE 60′), 19. Jason PRINCIPATO.
SMFC Fix Hellas Beer Man of the Match: Milos Lujic
Venue: Lakeside Stadium
Date: Friday 8 May 2015