Author: John Kyrou

Male NPL Teams (U12-Seniors)

Seniors: SMFC 3-2 Richmond Eagles (Lujic 54′, Kecojevic 66′, Herrero 77′)
U20s: SMFC 2-1 Richmond Eagles (Marafioti 20′, Hussainy 62′)
U18s: SMFC 1-1 Port Melbourne (Karasawa)
U16s: SMFC 2-2 Port Melbourne (Morgan, Djiba)
U15s: SMFC 10-0 Port Melbourne (Papazisis x3, Arriaza x2, Barforosh x2, Karagiorgakis, Singh, Own Goal)
U14s: SMFC 7-0 Port Melbourne (Abdou x3, Mitsonis, Rosemond, Zeitoune, Own Goal)
U13s: SMFC 5-1 Port Melbourne (Panakos x2, Vlogianitis, Longhurst, Own Goal)
U12s: SMFC 6-0 Port Melbourne (Sdregas, Durso, Asani, Dzadey, Athanasakis, Sivritas)

Female State League Teams (U12-Seniors)

SL1 (Seniors): SMFC 5-2 Ballarat Eureka Strikers (Greiser 44′, 60′, 75′, Gleadell 53′, 73′)
SL1 (Reserves): SMFC 4-2 Ballarat Eureka Strikers (Delorenzis x2, Taliadoros, Mazzeo)
SL2: SMFC 2-3 North Caulfield (Goal Scorers TBC)
SL3: SMFC 7-1 Beaumaris (Farmer x2, Keaveney, Harrowell, Jones, Van Den Bulk, Crowley)
SL4: SMFC 2-0 Endeavour United (Vrljic x2)
U16s: Bye
U14s: SMFC 3-2 Kensington (Stringfellow x3)
U12s: SMFC 4-0 Boroondara Eagles (Goal Scorers TBC)

(Photo by Cindy Nitsos)

South Melbourne FC maintained its three-point lead at the top of the PS4 NPL Victoria ladder thanks to a 3-2 home victory against Richmond at Lakeside Stadium on Friday night. Following a scoreless first half, five goals in an open second half saw Chris Taylor’s side win by the odd goal.

Matthew Foschini replaced Amadu Koroma in the starting XI after serving a mandatory one-match suspension last weekend (after accruing five yellow cards in the league) but was shifted from his usual defensive midfield position to right-back. Tim Mala had done an excellent job being a centre-half pairing with Luke Adams against Bulleen Lions last Sunday and remained there for the Richmond match. The starting XI otherwise remained unchanged from the Bulleen game.

2015 South player Jake Barker-Daish skied an opportunity for Richmond early in the game following a nice cross from another former South player in Hamlet Armenian. On the half hour mark, Milos Lujic was put through one-on-one with Richmond goalkeeper Gian Tapia but the custodian made an excellent block to deny South’s centre-forward. Tapia was on hand to parry an Andy Kecojevic shot away from danger shortly before the halftime break.

Nine minutes into the second half and following the ball scrambling around in the six-yard box, Lujic prodded the ball past Tapia and into the back of the net for his 60th league goal in South Melbourne colours. Lujic is now level with Michael Curcija in equal seventh spot in South’s all-time leading league goal scorers, an incredible achievement for a player that is only 26 years of age and that has recently signed a contract extension to remain with the club.

2011 South U21s Championship player Nick Niagoran – who scored against South back in March – was at it again on Friday night as he scored the equalising goal just a few minutes after coming on as a substitute. Andy Kecojevic restored South’s lead shortly after with a nice chip over the advancing Tapia as Marcus Schroen made sure that the ball went over the goal line before the scrambling Richmond defence could clear it.

Spanish signing Manuel ‘Manolo’ Herrero was brought on by Taylor in the 69th minute to replace Kecojevic and he only needed eight minutes on the field before scoring his first goal in South colours. He was put through and cooly finished past Tapia to give the home side what looked like a comfortable 3-1 lead with only 13 minutes of normal time remaining. Nick Epifano should have sealed the result straight after the restart but Tapia made another block to prevent his side from going 4-1 down.

Back in March at Kevin Bartlett Reserve, South had opened the scoring before Richmond equalised. South had then stormed to a 3-1 lead and missed a great chance to go 4-1 up. Richmond pressure and a complete South defensive collapse then saw Richmond sensationally win 6-3. As the rain began pouring down on Friday night at Lakeside Stadium, it was another Richmond substitute in Ratip Cileli – only on the field for eight minutes – that scored to bring his side within one goal of South. Surely history wasn’t going to repeat itself again three months down the track?

Luckily for South, the scoring had ended, though there were a few nerves as Richmond pressed for another goal. Following four minutes of injury time, the referee’s final whistle signalled a solid 3-2 win for South in tough conditions and an eighth home win in nine matches in 2016. Bentleigh defeated Oakleigh by the same score at Jack Edwards Reserve, meaning that the situation has not changed at the top of the NPL Victoria standings – South still lead by three points.

There was further good news in the Under 20s, with Brian MacNicol’s South Melbourne side recording an impressive 2-1 victory over top-of-the-table Richmond thanks to goals from Giordani Marafioti (20′) and Nashir Hussainy (62′).

South has one more home game left before a sequence of away matches and that is against Hume City at Lakeside Stadium next Friday night. Kick-off is at 8:30pm.

FINAL SCORE: SOUTH MELBOURNE 3-2 RICHMOND EAGLES (HT: 0-0)

Goal Scorers:
1-0: Milos Lujic (54′)
1-1: Nick Niagoran (62′)
2-1: Andy Kecojevic (66′)
3-1: Manuel Herrero (77′)
3-2: Ratip Cileli (81′)

South Melbourne FC:
1. Nikola ROGANOVIC (GK) / 23. Matthew FOSCHINI, 2. Tim MALA, 5. Luke ADAMS, 11. Brad NORTON (C) / 77. Stephen HATZIKOSTAS (12. Amadu KOROMA 88′), 18. Matthew MILLAR / 17. Marcus SCHROEN (14. Chris IRWIN 90+1′), 22. Andy KECOJEVIC (15. Manuel HERRERO 69′), 7. Nick EPIFANO / 9. Milos LUJIC.
Unused Subs: 21. Zaim ZENELI (GK), 99. Iqi JAWADI.

Richmond Eagles FC:
1. Gian TAPIA (GK), 2. Javier MARANGOS, 3. Berkan YURDAKUL, 5. Geert-Arend ROORDA, 7. Hamlet ARMENIAN (18. Ratip CILELI 73′), 8. Jake BARKER-DAISH (22. Nick KOKOLAKIS 82′), 11. Liam FLYNN, 13. Bryan BRAN, 16. Alan MULCAHY, 17. Jakob WILLIAMS, 19. Souheil AZAGANE (9. Nick NIAGORAN 58′).
Unused Subs: 6. Peter SAWAN (C), 20. Tony FOGLIA (GK).

SMFC Melbourne City Toyota Man of the Match: Matthew Foschini
Venue: Lakeside Stadium
Date: Friday 24 June 2016

South Melbourne FC hosts Richmond at Lakeside Stadium on Friday night and will be keen to avoid any repeat of the earlier meeting between the two sides in March.

Chris Taylor’s men were leading Richmond 3-1 with half an hour remaining at Kevin Bartlett Reserve earlier this season and with both sides at opposite ends of the PS4 NPL Victoria ladder, the result seemed a forgone conclusion. This was before a combination of Richmond pressure and calamitous South defending saw the home side score five goals to win by the tennis scoreline of 6-3 and inflict South’s first defeat of the season.

South goes into Friday night’s game against Richmond on the back of a 1-0 home victory against FC Bulleen Lions in a scrappy affair at Lakeside Stadium last Sunday, where Marcus Schroen’s goal after 16 minutes maintained its three-point lead over the Bentleigh Greens at the top of the ladder. Three points against Richmond on Friday night will at a minimum ensure a three-point lead over the Greens, who face the Oakleigh Cannons away at the same time that South plays.

Captain Michael Eagar and defensive midfielder Matthew Foschini are both available after serving mandatory one-match suspensions against FC Bulleen Lions, giving relief to a makeshift South defence that did well to keep a clean sheet last Sunday. Tim Mala had an excellent game playing as a makeshift centre-half, whilst Stephen Hatzikostas also had a very good game playing just ahead of the defence. New Spanish signing Manuel Herrero – aka Manolo – was given half an hour off the bench against Bulleen and showed plenty of promise, giving Taylor another attacking option.

Richmond head into Friday night’s game confident after comfortably defeating Melbourne Victory’s NPL team 3-1 at Epping Stadium last Saturday. Jake Barker-Daish scored an excellent goal from a well-taken free kick and will be keen on scoring against his former side like he did back in March. Former South players Bryan Bran and Hamlet Armenian will also be keen to record back-to-back wins against South this season.

Friday night’s match at Lakeside Stadium kicks off at 8:30pm.

SMFC v Richmond – Head to Head (League & Finals)

Matches Played: 21
Wins (SMFC): 11
Wins (REFC): 6
Draws: 4

First match: South Melbourne 6-1 Richmond (3 June 1961, Middle Park)
Last match: Richmond 6-3 South Melbourne (24 March 2016, Kevin Bartlett Reserve)

Biggest Winning Margin (SMFC): 5 goals (6-1 win, 3 June 1961, Middle Park)
Biggest Winning Margin (REFC): 3 goals (2010 and 2016)

Most Goals in a Match (SMFC): 6 (3 June 1961, Middle Park)
Most Goals in a Match (REFC): 6 (24 March 2016, Kevin Bartlett Reserve)

Biggest Finals Win (SMFC): None
Biggest Finals Win (REFC): None

South Melbourne FC returned to winning form with a 1-0 home win over FC Bulleen Lions at Lakeside Stadium on Sunday evening. An early goal from Marcus Schroen proved the difference as Chris Taylor’s side maintained its three-point lead at the top of the PS4 NPL Victoria ladder.

South came into Sunday’s game on the back of an embarrassing performance against the Bentleigh Greens in FFA Cup qualifying. There were two forced changes as captain Michael Eagar and Matthew Foschini were both suspended (Eager for his red card against Bentleigh and Foschini for accruing five yellow cards in the league). Tim Mala partnered Luke Adams at centre-back, whilst Amadu Koroma, Andy Kecojevic and Marcus Schroen all made starts. Under 20s right-back Joshua Hodes and forward Brandon Jansz were both promoted to the First Team bench but neither was able to get onto the pitch.

The home side began the game well as it sought to make amends from last Tuesday night’s match. Milos Lujic had an early chance but fired his shot over the crossbar in a sign of intent. On 16 minutes, Schroen popped up to score what was the winning goal. Matthew Millar’s header off Nick Epifano’s corner fell to Schroen, who prodded the ball past Griffin McMaster on the second attempt after defender Bhardi Hysolli’s initial block on the line. Bulleen had a couple of chances to level proceedings but Nikola Roganovic made two excellent saves. The first save denied Ersin Kaya after he was put through by captain Matteo Ballan and the second was a fingertip save to deny Felix Rosman from scoring via a header.

Two substitutes almost got on the scoresheet for their sides in the second half. Former South player Andrew Cartanos – who had recently transferred to Bulleen from Heidelberg – curled a shot wide of Roganovic’s far post. Manuel Herrero – or Manolo as he is simply known – replaced Schroen on 67 minutes and produced an excellent run and shot that was well saved by McMaster, denying the Spaniard an excellent goal on his league debut for South.

The full-time whistle confirmed a 1-0 win to South in a scrappy match. Importantly, Taylor’s side returned to winning ways in the league and maintained their three-point advantage over the Bentleigh Greens on top of the ladder. Other promising signs included South’s defence keeping a clean sheet without its captain Eagar and the influential Foschini at defensive midfield. Both players will be available for selection for the upcoming game against Richmond, giving Taylor the opportunity to further strengthen his team.

South’s Senior Women were on show before the Senior Men and they recorded a 3-0 victory over the Melbourne Knights thanks to goals from Renee Laszczak, Caitlin Greiser and Sara Alberici. The Women’s Reserves lost 2-4 against the Knights with Lauren Boyd scoring both of South’s goals. The Men’s Under 20s game against FC Bulleen Lions was postponed and will be played at a later date.

FINAL SCORE: SOUTH MELBOURNE 1-0 FC BULLEEN LIONS (HT: 1-0)

Goal Scorer:
1-0: Marcus Schroen (16′)

South Melbourne FC:
1. Nikola ROGANOVIC (GK) / 12. Amadu KOROMA, 2. Tim MALA, 5. Luke ADAMS, 11. Brad NORTON (C) / 77. Stephen HATZIKOSTAS / 17. Marcus SCHROEN (15. Manuel HERRERO 67′), 18. Matthew MILLAR, 22. Andy KECOJEVIC, 7. Nick EPIFANO (14. Chris IRWIN 88′) / 9. Milos LUJIC.
Unused Subs: 21. Zaim ZENELI (GK), 25. Brandon JANSZ, 28. Joshua HODES.

FC Bulleen Lions:
1. Griffin McMASTER (GK), 3. Will ABBOTT, 4. Samual BORGHESI, 5. Alon BLUMGART (2. Andreas GOVAS 56′), 6. Bardhi HYSOLLI, 8. Matteo BALLAN (C), 9. Michael DISASI (33. Davide CARDAMONE 80′), 12. Christian CAVALLO (11. Andrew CARTANOS 65′), 18. Felix ROSMAN, 20. Andrew MULLETT, 23. Ersin KAYA.
Unused Subs: 16. Nathan TIDMARSH, 21. Tom BANFIELD (GK).

SMFC Melbourne City Toyota Man of the Match: Tim Mala
Venue: Lakeside Stadium
Date: Sunday 19 June 2016

Male NPL Teams (U12-Seniors)

Seniors: SMFC 1-0 FC Bulleen Lions (Schroen 16′)
U20s: SMFC v FC Bulleen Lions – Postponed
U18s: SMFC 4-2 Springvale White Eagles (Karasawa x2, Egan, Own Goal)
U16s: SMFC 2-1 Springvale White Eagles (Baker, Morgan)
U15s: SMFC 1-0 Springvale White Eagles (Singh)
U14s: SMFC 4-0 Springvale White Eagles (Zeitoune x2, Abdou, Baker)
U13s: SMFC 1-0 Springvale White Eagles (Chong)
U12s: SMFC 3-0 Springvale White Eagles (Asani, Durso, Own Goal)

Female State League Teams (U12-Seniors)

SL1 (Seniors): SMFC 3-0 Melbourne Knights (Laszczak 47′, Greiser 60′, Alberici 84′)
SL1 (Reserves): SMFC 2-4 Melbourne Knights (Boyd x2)
SL2: SMFC 5-5 Elwood City (Van Berkel x3, Plessa, Sinclair)
SL3: SMFC 3-3 Langwarrin (Van Den Bulk x2, Crowley)
SL4: SMFC 3-0 Beaumaris (Forfeit win)
U16s: SMFC 3-0 Templestowe United (Goal Scorers TBC)
U14s: SMFC 5-3 Spring Hills (Scoloro x2, Louloudis x2, Ciancio-Knauer)
U12s: SMFC 0-2 Ashburton

South Melbourne FC will look to end a very disappointing week on a high note when it hosts FC Bulleen Lions at Lakeside Stadium in PS4 NPL Victoria action on Sunday afternoon.

Chris Taylor’s side suffered a triple-blow on Tuesday night. South was hammered 4-0 by the Bentleigh Greens and was knocked out of qualifying for both the Westfield FFA Cup Round of 32 proper and the Dockerty Cup semi finals, with South unable to defend its 2015 Dockerty Cup triumph.

The only consolation from Tuesday’s humiliating defeat is the fact that South can now focus solely on maintaining and strengthening its three-point lead at the top of the PS4 NPL Victoria table. Winning a third straight Premiership will give South the best opportunity to do two things: win the NPL Victoria Championship (via a Grand Final win); and qualify automatically for the 2017 FFA Cup (by winning the Australian NPL Finals Series). This begins with the visit of FC Bulleen Lions on Sunday.

Bulleen have strengthened in the mid-season transfer window, with Andreas Govas (Heidelberg) and Alon Blumgart (Green Gully) the most notable additions to the team. Sami Nour caused South all sorts of problems in the earlier league meeting between the sides in March at Veneto Club and South can expect nothing less than another difficult assignment from Dom Barba’s side on Sunday. Bulleen stormed to a 2-0 lead back in March but South managed to fight back and secure an unlikely 2-2 draw late in the game.

Sunday will only be the second time that South has played against the entity now known as FC Bulleen Lions, however several Italian-backed clubs have merged and de-merged throughout the years to form what is FC Bulleen Lions today. One of those old clubs was Box Hill, a team that kept getting promoted then relegated from the old Victorian State League in the 1960s and 1970s.

Box Hill played ten top-flight league matches against South Melbourne Hellas in 1961, 1969 and from 1971 to 1973. Hellas won 9 of their 10 league meetings, with the biggest win being a 7-0 thumping at Middle Park on 27 May 1972.

South’s senior men’s and women’s teams will be playing on Lakeside Stadium on Sunday in what is only the second double-header in 2016. Socrates Nicolaidis’ women’s side will get proceedings underway at 1:30pm before the senior men kick off at 4pm.

SMFC v Bulleen Lions – Head to Head (League & Finals)

Matches Played: 1
Wins (SMFC): 0
Wins (BLFC): 1
Draws: 0

First/Last match: Bulleen Lions 2-2 South Melbourne (14 March 2016, Veneto Club)

Biggest Winning Margin (SMFC): None
Biggest Winning Margin (BLFC): None

Most Goals in a Match (SMFC): 2 (2-2 draw, 14 March 2016, Veneto Club)
Most Goals in a Match (BLFC): 2 (2-2 draw, 14 March 2016, Veneto Club)

Biggest Finals Win (SMFC): None
Biggest Finals Win (BLFC): None

Bentleigh Greens progressed to the 2016 Westfield FFA Cup Round of 32 and the Dockerty Cup semi finals with an emphatic 4-0 victory over South Melbourne FC at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex on Tuesday night.

Luke Adams was rushed straight back into South’s starting eleven after returning from a triumphant OFC Nations Cup with New Zealand over the past month and he was one of South’s few shining lights. John Anastasiadis’ side constantly pressed South throughout the whole game and it just seemed a matter of time before goals would arrive. The first goal arrived shortly before halftime via a South own goal, with the ball deflecting off the unfortunate Matthew Foschini and past Nikola Roganovic.

The cup tie was over as a contest by the hour mark, with two more goals to the Greens and with South captain Michael Eagar given his marching orders. Chris Lucas found former South Championship player Tyson Holmes unmarked at the edge of the area and teed him up to fire past Nikola Roganovic to double his side’s lead. Just a few minutes later, Eagar was sent off by referee Shaun Evans after picking up a second yellow card following a handball.

Holmes and Lucas combined again for the third goal a few minutes after Eagar’s dismissal. Holmes cleanly dispossessed Iqi Jawadi in midfield before setting Lucas up with an excellent through-ball for the striker to finish past Roganovic. Things went from bad to worse in the 78th minute when Bentleigh captain Wayne Wallace met an in-swinging corner at the near post to head home the fourth and final goal of the match.

With nothing to lose and with one less player, South threw bodies forward in the final half-hour in search of goals and Adams – playing as a makeshift centre-forward – headed the ball onto the crossbar. Spanish striker Manuel Herrero came off the bench to partner Milos Lujic up front and showed promise but was unable to score. South had left huge gaps in defence as a result of pushing forward and were thankful largely to Roganovic for not conceding even more goals.

Apart from missing out on the FFA Cup Round of 32, Tuesday’s result also means that South cannot defend its 2015 Dockerty Cup triumph, another disappointing blow for the club.

There is still plenty for Chris Taylor’s side to play for in 2016, with the aim now to win a third consecutive NPL Victoria Premiership, win the Victorian Grand Final and then win the National Finals Series, which brings automatic qualification to the 2017 FFA Cup.

South’s immediate attention now turns to the upcoming visit of FC Bulleen Lions to Lakeside Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Kick-off is at 4pm.

FINAL SCORE: BENTLEIGH GREENS 4-0 SOUTH MELBOURNE (HT: 1-0)

Goal Scorers:
1-0: Own Goal (38′)
2-0: Tyson Holmes (53′)
3-0: Chris Lucas (59′)
4-0: Wayne Wallace (78′)

Bentleigh Greens:
1. Ryan SCOTT (GK), 5. Jack WEBSTER, 8. Wayne WALLACE (C), 9. Chris LUCAS, 10. Tyson HOLMES, 11. Dion KIRK (4. Nick APOSTOLOPOULOS 79′), 15. Ross ARCHIBALD (12. Joshua BRINDELL-SOUTH 65′), 16. Troy RUTHVEN, 19. Kieran DOVER, 22. Ryan PACZKOWSKI, 24. Luke PILKINGTON.
Unused Subs: 14. Kamal IBRAHIM, 18. Matthew THURTELL, 21. Daniel NEESHAM (GK).

South Melbourne FC:
1. Nikola ROGANOVIC (GK) / 2. Tim MALA, 4. Michael EAGAR (C) (sent off 57′), 5. Luke ADAMS, 11. Brad NORTON / 77. Stephen HATZIKOSTAS (17. Marcus SCHROEN 57′), 23. Matthew FOSCHINI / 18. Matthew MILLAR, 99. Iqi JAWADI (15. Manuel HERRERO 60′), 7. Nick EPIFANO / 9. Milos LUJIC.
Unused Subs: 12. Amadu KOROMA, 21. Zaim ZENELI (GK), 22. Andy KECOJEVIC

SMFC Melbourne City Toyota Man of the Match: Luke Adams
Venue: Kingston Heath Soccer Complex
Date: Tuesday 14 June 2016

Male NPL Teams (U12-Seniors)

Seniors: SMFC 2-0 Port Melbourne (Lujic 28’p, Minopoulos 71′)
U20s: SMFC 7-0 Port Melbourne (Herrero 19′, 47′, 50′, Kecojevic 27’p, Layton 35′, Hussainy 74′, Iradukunda 90′)
U18s: SMFC 6-2 Kingston City (Laurie x2, Karasawa, Marafioti, Hawthorne, Johnson)
U16s: SMFC 1-1 Kingston City (Ahmeti)
U15s: SMFC 3-1 Kingston City (Garrow, Di Sisto, Singh)
U14s: SMFC 4-0 Kingston City (Lekatsas, Abdou, Rosenzweig, Zeitoune)
U13s (Catch-up game): SMFC 7-1 Eastern Lions (Chong x2, Longhurst x2, Panakos x2, Vlogianitis)
U13s: SMFC 4-1 Kingston City (Khan, Polymenopoulos, Vlogianitis, Chong)
U12s: SMFC 3-2 Kingston City (Asani x2, Tampakas)

Female State League Teams (U12-Seniors)

SL1 (Seniors): SMFC 0-3 Eltham Redbacks
SL1 (Reserves): SMFC 2-1 Eltham Redbacks (Boyd, Taliadoros)
SL2: SMFC 1-0 Croydon City (Tucker)
SL3: Bye
SL4: SMFC 0-5 Old Mentonians
U16s: SMFC 4-1 Spring Hills (Trajkovska x2, Stoic, Trease-Hemming)
U14s: SMFC 5-0 Bundoora United (Stringfellow x3, Ciancio-Knauer, Lynch)
U12s: SMFC 1-2 Langwarrin (Vosnidis)

South Melbourne FC travels to Kingston Heath Soccer Complex on Tuesday night to face the Bentleigh Greens in a mouthwatering Seventh Round FFA Cup Qualifying tie. The prize for the winning team is qualification for the 2016 Westfield FFA Cup Round of 32 proper and a spot in the Dockerty Cup semi finals.

To get to this point in the competition, Bentleigh defeated Diamond Valley United on 18 March (6-1), Goulburn Valley Suns on 4 May (4-0) and Murray United on 25 May (3-0). South reached this stage of the competition by defeating Keysborough United on 19 March (10-0), Altona Magic on 20 April (3-0) and North Geelong Warriors on 1 June (2-0).

South and Bentleigh have enjoyed a league rivalry in recent seasons but have not met before in Dockerty Cup or FFA Cup competition. Both are in the top two of the NPL Victoria Championship standings, though South enjoys a three-point lead at the top of the ladder. Both teams played their last league match at home on Friday night, with South winning 2-0 against Port Melbourne and Bentleigh drawing 1-1 with Hume City.

Bentleigh goes into Tuesday night’s cup match confident due to its recent excellent record against South at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex, having not been defeated by South at the venue since 2013. John Anastasiadis’ side will also feel confident having beaten South in the 2015 NPL Victoria Grand Final (3-1) and the 2016 pre-season FFV Community Shield (3-0), with the later being achieved at Kingston Heath.

South are being classified by some as underdogs for Tuesday night’s match but Chris Taylor’s side will be confident of winning the tie due to the fact that South defeated Bentleigh 2-1 in their most recent meeting in April. South is also on a three-game winning run across all competitions and have a better record than Bentleigh in head-to-head meetings, with seven wins, six losses and three draws in 16 meetings against the Greens.

Tuesday night’s cup tie kicks off at 7:30pm at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex.

South Melbourne FC maintained its position on top of the Ps4 NPL Victoria ladder with a comfortable 2-0 home victory against Port Melbourne at Lakeside Stadium on Friday night. A first half penalty by Milos Lujic and a second half tap-in by substitute Leigh Minopoulos gave Chris Taylor’s side the result it wanted.

With both teams perhaps mindful of their FFA Cup qualifying games this coming week, Friday night’s match wasn’t played at the level of intensity of the earlier meeting between the two sides back in March. Nevertheless, the result was the most important thing to get out of Friday night and South achieved that with a goal in each half.

The home side opened the scoring just before the half-hour when Lujic went down in the penalty area after what looked like a tug on his shirt. South’s centre-forward stepped up to take the spot kick – instead of the usual penalty taker in Nick Epifano – and made no mistake by sending Port goalkeeper Luke Gavalas the wrong way to give his side the lead.

Early in the second half, South goalkeeper Nikola Roganovic almost gifted Port Melbourne a goal when he lost his balance and fell whilst attempting to clear the ball. With Jamie De Abreu bearing down on him, the custodian calmly headed the ball out for a corner kick and averted any danger. Lujic had the opportunity to wrap the game up just after the hour when he was through one-on-one with Gavalas but fired his shot straight at the goalkeeper.

Minopoulos had only been on the ground for six minutes before he scored to confirm the three points for South. A corner kick was played to the back post, where captain Michael Eagar fired the ball back across goal for Minopoulos to tap in from close range. Port should have halved the deficit late in the game but Erhan Yalaz headed the ball over Roganovic’s crossbar from close range.

South now has a three-point lead over Bentleigh at the top of the NPL Victoria table, after Bentleigh drew 1-1 at home to Hume on Friday night.

It was further good news in the Under 20s as South Melbourne defeated Port Melbourne 7-0. New Spanish signing Manuel Herrero was given a starting berth and he scored a hat-trick of goals (19′, 47′, 50′) before being substituted in the 56th minute. Andy Kecojevic (27’p), Charly Layton (35′), Nashir Hussainy (74′) and Thierry Iradukunda (90′) scored South’s other four goals.

South now turns its attention to Tuesday night, when it travels to Kingston Heath Soccer Complex to face the Bentleigh Greens in Round 7 FFA Cup qualifying. The winning team will qualify for both the 2016 Westfield FFA Cup Round of 32 proper and the Victorian Dockerty Cup semi finals, with South being the defending Dockerty Cup winners from 2015.

FINAL SCORE: SOUTH MELBOURNE 2-0 PORT MELBOURNE (HT: 1-0)

Goal Scorers:
1-0: Milos Lujic (28’p)
2-0: Leigh Minopoulos (71′)

South Melbourne FC:
1. Nikola ROGANOVIC (GK) / 2. Tim MALA, 4. Michael EAGAR (C), 23. Matthew FOSCHINI, 11. Brad NORTON / 77. Stephen HATZIKOSTAS, 99. Iqi JAWADI  (8. Mathew THEODORE 65′) / 18. Matthew MILLAR, 17. Marcus SCHROEN (27. Leigh MINOPOULOS 65′), 7. Nick EPIFANO (14. Chris IRWIN 90+2′) / 9. Milos LUJIC.
Unused Subs: 12. Amadu KOROMA, 21. Zaim ZENELI (GK).

Port Melbourne FC:
18. Luke GAVALAS (GK), 3. James RICCOBENE, 4. James KARVELIS, 7. Jamie DE ABREU, 8. Bonel OBRADOVIC (14. Trent MANICAS 85′), 12. Alec GOODWIN (15. Dennis KOUTROULIS 79′), 16. Alan KEARNEY (19. Shaun KELLY (C) 76′), 17. Erhan YALAZ, 20. Tyler JAMES, 22. Ryan OPPERMAN, 23. Jacob ELIOPOULOS.
Unused Subs: 2. Andrew VIOLA, 25. Michael STARK.

SMFC Melbourne City Toyota Man of the Match: Michael Eagar
Venue: Lakeside Stadium
Date: Friday 10 June 2016