Author: John Kyrou

Thursday, 12 March 2009 12:22 PM

By John Kyrou

In an important fixture, South Melbourne FC faces the Preston Lions on Sunday in the club’s first away trip for season 2009.

In fact, Sunday’s match at BT Connor Reserve shapes up as a vital fixture for Preston, as they are also celebrating their 50th anniversary year this season. More importantly, the three points on offer are crucial, as both sides have experienced a winless start to the season and for one of the teams to beat one of their biggest Victorian rivals will go a long way to kick-starting its 2009 campaign.

South goes into the match on the back of two disappointing results at home in the opening two rounds, losing 0-1 against newly-promoted Dandenong Thunder and then by the same score against traditional rivals Heidelberg last Sunday. Defensive lapses were what ultimately cost the club at least a point in both matches, with an own goal against Dandenong and a lobbed cross against the Bergers sinking South’s hearts. If South is to earn all three points against Preston, it needs an extremely disciplined and resolute backline that is able to shut out the relentless pressure that Preston is expected to put them under when going forward. This task will be made even more difficult with the exclusion of captain Rama Tavsancioglu, who was sent off against Heidelberg and will miss the match through suspension.

Up forward for South, the bags of goals that were seen in the pre-season Hellenic Cup competition have not transpired in the VPL thus far. Frustratingly, the side has struggled to create many genuine goal scoring chances in its opening two matches. As a result, the club is yet to open its goal scoring and points account and sadly sits with a -2 goal difference and two home losses – disappointing when one considers how much of a fortress Bob Jane Stadium was back in the National Soccer League days and in the early seasons of the club’s return to the VPL.

However, it is not all doom and gloom for the away side. Preston themselves are also struggling in their 50th anniversary year, conceding two late goals to lose 1-2 against the Melbourne Knights at home in the opening round, and then having their last match against Altona postponed after a lighting failure. The Lions have lost a number of their players from 2008, many of whom were an influence in the club’s solid results and appearance in the finals that season. Despite this, Lions supporters will be heartened by the fact that their side led the Knights for the majority of the match, and that several excellent chances to score were created against Altona before the abandonment of the fixture last week.

An interesting fact for South Melbourne FC is that since returning to the VPL in 2005, the side has not been beaten at BT Connor Reserve. In the three matches at the venue in that time, South has recorded two wins and one draw. The most recent result was in round 6 last season, when two goals in less than two minutes gave South a priceless 1-2 victory after the Lions had taken the lead. In fact it has been a long time since Preston beat South at Connor Reserve full stop. It has been 22 years, when Steve Smith and Zoran Ilioski’s goals were enough to overcome South 2-1 one Melbourne winter’s day in 1987. Charlie Egan scored South’s goal.

While a negative result will not dent either side’s hopes of a finals appearance in 2009, it will make life in Victoria’s top league even harder. The match kicks off on Sunday at 5pm.

Thursday, 5 March 2009 12:05 PM

By John Kyrou

In a match being billed as the ‘Heritage Clash’, South Melbourne FC will be looking to win its first points in the 2009 Victorian Premier League season when it meets Heidelberg United at Bob Jane Stadium on Sunday evening. The match holds enormous significance for South, being a huge derby fixture that the lakeside club desperately needs three points from in order to kick-start its 50th year into gear.

Despite a dominant pre-season campaign which saw the club win every match on route to a third Hellenic Cup triumph (including beating Heidelberg United 3-0 in the final), South could not continue the good form in the opening round of the new season, losing 0-1 at home against the Dandenong Thunder. As a result, the importance of a good result in the Heidelberg United fixture has increased.

Beating Heidelberg United so convincingly in the Hellenic Cup final two weeks ago will help the South players heading into Sunday’s match, although psychologically the Bergers will be up for the occasion, having had the upper hand against South since both teams re-commenced their rivalry in the Victorian Premier League in 2005. In the nine VPL encounters since, there have been three draws, with South winning twice and the Bergers prevailing four times, including the last three occasions (3-0 at the Olympic Village in 2007 and 2-1 both home & away in 2008).

Over the years, this derby has seen some fantastic battles in front of massive crowds appropriate for such a fixture. Fittingly, Heidelberg (or Fitzroy Alexander as they were known in the early period of their history), were the first ever opponents of the newly-formed South Melbourne Hellas team in 1960. South lost the friendly match 3-2 but would then go on to dominate the Bergers in the 1960s. One of the most memorable wins for South against the Bergers in that decade was a 7-3 win at Middle Park in the league in 1967, with Boulis Kambouropoulos, Ulysses Kokkinos and Leo Damianakos all netting doubles, with Jim Pyrgolios scoring the other goal. Another memorable win was the 7-1 triumph over Heidelberg United in the Quarter Final of the Docherty Cup in 1970, with Geoff Gould netting a hat trick, Ernie Ackerley a double and Jimmy Armstrong and Ian Marshall chipping in with one goal each.

While South dominated League and Cup meetings between the two sides throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, it was a much different story in the late 1970s and early 1980s once the National Soccer League commenced. Heidelberg could not stop beating South in the NSL and NSL Cup until South stopped the rot in the 1984 season. The blue & whites opened the season with a 2-0 win over Heidelberg at Middle Park (Oscar Crino and John Yzendoorn the scorers), recorded another win by the same score in round 14 at the Olympic Village (Kenny Murphy and Crino the scorers) and won by the same scoreline again in round 27 at Middle Park (Carl Halford and Doug Brown the scorers). South completed a clean sweep of the Bergers that season with a famous come-from-behind 4-2 victory in the Southern Division Grand Final (Crino with a double, Alan Davidson and Yzendoorn with the other goals) before beating Sydney Olympic to win its first NSL championship.

Although both clubs are not in the elite competition any longer, the burning desire to win the derby for bragging rights still remains strong in the minds of the players and supporters alike. After all, South has been competing against Heidelberg on and off for 50 years. The fact that both clubs lost their opening games last weekend will add even more spice to the contest, in a match that both clubs need to win.

Sunday’s match will be the 68th league derby between South and Heidelberg (both in the Victorian Premier League and the National Soccer League). Overall South has bragging rights, with 35 wins compared to Heidelberg’s 16 wins. There have also been 16 draws. However the Bergers have won the last three derbies. History has shown that there are usually goals in these games, with only six goalless draws in the 67 contests thus far.

The match kicks off at 6pm on the 8th of March at Bob Jane Stadium. All South supporters are strongly encouraged to attend to not only help gain South’s first points for 2009, but to continue on the tradition of this grand derby that has been fought out for the best part of 50 years.

 

South Melbourne vs. Heidelberg United – An Overview

First VPL match:
Round 2, 1964
South Melbourne 2-1 Heidelberg United
(SMFC Goals: George Papadopoulos x2)
Venue: Middle Park

First NSL match:
Round 2, 1977
South Melbourne 1-1 Heidelberg United
(SMFC Goal: Duncan Cummings)
Venue: Middle Park

Last NSL match:
Round 15, 1994/95
Heidelberg United 1-3 South Melbourne
(SMFC Goals: Con Boutsianis x2, Paul Trimboli)
Venue: Olympic Village

Last VPL match:
Round 14, 2008
South Melbourne 1-2 Heidelberg United
(SMFC Goal: Sam Poutakidis)
Venue: Bob Jane Stadium

Total Games (League): 67
South Melbourne Wins: 35
Heidelberg United Wins: 16
Draws: 16

Highest Aggregate Score:
Round 2, 1967 VPL
South Melbourne 7-3 Heidelberg United
(SMFC Goals: Boulis Kambouropoulos x2, Ulysses Kokkinos x2, Leo Damianakos x2, Jim Pyrgolios)
Venue: Middle Park

SMFC Biggest Win:
Round 7, 1991/92 NSL
South Melbourne 5-0 Heidelberg United
(SMFC Goals: Con Boutsianis x2, Mike Petersen, Paul Trimboli, Kimon Taliadoros)
Venue: Middle Park

Monday, 23 February 2009 10:44 AM

By John Kyrou

South Melbourne FC completed 2009 pre-season preparations in the best possible way by defeating rivals Heidelberg United 3-0 in the final of the Hellenic Cup on Saturday afternoon.

Heidelberg had enjoyed a rare period of domination over South in recent years, taking four points off the blues in the 2007 season and then defeating South in both home & away matches in 2008. The Bergers went into the match as reigning Hellenic Cup champions and having beaten Lalor Florina in the North/West semi final. South went into the match on the back of a thrilling 3-2 win over the Oakleigh Cannons in the South/East semi final, with a Vaughan Coveny goal in the last minute of extra time winning the tie for the lakeside club.

Heidelberg began the match the stronger of the two sides, winning several corners but failing to make any use of their dominance. Their best chance came from a low shot from the right that beat South goalkeeper Tomi Tommich at his near post, but luckily the ball hit the side netting and stayed out. Despite starting slowly and nervously, South eventually got into the game and created several opportunities of their own. Gianni De Nittis went close, forcing a good save from Heidelberg’s goalkeeper after a lovely cut-back ball from Goran Zoric.

Vaughan Coveny, who will complete a personal milestone of 100 South Melbourne goals if he can score just three goals in the upcoming season, showed his class before halftime when his shot put South into the lead. The ball fell to his feet at the edge of the area and the big Kiwi hit a lovely shot with his left foot, with the ball flying across the face of the Heidelberg goal and into the bottom corner of the far post. The goal was almost identical to the effort that Coveny scored in the previous week against Oakleigh.

From there, South completely dominated the match and should have been 2-0 up before the break, however a combination of poor finishing and good goalkeeping kept the score at just 1-0. That changed shortly after the re-start, when a Bergers foray forward was stopped by South, who quickly surged forward in a counter-attack. An excellent ball played over the Bergers defence found Zoric on the left hand side. With an acre of space to run into, Zoric charged towards goal, dummied the keeper then passed the ball across to the incoming De Nittis, who had the simple task of tapping the ball into the empty net.

With this 2-0 lead, South did not want to make the mistake of slacking off like the previous week, when Oakleigh scored two quick goals to get back into the contest. Fernando De Moraes made sure that would not happen against the Bergers, whilst living up to the saying “saving the best for last” with a goal of high class that killed the game off. Zoric found himself one-on-one with the keeper but his effort was spoiled. The ball fell to De Moraes outside of the penalty area. The Futsalroo had the composure and the time to stop, assess where to place his shot, then hit a beautiful curling effort which sailed into the top far right corner of the net, leaving the Bergers keeper completely rooted to the spot.

Despite the match being over as a contest, South were keen on keeping a clean sheet. Coach Michael Michalakopoulos substituted Tommich for youngster Andrew Sfetkopoulos, giving the ex-Altona Phoenix player time in between the sticks. Heidelberg’s only serious chance was a shot that hit the post but apart from that the Bergers were reduced to long-range shooting that was comfortably handled by the South defence.

Zoric was named as player of the match, and captain Rama Tavsancioglu spoke of the trophy “hopefully not being the only trophy that we will win this season.” The Hellenic Cup triumph was South’s third, after beating Yarraville Glory 2-0 in 1984 and Oakleigh 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw after extra time in 2007.

South’s first match is against newly promoted Dandenong Thunder at Bob Jane Stadium on Sunday 1st March, kick-off at 6pm. Supporters are strongly encouraged to come out in force to make sure that the team gets its 50th year underway in style.

Click here to view the Hellenic Cup Photo Gallery

Sunday, 15 February 2009 10:17 PM

By John Kyrou | Photo by Paul Touliatos

South Melbourne FC has progressed through to the final of the 2009 Hellenic Cup after a thrilling 3-2 victory against the Oakleigh Cannons on Saturday afternoon at the Kingston Heath Soccer Complex.

The two sides had met in successive Hellenic Cup finals in recent years of competition, with one win apiece. In 2006, Oakleigh defeated South 2-0 in the final at Port Melbourne’s Anderson Reserve. South took revenge the following year at Northcote City’s John Cain Reserve, beating Oakleigh 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw at the end of regular and extra time. With promotion to the final giving the winner the chance to win the $10,000 prize money on offer, the game was always going to be very closely fought.

South began the match strongly and had several half chances to take the lead. Midway through the first half, Fernando De Moraes opened the scoring with a goal of class that gave supporters hope that the Futsalroo was back to achieving his devastating 2006 form. After receiving the ball on the edge of the area, De Moraes rounded an opponent before firing an excellent shot across Oakleigh goalkeeper Adrian Cagalj, and into the far corner of the net.

Returning legend Vaughan Coveny had been working extremely hard up forward in the hot conditions, and his job had been made more difficult when partner Nathan Caldwell was badly injured thanks to a strong tackle by former South player Robert Wynne. Rama Tavsancioglu had shown his usual outstanding commitment and good form during the game, and it was his excellent ball to Coveny that put the former Kiwi international through on goal. Coveny showed his class by easily lobbing the ball over the advancing Cagalj and into the empty net to put South 2-0 up.

However disaster struck shortly after Coveny’s goal, when a soft cross from the right by Oakleigh was unfortunately deflected into South keeper Tomi Tommich’s goal by Shane Nunes. Minutes later, Oakleigh were on level terms after South fell asleep at the back, allowing for an easy header to be put past Tommich to give the Cannons an undeserved equalising goal.

South continued to press forward to try and snatch a winning goal. Oakleigh began to get into the game, creating half chances for themselves but most were comfortably dealt with by the South defence. Despite chances for both sides, the regular time ended with the scores locked at 2-2. Two extra time periods of 10 minutes each were played and again both sides went close to scoring. South had Tommich to thank for a few excellent saves while at the other end Petrovich went close with a long distance shot.

With one minute remaining, Coveny proved to be the match-winner, after the match seemed to be heading for a penalty shootout. The ball was played into a crowded penalty area but somehow found its way to the big Kiwi, whose first-time shot flew into the bottom right corner of the goal, giving him a double for the afternoon. Oakleigh pressed forward for one final opportunity, but Tommich made an outstanding one-on-one save to ensure South would progress through to the final.

The final will be played next Saturday 21st February at Northcote City’s John Cain Reserve. A win for South will give the club its third Hellenic Cup championship, after beating Yarraville Glory in 1984 and the 2007 triumph against the Cannons.

South’s Record in Hellenic Cup finals:
1984: SMFC 2-0 Yarraville Glory
1986: Northcote City 3-1 SMFC
2000: Yarraville Glory 1-1 SMFC Youth (2-1 AET)
2003: Bentleigh Greens 1-0 SMFC
2006: Oakleigh Cannons 2-0 SMFC
2007: SMFC 1-1 Oakleigh Cannons (4-2p)

Monday, 21 July 2008 4:15 PM

By John Kyrou | Photo by Cindy Nitsos

Old Victorian rivals South Melbourne and the Melbourne Knights fought out an entertaining 2-2 draw at Bob Jane Stadium on Sunday afternoon, with the home side throwing three points away after squandering a two goal advantage against their old enemy. The stalemate was the first time the two teams had played out a draw at Lakeside since – ironically – the Knights came from 2-0 down to grind out a 2-2 draw against South in the second round of the 1997/98 National Soccer League season.

Both teams entered the fixture in losing form, with South losing away to Green Gully 1-0 last Saturday and the Knights losing by the same margin at Somers Street against Coburg United the next day. A win in the big derby match was important for both clubs for contrasting reasons.

South needed a win to push further away from the relegation zone as well as keep in touch with a group of clubs chasing a position in the top six, whilst the Knights needed a good away result to re-establish themselves back on top of the Foxtel Cup ladder.

South also had to avoid defeat for another reason; it could not afford another home loss at Bob Jane Stadium in 2008 as it would have confirmed their worst seasonal record at the stadium since moving there in the 1995/96 NSL season. Heading into the match, South had lost at home on five occasions in 2008, equaling the current records set in the 1996/97 NSL season and the 2007 Foxtel Cup season. A home defeat against its old National League rivals to confirm the record would have been disastrous.

South began the stronger of the two sides and missed an early opportunity to open the scoring when a lovely ball was played through to Fernando De Moraes on the left hand side of the box. The Futsalroo hit a shot that beat the Knights keeper but not the crossbar, with the ball rebounding back into play before being cleared by the Knights defence. The Knights themselves showed why they were on top of the Foxtel Cup ladder with some excellent attacking play down the wings, however their final distribution into the box was dealt with reasonably well by the South defence, marshaled by ex-Knights keeper Tommi Tomich.

Despite the Knights’ attacking play, South was not scared to venture forward and create opportunities of their own. Sam Poutakidis had a half chance to open the scoring when he rounded two Knights players from the edge of the area, however his resultant left-foot shot was hit tamely and was easily controlled by the keeper. However South did not have to wait too much longer before taking the lead. A clumsy foul inside the area saw De Moraes step up to the penalty spot. Despite the attempts of the away fans behind the Lakeside end goal to distract him, De Moraes calmly took the spot kick and placed a shot into the bottom right corner of the net to make the score 1-0.

South looked in control of the match, which frustrated the Knights. Tempers threatened to boil over when a push and shove match erupted on the half-way line after a poor challenge on Gianni De Nittis. Shane Nunes’ shove on a Knights player was seen as unacceptable to the referee, who sent the defender from the field of play with a straight red card. The home players and supporters were furious that the same colour card was not issued to the Knights only minutes later when Nathan Caldwell was kicked in the head by a Knights defender. With South down to 10 men, some desperate defending saw the Blues head into the halftime break with their lead intact.

The Knights began the second half looking to take full advantage of having the extra man on the field. However South continued to battle hard to create chances to score another goal to set up a two-goal cushion. Just when it seemed that the Knights were getting on top of the home side, Sebastian Petrovic gained possession in the midfield and fed De Nittis with an excellent through-ball, which the South forward tucked past the near post for the Blues’ second of the afternoon, sending the home supporters into raptures.

Sensing the opportunity for a third goal to completely finish the Knights off, South continued to press forward, despite having one less man. The third goal seemed inevitable when the Knights keeper failed to handle a cross, dropping the ball in front of him where De Nittis was lurking. The defining moment of the match occurred at that moment, when De Nittis’ shot hit the right post and stayed out. From the resultant clearance, the Knights worked the ball down the field and into their attacking third, where the South defence itself failed to clear the danger. The ball fell to Andrew Barisic, who hit a well-struck shot into the left corner of the net, giving Tomich no chance. Instead of sealing the game at 3-0, South had conceded and brought the Knights back into the contest.

The legendary saying that 2-0 is the most dangerous lead to have in football was proven to be right when the Knights equalised shortly after Barisic’s goal. The away side worked the ball down the left hand side, where they were able to get past Poutakidis and send a low, hard cross to the near post. James Timmons was waiting and his touch flew across Tomich’s goal and into the net, sending the Knights fans behind the goals wild with delight. After home defeats to bitter rivals Heidelberg and Preston, South fans began fearing that the Knights were about to dish the same punishment and at the same time inflict South’s worst seasonal record at the ground.

With the home side tiring with only having 10 men, Goran Zoric and Hamlet Armenian were eventually rushed on to provide some assistance to De Nittis and Caldwell up forward as the Blues held firm in defence and tried to counter-attack to try and score a third. This almost worked, when a through-ball fell just beyond Caldwell’s reach, and then a cut-back header from an Adam Van Dommele cross found Rama Tavsancioglu directly in front of goals and in a similar position to where Barisic was when he scored the Knights’ opening goal. Instead of achieving the same outcome, Rama blasted his shot over the cross-bar, ending the home side’s faint hopes of scoring an unlikely win.

The end-to-end play in the final ten minutes would have been enjoyed by the neutral spectators in the stadium, as the Knights themselves also pushed forward in numbers, sensing the opportunity to score a memorable win. However, Tomich was in excellent form and despite a few scares towards the end of the match, the home side did enough to earn a point against the top team in the competition.

South now finds itself in the unusual position of being five points from 6th spot on the table as well as being five points from the relegation zone. With other results going their way on the weekend, South simply must win their next match away against the Fawkner Blues to put more pressure on the teams just above them. The Knights can further consolidate their position at the top of the Foxtel Cup table when they host the Oakleigh Cannons at Somers Street. Both games kick off at 3pm next Sunday.

Wednesday, 9 July 2008 1:56 PM

By John Kyrou

Sam Poutakidis is set to play his 50th match for the club when he takes to the field against Green Gully at Green Gully Reserve on Saturday afternoon.

Poutakidis began his senior career back in 1999 with the Springvale White Eagles before progressing to the then-powerful Port Melbourne side in the VPL. His form with the Sharks saw South initially recruit Sam to represent the club in the now defunct National Soccer League during season 2002/03. After struggling for regular first team football, Poutakidis turned things around in the 2003/04 season to prove himself as a valuable member of the starting 11.

After a three-season spell with the Oakleigh Cannons, Poutakidis decided to return to Bob Jane Stadium to represent South in 2008. Although the blue and whites have struggled with consistency and results throughout the season so far, Sam has been one of the shining lights by constantly producing excellent individual performances with his exceptional work-rate in defence and moving forward to help with attacking moves.

Saturday’s match at Green Gully is already looming as a massive test, as a positive result could potentially see South sneak into the top six for the first time this season. Poutakidis’ 50th match will no doubt give the away side even more reason to fire up and get a much-needed win in order to erase the enormous disappointment of the 1-2 home loss against Preston in the previous round.

The board, players, staff and supporters would all like to congratulate Sam Poutakidis for his 50 matches for South and wish him, the other players and the coaching staff all the best for Saturday’s match and for the rest of the season.

Sam Poutakidis Statistics:
DOB: 31st July 1976
Position: Defender
Seasons at Club: 3 (2002/03 to 2003/04, 2008)

Breakdown:
2002/03 (NSL): 5 games (4 starts, 1 sub), 0 goals
2003/04 (NSL): 25 games (22 starts, 3 subs), 2 goals
2008 (VPL): 19 games (19 starts, 0 subs), 3 goals
TOTAL: 49 games (45 starts, 4 subs), 5 goals

Wednesday, 11 June 2008 1:40 PM

By John Kyrou

The visit of the Oakleigh Cannons to Bob Jane Stadium this Sunday will see South Melbourne put under real pressure to show the rest of the Foxtel Cup that they are serious about playing finals football in 2008. The occasion will be made even more significant for the home side if centre-back Steven O’Dor is selected to play, as it will mark the 21 year old’s 50th senior appearance for South.

Despite his young age, O’Dor has already had the honour of representing his country on numerous occasions, with both the Qantas Under-23 squad and the Qantas Young Socceroos.

In addition, he spent time throughout his junior career with the Australian Institute of Sport.

In its return to the Foxtel Cup in 2005, South was quick to sign O’Dor as a quality young centre-back and he did not let the club down, playing an important role in a defensive unit that conceded the least amount of goals in that season (17 goals in 26 matches). The following season, O’Dor missed a large amount of games due to moving to Canberra to be at the Institute of Sport, but was still a member of the South squad that won the Foxtel Cup.

In 2007, O’Dor confirmed his loyalty to the blue and whites by playing in the opening half of the season despite securing a spot on the roster of A-League franchise Wellington Phoenix. His presense in defence was missed in the second half of the season as South fell away to narrowly miss a finals position.

However at the conclusion of the Phoenix’s season, Steven decided it was best for him to stop playing full-time football in the A-League and instead return to Melbourne to finish his University studies and combine that with playing in the Foxtel Cup. There was only one destination for the big centre-back and that was to Bob Jane Stadium, where he has added experience and height to the back four.

The club wishes O’Dor the best of the luck in his 50th match for the blue and whites and hopes that the team can lift to the occasion and claim an important victory to continue the push for a spot in the top six of the Foxtel Cup.

Steven O’Dor Statistics:
DOB: 28th January 1987
Position: Defender
Seasons at Club: 4 (2005 to 2008)

Breakdown:
2005: 17 games (15 starts, 2 subs), 0 goals
2006: 3 games (3 starts, 0 subs), 0 goals
2007: 14 games (14 starts, 0 subs), 1 goal
2008: 15 games (15 starts, 0 subs), 0 goals

TOTAL: 49 games (47 starts, 2 subs), 1 goal

Thursday, 22 May 2008 12:05 PM

By John Kyrou

As part of the lead-up to the derby match against Heidelberg United on Sunday afternoon at Bob Jane Stadium, this week’s segment will focus on the corresponding fixture back in 1991.

South Melbourne started the 1991/92 National Soccer League season in fine form. The Blues defeated Preston 5-1 at Middle Park in the opening round and registered only one loss in the first six rounds. South were keen to continue this excellent form heading into round 7 when they met Heidelberg at Middle Park in the traditional derby match. The Bergers had experienced an inconsistent start to the season, having won twice, drawn once and lost on the other three occasions.

In the previous season, South won the bragging rights after grinding out a 2-2 draw at the Olympic Village in round 12 before defeating the Bergers 2-1 at Middle Park in the last round of the season. However form and previous results meant nothing as both teams were always going to lift for the first derby showdown of the 1991/92 season.

A very pro-South crowd of 12,459 turned up to Middle Park to witness the latest installment in the South-Heidelberg rivalry. South had planned to give new signing Robert Csabai his debut match for the home side against the Bergers, however the Canadian international was a very late withdrawal. Nevertheless, the home side was confident of a win, as were the supporters. However it was the Bergers who got off to the better start, with Paul Lewis, Phil Stubbins and Brian MacNicol all forcing excellent saves from South goalkeeper Bruce MacLaren. It was somewhat hilarious then that South took the lead against the run of play. A far-distance Peter Tsolakis shot was deflected into the net by Paul Trimboli, leaving Jeff Olver stranded in the Heidelberg goal.

Although the Bergers had gone a goal down, they kept pressing forward in numbers and only luck and excellent defending prevented them from leveling the match. Derek Hunter was put through one-on-one with MacLaren but his chip shot hit the crossbar and back into play, where another shot was fired past MacLaren but not legendary South defender Mehmet Durakovic, who cleared the ball off the line and out to safety. MacLaren was then called into action again and pulled off two fantastic saves to deny two more Goutzioulis long-range efforts on goal. The Bergers were then left to wonder what they had to do to get past both MacLaren and Durakovic, when a powerful header from a corner was not cleared properly by the South custodian and therefore needed yet another clearance off the line by Durakovic to save the day.

Although South had been under enormous pressure, the Blues survived the challenge and slowly began getting on top of the away side. The home side nearly doubled their lead when Danny Wright evaded a challenge on the left side and sent in a cross that Con Boutsianis got on the end of. Boutsianis’ lob of Olver saw the big Bergers custodian stick a hand out and superbly deny the Blues a second goal. With the exception of the goal that he could not prevent, Olver had experienced a relatively quiet first half but that was to change after halftime.

South started the second half with the full intention of killing the game off as a contest and did so via the penalty spot. Boutsianis was expertly set free on the left side from Paul Trimboli’s flick-on. Boutsianis’ low cross into the area saw a handball on the goal line by Doug Hodgson, who was subsequently sent off by referee John Fraser. Mike Petersen put away the spot-kick with a calm chip straight down the middle of the goal, with Olver diving to his left and being nowhere near the ball. This was the deciding point in the derby and the Bergers were set to experience a miserable end to the match.

Kimon Taliadoros made absolutely certain that the home side would get the two points when he gleefully accepted a brilliant lobbed through-ball by Petersen and beat his marker before slotting the ball past Olver for the third goal of the afternoon. Trimboli then looked to have earned the Blues their second penalty of the afternoon when he was blatantly brought down in the area by Chris Iliopoulos, but referee Fraser waved away the appeals and the Bergers breathed a sigh of relief. The away side got out of jail twice more, firstly when Taliadoros’ shot on goal beat Olver but not the far post and secondly when Trimboli’s overhead kick was well saved by Olver.

However with an extra man and a commanding lead, a fourth goal was always on the cards and Boutsianis finally scored after being set through one-on-one with Olver. Boutsianis completed his double and a miserable afternoon for the Bergers when he was the first to a cross from the left and headed home at the near post for South’s fifth and final goal for the afternoon. Although Heidelberg had started the game well, they were no match for their bigger rivals and left Middle Park with eggs on their faces and a massive blow to their goal difference.

South continued on their good form the following week, defeating Melbourne Croatia 0-1 at Somers Street in the Grand Final rematch. This proved that the Blues were destined for a high finish on the table, which they achieved in finishing 3rd. In contrast, Heidelberg’s miserable form continued with a 0-1 loss against Preston at the Olympic Village. Things did not get much better for the Bergers as they finished the season in 9th place, missing the top five by two games.

Round 7, 1991/92
Sunday, November 17, 1991
Venue: Middle Park
Referee: John Fraser

SOUTH MELBOURNE 5-0 HEIDELBERG UNITED
(Boutsianis x2, Trimboli, Petersen, Taliadoros)

SOUTH MELBOURNE:
Bruce MacLaren, David Healy, Mehmet Durakovic, Paul Fernandes, Paul Wade, Peter Tsolakis, Mike Petersen, Angie Postecoglou, Paul Trimboli, Kimon Taliadoros, Danny Wright
Subs: Con Boutsianis, Michael Michalakopoulos
Coach: Ferenc Puskas

HEIDELBERG UNITED:
Jeff Olver, Gary Brattan, Paul Lewis, Doug Hodgson, Chris Iliopoulos, Nick Van Egmond, Brian MacNicol, Troy Cranney, Angie Goutzioulis, Derek Hunter, Phil Stubbins
Subs: George Michalidis, Terry Rizopoulos
Coach: Gary Cole

Friday, 16 May 2008 10:55 AM

By John Kyrou

This week the segment takes us back less than six years ago to a match played in the early stages of the 2002/03 National Soccer League season.

Reigning NSL champions Sydney Olympic traveled to Bob Jane Stadium keen to continue the excellent start that they had made in defending their title. Going into the round 7 encounter against their traditional interstate rivals, Olympic was undefeated with four wins and two draws from their opening six matches. On the other hand, South Melbourne had started extremely slowly, with only one win in their opening five encounters. However despite the contrasting form, South went into the match more confident of a result, as Olympic had never beaten the blues at Bob Jane Stadium.

What was to follow was one of the more remarkable games staged in the history of matches played between the two clubs.

The match was barely two minutes old when South opened the scoring. The ball was played down the right flank, where Peter Buljan evaded Olympic captain Ante Juric’s challenge. Buljan’s low cross into the area was flicked into the bottom corner of the goal by new recruit Michael Baird, who had scored in the previous home game against Perth Glory and was fast becoming a fan favourite. Just six minutes later South’s advantage was doubled when Vince Lia’s cross from the right was met by Robert Liparoti at the far post. Liparoti’s square ball in front of the goal found Buljan, who somehow bundled the ball past Clint Bolton with a header of his own.

Olympic were stunned, and were left further embarrassed when Kiwi international Vaughan Coveny put South three up before the quarter-hour. Stand-in captain Steve Panopoulos found space at the edge of the penalty area and he laid the ball off to Coveny, who had made a run on his left side. The big South forward turned inside and sent a powerful right-foot shot low and past Bolton’s near post.

The first half was barely half-complete when Panopoulos himself scored with a lovely shot with his left foot from outside the area. Fausto De Amicis’ cross found Baird, who headed down into the path of Panopoulos. The midfielder’s strike was too powerful for Bolton and proved a further slap in the face for Olympic’s defence, who by this stage were receiving an almighty heckling from the army of South supporters behind Bolton’s goal.

The home supporters urged their team to continue pressing forward, as they sensed a record scoreline about to happen. However this left the South defence slightly exposed, and as a result Olympic managed to pull a goal back. A well-struck Troy Halpin corner found Andrew Packer, who placed his header past Dean Anastasiadis, which left the big South custodian angry at his defence for the lack of marking in the area.

Five goals had already been scored but several more goal-scoring chances were created, as both teams seemingly decided to forget about the notion of defending and instead attacked at any opportunity. Olympic missed two good opportunities to score a second through both Tom Pondeljak and Joel Porter, before South hammered home their fifth for the afternoon. Coveny galloped past Jade North on the left and crossed the ball to Baird, who hit a sweet volley that flew into the top corner of Bolton’s goal.

At 5-1, even the most hardcore Olympic supporters must have thought that their side would give up on the match and just set out to defend in order to not leak any more goals. However to their credit, the away side continued to attack themselves without any fear and scored a second goal as a result. Experienced striker Ante Milicic’s audacious 25 metre lob of Anastasiadis at the end of the half meant that at the halftime interval the scoreboard showed a remarkable seven goals scored in just one half of football.

One would have thought that with South commanding such a strong lead that the second half would only suffer in comparison and with it bring no further changes to the scoreline. However this was not the case, as Halpin brought Olympic to within two goals of the home side with a sharp volley from the edge of the box after the ball was cleverly pulled back from the flank to him.

The home side signaled its intentions to hold on and protect the 5-3 lead when Baird was substituted for defender Steve Iosifidis with twenty minutes remaining. Olympic didn’t care and elected to go for broke and played the rest of the match with a four-man forward line. The move worked brilliantly and Pondeljak’s 30-metre rocket amazingly brought the away side to within one goal of South with five minutes left to play.

By this stage Olympic were all over South and the home supporters were beginning to feel extremely nervous about the possibility of giving up a four goal cushion against one of their most bitter rivals. However with only a minute left in normal time, Coveny was brought down in the area. Coveny got up and hit the resultant penalty straight down the middle of Bolton’s goal, beating the Olympic keeper who had dived to his left. Coveny’s penalty registered South’s sixth goal for the afternoon which finally ended the scoring and ensured that the three points would remain at Bob Jane Stadium in one of the most remarkable games witnessed at the venue.

South’s defence continued to leak goals as it conceded four more the following week at Adelaide City and 37 for the whole season (24 matches played). Unfortunately the strike force did not score as regularly as the defence conceded (36 goals scored) and as a result South missed out on a finals spot by one point. Olympic’s loss to South was only one of its five losses for the regular season, as the Sydney side finished on top of the ladder and made the Grand Final for the second season in a row, again against Perth Glory. This time however the Glory took revenge for their loss the previous season, beating Olympic 2-0.

Round 7, 2002/03
Sunday, November 3, 2002
Venue: Bob Jane Stadium
Referee: Mark Shield

SOUTH MELBOURNE 6-4 SYDNEY OLYMPIC
(Baird 2′, 40′, Buljan 8′, Coveny 13′, 89′ pen, Panopoulos 20′) (Packer 22′, Milicic 44′, Halpin 60′, Pondeljak 85′)

SOUTH MELBOURNE:
Dean Anastasiadis, Fausto De Amicis, Mehmet Durakovic, Robert Liparoti, Steve Panopoulos, Vaughan Coveny, Peter Buljan (Paul Trimboli 89′), Vince Lia, Nick Tolios, Michael Baird (Steve Iosifidis 71′), Bill Damianos (David Clarkson 63′)
Coach: Danny Wright

SYDNEY OLYMPIC:
Clint Bolton, Paul Kohler (Zenon Caravella 72′), Ante Juric, Tom Pondeljak, Ante Milicic, Troy Halpin, Jade North, Jeromy Harris (Hiroyuki Ishida 67′), Joel Porter, Andrew Packer, Andrew Durante (Mark Byrnes 33′)
Coach: Gary Phillips

Monday, 12 May 2008 10:06 AM

By Michal Skrodzki and John Kyrou | Image by George Kouroumalis

South Melbourne enjoyed a hard-fought 0-1 win over an honourable Whittlesea Zebras outfit on Sunday evening. The Zebras were shocked during the week when coach Peter Ollerton handed in his resignation and thus caretaker Paul Harris took charge against South. In contrast, South entered the match in good form, with a great 1-0 win against Richmond at Bob Jane Stadium the previous round and were looking to string two wins in a row for the first time in 2008.

The match at Epping Stadium was always going to be a passionate affair, with both teams locked on 12 points and needing to win to stay out of the relegation zone, whilst also pushing for a spot in the top six.

The game got off to a tight start, with both teams desperate to keep a clean sheet. South’s defenders were constantly under pressure by Zebras forward Jerry Karpeh, as the former Floreat Athena player made dazzling runs and looked dangerous with the ball at his feet. Whittlesea constantly tried to push the ball out wide to be crossed in, as South’s veteran goalkeeper Dean Anastasiadis looked uncomfortable in dealing with the crosses.

However South looked the more likely to score, and right on halftime they thought they had opened the scoring. A great header hit the bar and Gianni De Nittis smashed the rebound home, but his celebrations were cut short when the linesman incorrectly signaled for offside and therefore the goal was disallowed.

South came out in the second half determined to take the lead. Goran Zoric’s runs were starting to really trouble the Whittlesea defenders but he failed to take advantage of his opportunities. His best chance fell early in the second half when he ran onto a good ball played through and found himself one on one with Zebras goalkeeper Simeoni. However instead of shooting, Zoric tried setting up a shot for Ricky Diaco, who was ambushed by a Zebras defender and the ball was subsequently cleared.

Hamlet Armenian was also having a good game against his former side, so much so that even the Zebras fans chanted his name. South kept pushing and defensively were very strong, suffocating the Zebra forwards. South finally got their deserved winning goal when young midfielder Tony La Verde shot from outside the box, brilliantly placing his shot into the bottom right hand corner, beating Simeoni and sending the traveling South fans into delirium.

South searched for a second goal but despite the opportunities, Armenian, Zoric and Diaco all failed to punish the Zebras further. The Zebras themselves pushed late in the game and almost scored a last-minute equaliser when a shot took a wicked deflection and flat-footed Anastasiadis before hitting the side netting. Whittlesea had one final chance with a free kick just outside the area in the last minute of injury time, however the ball was cleared by Shane Nunes to ensure that the 0-1 scoreline was final and that the South fans could celebrate by singing “the Great Escape.”

South coach Michael Michalakopoulos was obviously pleased with the result and thought the consecutive wins was due to the fact that “defensively we’ve worked better as a unit….and we’re working harder at training, the intensity has been phenomenal.” Michalakopoulos also believed that South were still real contenders for the finals, as well as confirming that the club is looking for another keeper to replace Nik Jelic (who returns to Sydney) and another experienced midfielder.

With the three points gained at Epping, South only sit 5 points outside of the top six and face league cellar-dwellers Frankston Pines at Bob Jane Stadium next week. In contrast, Whittlesea remains in the relegation zone and face a tough assignment out at Jack Edwards Reserve against the Oakleigh Cannons, with the signs not good for the 2007 grand finalists.