Category: News

Monday, 24 November 2003 12:00 AM

The notice to members dated 14 November 2003, regarding the meeting on the 7th December 2003 incorrectly advised that the meeting would be an Annual General Meeting. The meeting in fact is an Extraordinary General Meeting of members that has been specifically convened to communicate with members about the general progress of the club and specifically about important issues such as the future of the National Soccer Competition.

The agenda items with reference to the audited accounts and elections are not relevant although an update will be provided as to the clubs management accounts for the year to 30th June 2003.

The meeting will commence at 3.30pm in the Albert by the Lake reception room at Bob Jane Stadium.

Mark Patterson
on behalf of the Board
South Melbourne Soccer Club

Monday, 24 November 2003 12:00 AM

By Michael Tsoukalis

South have overcome a spirited and physical Adelaide United outfit and hence moved into 2nd position on the NSL table. New South defender and former Adelaide Force Captain Ante Kovacevic was the catalyst for the victory providing the Lakesiders with two headed goals – his first goals for the club – that ultimately proved to be enough for the home side.

With United bringing 7 busloads of travelling supporters to Bob Jane, there was an unusual amount of support for the opposition. To the credit of the United fans their never relenting chanting throughout the encounter – which was admirably tackled head on by South’s very own crew of passionate chanters, the “Clarendon Corner”, – provided Bob Jane with an electric atmosphere.

The game kicked off with both sides trying to adjust to each other’s playing style. The South faithful had noticed that highly influential South Captain Vaughn Coveny hadn’t warmed up prior to kick-off and to the chagrin of the home supporters, Coveny wasn’t to figure in today’s proceedings. In came Scott Tunbridge, his inclusion presented the former Adelaide Force front-man with the unique opportunity of lining up against many of his former team-mates.

With both sides playing somewhat tentatively a 12th minute South defensive clearance saw the home side catch the United defence flat footed, South striker Michael Curcija with only Adelaide custodian Robert Bajic to beat, sent his powerful volley wide.

The 17th minute saw Adelaide muster a decent chance, NSL veteran Carl Veart had a ball played to his feet, his sharpish turn released ex-South favourite Goran Lozanovski, who with plenty of time sent his powerful drive well over Galekovic’s goalmouth. South had been sent a clear warning, United were here to get a result.

In the 23rd minute South responded in the best manner possible, a floating ball which had evaded everyone was retrieved by stand in Captain Con Boutsianis, the enigmatic South favourite weighed up his options and delicately chipped a ball into the heart of the United box, first to meet the ball was Ante Kovacevic who did well to battle off a few Adelaide players and to hence send a looping header over the outstretched arms of keeper Bajic. Kovacevic had got his first for the club but more importantly, the opening goal in a well balanced game.

A buzzing Boutsianis nearly caught Bajic out in the 26th minute when his deflected free kick was unconvincingly parried by the United keeper, Scott Tunbridge was on hand to slam the rebound into the left upright after following on from Bajic’s parry.

The Second stanza saw South out to get that all-important second goal which would provide a decent buffer to propel the Albert Park based club to victory. Early in the 2nd half, Levent Osman – who had been running tirelessly up and down the right wing from his right-back position – got the better of his man and sent in a great cross that saw Curcija volley over from 6 yards out.

South’s second goal came in similar circumstances, a break down the right saw a far post cross unleashed into the Adelaide area, Curcija was on hand to head across the United goalmouth and after a tiny scramble near the United goal-line, Ante Kovacevic was once again on hand to nod home his second in the 61st minute.

With South appearing to be in a somewhat comfortable position, Michael Curcija was released and found himself with only Bajic to beat, Curcija deftly nudged the ball towards goal but saw his effort roll agonisingly wide. The chance that should’ve sealed the result served to only inspire, from that moment on Adelaide lifted their game and put South under severe pressure.

Soon after South’s goal United captain Aurelio Vidmar – with Galekovic beaten – saw his strike cannon off the upright, after a 10 minute spell of dominating play, John Kosmina’s men deservedly pulled a goal back, Carl Veart controlled a cross and with only Galekovic to beat, Veart went for power and even though Galekovic got most of his body behind the strike, the ball still trickled over the line in the 70th minute to give United some hope.

The remaining 20 minutes saw Adelaide dominate possession and continue to try and snatch an equalizing goal, thankfully for South the equalizer never eventuated; however, there were many instances were the home faithful had their hearts in their mouths.

Friday, 21 November 2003 12:00 AM

By Michael Tsoukalis

This Sunday NSL new-boys Adelaide United venture to Bob Jane Stadium to take on a flying South Melbourne side. South return home after a sterling 0-5 whitewash of Victorian rivals the Melbourne Knights.

United have subsidised bus travel for a few hundred of their most fanatical supporters and are hence expected to have a decent presence at Bob Jane. John Kosmina’s men will be desperate for a decent showing after suffering their inaugural loss last week against the Perth Glory. United were comprehensively outplayed in front of another sell-out Hindmarsh Crowd going down by 4 goals to 1.

United’s squad is largely made up of the players that were left club-less after the Adelaide City Force demise. Michael Valkanis, Carl Veart, Goran Lozanovski and player/Assistant coach Aurelio Vidmar provide the heart of the experience in the United line-up. Adelaide also managed somewhat of a preseason coup by managing to re-attract former NSL stalwart Ross Aloisi, Aloisi returns after a few seasons of plying his trade in various European countries and has added much needed experience and flair to the United midfield.

Conversely, South Melbourne come into the encounter having played some of the best football a South side has played in years. In comprehensively beating the Melbourne Knights, South not only racked up a brilliant result, but also managed to gel in a manner that had the South faithful present in awe of the side’s cohesion.

Gun-recruit Michael Panopoulos has firmly established himself in the heart of the South engine-room, last week’s encounter against the Knights saw Panopoulos at his commanding best, dictating the play of the game and stamping his obvious influence with a magnificent 30 yard strike, with Panopoulos in ominous form and the likes of Vaughn Coveny and Paul Trimboli – who chipped in with two goals against the Knights – making big contributions, South appear to be in a great position to continue their push for the NSL peak.

Game: South Melbourne vs Adelaide United
Date: Sunday 23 November 2003
Venue: Bob Jane Stadium
Kick-off: 7.30pm (7pm CST)

HEAD TO HEAD (Overall):
Played: N/A

HEAD TO HEAD (at South Melbourne):
Played: N/A (Regular Season)

Last Encounter: N/A

LAST WEEK:
South Melbourne 5-0 away win v Melbourne Knights
Adelaide United 4-1 home loss v Perth Glory

Position on Ladder:
4th v 9th

SOUTH MELBOURNE SQUAD: E Galekovic (gk), M Panopoulos, A Kovacevic, M Stergiopoulos, M Curcija, C Boutsianis, S Tunbridge, V Coveny, S Poutakidis, C Recchia, K Sarkies, S Laurie, P Trimboli, L Osman, M Theoklitos (gk),

IN: Unchanged
OUT: M Murdocca & V Lia (both U-20 international duty)

ADELAIDE UNITED SQUAD: D Scarsella (gk), K Rees, R Alagich, M Valkanis, A Goulding, R Aloisi, D Terminello, C Veart, G Lozanovski, A Vidmar, M Kemp, E Demourtzidis, A Pellegrino, M Saric, A Westervelt, R Bajic (gk) (one to be omitted)

IN: A Westervelt
OUT: S Widera, N Budin

Tuesday, 18 November 2003 12:00 AM

Yesterday, Bob Jane Stadium was overrun by some of the world’s most fearful
athletes. The All Blacks had a light training session, playing frisbee and
soccer, before meeting some of South’s’ players. Vaughan Coveny was overawed
by the occasion, finally getting the opportunity to meet his fellow New
Zealand representatives.

Other players to attend were amazed by the size of
the players and impressed with the soccer skills they showed. South
Melbourne wishes the All Blacks the best of luck in their 3rd place
play-off.

Monday, 17 November 2003 12:00 AM

Australia’s youngest national soccer team is set to invade the country’s oldest NSL club when Adelaide United takes on South Melbourne this Sunday at Bob Jane Stadium.

In a program emulating the invasion by AFL fans from Adelaide, more than 15 busloads of fans will make the pilgrimage to Melbourne for this week’s match.

“The challenge has been thrown out to our supporters and the Melbourne sporting public in general,” said South CEO Mark Patterson today.

Not in recent history has an interstate team been able to create the passion and success for its fans in the what Adelaide has done so far this season.” The club has been successful on the field with two wins and two draws from its five games in its inaugural season.

“It would be embarrassing for South if we were unable to meet this challenge, particularly after a great performance yesterday when the team captured an historic 5 nil victory in the local derby at Somers Street against the Melbourne Knights” said Patterson.

Club captain and NSL leading goal scorer Vaughan Coveny also joined the chorus for support after watching his fellow Rugby Union team the All Blacks train at Bob Jane Stadium this afternoon, “I believe we are playing a brand of soccer that is exciting and that the fans will really enjoy. With the added incentive of meeting the Adelaide supporter invasion head-on, it should be enough to spur us to victory again” said Coveny.

Patterson confirmed that Socceroos coach Frank Farina would also be the club’s special guest at this Sunday’s game. Kick-off is at 7:30pm.

Sunday, 16 November 2003 12:00 AM

By Michael Tsoukalis

An all-round superb team display has catapulted South Melbourne back into the top 4 and gone a long way in confirming their championship credentials.

Inspired by the breathtaking play of star centre-man Michael Panopoulos and the experience of Paul Trimboli; South have managed to come away from Somers St with a sterling 5-0 victory.

From the onset the Albert-Park based club asserted their dominant influence, possession was heavily in favour of Stuart Munro’s men with the side playing with an all-round cohesion that South supporters haven’t seen for quite a few years.

After early season reports that gun recruit Michael Panopoulos was underdone from a fitness perspective, the former Greek under 21 international silenced all his critics with a commanding display in the centre of the park and a breathtaking goal worthy of high accolade.

With both sides still deadlocked, a surging run through the middle of the field by Marcus Stergiopoulos released Panopoulos who – with a heavy wind behind him – unleashed 30 yard pile-driver that Knight’s custodian Tomich could do nothing about.

Panopoulos’s goal was exactly what the Lakesiders needed, their confidence skyrocketed and soon they found themselves two up. A superb overlapping run by South wingback Sam Poutakidis saw the former Port Melbourne stalwart whip in a glorious low cross that evaded everyone except South legend Paul Trimboli who was on hand to slam into the roof of the net.

South had only just begun with their third following soon after, Con Boutsianis found himself with some space on the right, he whipped in a far post cross to Trimboli, Trimboli’s brilliant chest control enabled him to evade his man and with only Tomich to beat, the South legend calmly lifted the ball over Tomich to send South three ahead.

With South buzzing and playing the type of football that can only serve to fill its supporters with joy, a fourth before half time was almost inevitable. Nearing the end of the half Boutsianis again found some space, he unleashed a low yet powerful left-foot drive the Tomich failed to glove, the inspirational Vaughn Coveny was first on hand to clean up the scraps and tuck away his 7th of the season and more importantly, South’s fourth of the derby.

Munro’s men went in at half time to a thunderous applause from the many hundred South supporters who had made the trip to Sunshine. South put on a relentless first half display that took full advantage of the relatively inexperienced Knights’ line-up.

The second stanza saw South take a more relaxed approach, with the points firmly in the bag Munro’s men looked to avoid injury and if possible pinch a goal or two to add some further insult to a greatly outclassed Melbourne Knights.

All hope of a decent second half showing was virtually immediately eliminated after Knight’s creative midfielder Andy Vargas was shown the red card for an unnecessary nudge on a South player, it was Vargas’s second yellow of the evening and served to destroy the Knight’s spirit.

Coach Munro chose to take precausive measures with the substitution of the highly influential Michael Panopoulos and slightly later, Con Boutsianis, both players had received hard knocks to their legs and were substituted with the view of retaining their fitness for next week’s bumper encounter against Adelaide United.

The Knight’s only clear opening came when South defender Steve Laurie misplaced a pass in the backline, Knight’s forward Ante Pelikan pounced on the error and agonisingly sent his low vicious drive just wide of Galekovic’s upright.

Near the end South had a goal disallowed, captain Coveny was released down the right wing and did superbly well to keep his feet, the Kiwi international proceeded to raid in on Tomich’s goal and whipped a ball across the goal-face, Curcija was on hand to meet on the volley and tuck away, however, was deemed by the linesman to have strayed offside.

Substitute Scott Tunbridge, Coveny and Curcija again had shots well saved by Tomich, but the under-fire Curcija scored perhaps the night’s classiest goal. Having won a free kick about 20-25 yards out and with Con Boutsianis having been subbed off, Curcija stepped up to end his goal-scoring drought with a stunning free kick that curled gloriously over the Knight’s wall and dipped past Tomich’s left. The South striker ran to the South bench and leapt into the arms of Michael Panopoulos, every other player on the pitch proceeded to follow, it was a glorious moment which summed up the entire South performance, one not only of elegance and style, but of extreme camaraderie.

Friday, 14 November 2003 12:00 AM

Members are advised that the Annual General Meeting of the South Melbourne Soccer Club Ltd will be held on Sunday 7th December 2003 in the Function Room of the Albert by the Lake Reception Centre, Bob Jane Stadium, 25 Albert Road Drive, Albert Park, commencing at 3:30pm.

The agenda shall include the following:
1. Confirmation of minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting.
2. Finance Report and presentation of Audited accounts for the club.
a. This shall include consideration of the financial statements for the 12 months to the 30th June 2003. The detailed financials will be available for review on the day of the meeting or by appointment prior to the meeting.
3. Marketing Report
4. President’s Report
5. Election of Committee
6. Other Business

The meeting shall commence at 3:30pm sharp.

For all enquiries, please phone the club on 9645 9797.

Thursday, 13 November 2003 12:00 AM

By Michael Tsoukalis

This Sunday sees the recommencement of the local Melbourne derby. Stuart Munro’s men travel to Somers St to come up against perennial rivals the Melbourne Knights.

The Knights have been struggling this season and currently find themselves in 10th position. Last week saw Ian Dobson’s men put up a decent early showing against the Parramatta Power, however, the floodgates eventually opened and the Knights were well beaten by 4 goals to nil. Conversely South has had a solid start to the season but will be eager to atone for last week’s unfortunate 1 goal loss to the Perth Glory. A South victory would see the Lakesiders reclaim a top 4 birth.

Knight’s coach Ian Dobson – restricted by one of the tightest budgets in the NSL – has done a great job in moulding a side consisting of predominantly young players. Players such as Bill Natsioulas, Tom Razov, Serkan Oksuz, Isyan Erdogan and Adrian Leijer whilst largely unproven at NSL level should go on to have successful careers in the NSL. Western Australian goalkeeper Tommi Tomich is also expected to make his home debut, Tomich was one of the few shining lights in last weeks performance against the Power, Tomich comes equipped with a classical goalkeeping frame, decent height, and good shot stopping ability.

Ex-Carlton youth player Anthony Pelikan is a genuine danger-man, with 5 goals to his name so far this season, Pelikan is looking to establish himself as one of the NSL’s premier attacking players. The off-season saw Pelikan nearly secure a move to the Croatian first division; the move broke down at the last minute but thankfully for the Knights Pelikan has come back to Australia eager for a good season in order to press for Olympic selection and an eventual permanent overseas move.

The Vargas boys as always give the Knights both experience and sharpness, and the pacy Henry Fa’Arodo will need to be watched carefully as his explosive speed can surprise many NSL defensive lines.

On the other hand, South has named an unchanged squad from last week’s game against the Glory. Encouraging for the Albert-Park based club is the ever-increasing presence of Michael Panopoulos. In his past two encounters Panopoulos has slowly recovered much of his match fitness and is approaching decent form, his ability to pull the strings in the centre of the park is unmatched by most NSL centre-men, his influence along with the ever-present Vaughn Coveny – who not only provides many goals, but also a great option down the right flank – should hold South in decent stead.

Game: Melbourne Knights Vs South Melbourne
Date: Sunday 16 November 2003
Venue: Knights Stadium
Kickoff: 6.00pm

HEAD TO HEAD (Overall)
Played: 52
Knights wins: 13
Sth Melb wins: 23
Draws: 16

HEAD TO HEAD (at Melbourne)
Played: 21
Knights wins: 7
Sth Melb wins: 10
Draws: 4

Last Encounter:
Knights wins 1-0

LAST WEEK:
Knights lost 4-0 V Power
Sth Melb lost 1-0 V Perth

Position on Ladder:
10th V 5th

MELBOURNE KNIGHTS SQUAD: T Tomich (gk), S Zilic, R Vargas, A Kovacic, T Razov, I Erdogan, B Natsioulos, A Vargas, H Fa’Arodo, A Pelikan, N Waite, S Oksuz, N Sabljak, A Leijer, D Zilic (gk)

IN: Unchanged
OUT: Unchanged

SOUTH MELBOURNE SQUAD: E Galekovic (gk), M Panopoulos, A Kovacevic, M Stergiopoulos, M Curcija, C Boutsianis, S Tunbridge, V Coveny, S Poutakidis, C Recchia, S Laurie, P Trimboli, L Osman, M Lohy, M Theoklitos (gk),

IN: Unchanged
OUT: Unchanged

Tuesday, 11 November 2003 12:00 AM

Australian Socceroos Coach, Frank Farina will be a special guest for the South Melbourne versus Adelaide United President’s Function on Sunday the 23rd November. Farina will address the guests before taking his seat and watching the first historic clash between the oldest NSL Soccer Club and the newest NSL Soccer Club. The Socceroos Coach will have a special interest in the game with both Scott Tunbridge and Eugene Gelekovic in the Australian Olympic Squad.

The function begins at 6:00pm with the game kicking-off at 7:30pm. For all enquiries and bookings, please contact Mirella Venturato on (03) 9645 9797 or email: media@southmelbournesc.com.au

Sunday, 9 November 2003 12:00 AM

By Michael Tsoukalis

South Melbourne will once again come back from their latest trip to Western Australia with nothing to show for their spirited efforts. In quite warm conditions Stuart Munro’s men put on a brave performance that emphasised defensive assurance and bar a momentary lapse from defender Levent Osman, South would’ve escaped with at least a point.

The best defensive record in the NSL couldn’t prevent the Albert Park based club from conceding that painful solitary goal, the Lakesiders had appeared to have overcome the Glory barrage with the Western Australians struggling to break through the resolute South backline.

Gun recruit Michael Panopoulos sent a shiver through the Perth faithful after unleashing a curling strike from outside the box that unfortunately for the visiting South, just failed to swerve enough, eventually just shaving the outside of Jason Petkovic’s upright.

Panopoulos’ effort seemed to spark the Glory into life, a sublime through ball from former Sheffield United defender Shaun Murphy released the usually-rampant Damian Mori who uncharacteristically made a meal of the opportunity and hit his strike way wide.

Perth had further chances with an unmarked Bradley Hassell sending his header over Galekovic’s goalmouth when he should’ve done better. After the interval Bobby Despotovski was brilliantly denied by Galekovic who managed to get his boot onto the ex-Heidelberg United marksman’s strike when the Perth hit-man had a clear sight of goal.

The game’s solitary goal arrived when South striker Michael Curcija ill-directed a back pass from the centre of the park, ex-Sydney Olympic favourite Tommy Pondlejak pounced on the blunder and his attempted cross was unfortunately handled in the area by South Melbourne defender Levent Osman, referee Simon Micallef had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Perth Striker Bobby Despotovski stepped up and slotted home the 63rd minute winner.