Category: News

South Melbourne FC returned to winning ways with a 4-1 win over Melbourne Victory’s NPL side at AAMI Park on Sunday afternoon.

Milos Lujic got South off to a dream start on four minutes when he headed Matthew Millar’s back-post cross across Victory goalkeeper Lucas Spinella and into the goal. Victory were on level terms just eight minutes later though when Michael Holden found space down the left side before crossing low for captain John Maclean to score past Nikola Roganovic. The South custodian got a glove to the ball but was unable to keep it out of the net.

South continued their pressure in the second half and eventually got the all-important second goal on 72 minutes. Leigh Minopoulos had gone close to scoring three times in the opening half but he was not to be denied when he created space and hit a stinging goal-bound shot that deflected off Spinella and flew into the net.

The three points were wrapped up when Lujic’s header was parried by Spinella straight into the path of substitute Manolo and the Spaniard made no mistake in scoring South’s third goal. Lujic finished off the scoring on 90 minutes when he won and then converted a penalty, sending Spinella the wrong way from the penalty spot for South’s fourth and final goal of the afternoon.

The win keeps South in second place on the NPL Victoria ladder, five points behind the Bentleigh Greens with four home & away matches remaining.

The Under 20s match between the two sides was postponed and will be played at a later date to be advised by Football Federation Victoria.

South returns to Lakeside Stadium next weekend when it hosts Avondale FC, with kick-off at 4pm on Sunday 31 July.

FINAL SCORE: MELBOURNE VICTORY 1-4 SOUTH MELBOURNE (HT: 1-1)

Goal Scorers:
0-1: Milos Lujic (4′)
1-1: John Maclean (12′)
1-2: Leigh Minopoulos (72′)
1-3: Manuel Herrero (79′)
1-4: Milos Lujic (90’p)

Melbourne Victory FC (NPL):
1. Lucas SPINELLA (GK), 2. John VAKIRTZIS, 3. Callum GOULDING (13. Ryan LAMBERT 69′), 4. Ben CARRIGAN, 5. James XYDIAS, 7. Andre McNAMARA (16. Christian THEOHAROUS 50′), 8. Anthony DUZEL, 10. Cameron McGILP, 11. John MACLEAN (C), 12. Dion PAOLA (15. Josh HOPE 46′), 14. Michael HOLDEN.
Unused Subs: 9. Pierce WARING, 20. Brandon OSIPOV (GK).

South Melbourne FC:
1. Nikola ROGANOVIC (GK) / 12. Amadu KOROMA, 4. Michael EAGAR (C), 2. Tim MALA, 11. Brad NORTON / 23. Matthew FOSCHINI / 18. Matthew MILLAR (15. Manuel HERRERO 58′), 17. Marcus SCHROEN, 7. Nick EPIFANO / 9. Milos LUJIC, 27. Leigh MINOPOULOS (22. Andy KECOJEVIC 90′).
Unused Subs: 14. Chris IRWIN, 21. Zaim ZENELI (GK), 99. Iqi JAWADI.

SMFC Melbourne City Toyota Man of the Match: Matthew Foschini
Venue: AAMI Park, Melbourne
Date: Sunday 24 July 2016

South Melbourne FC confirms that this weekend’s Round 22 PS4 NPL Victoria match against Melbourne Victory’s NPL team will be played behind closed doors.

Football Federation Victoria made the decision to play this match behind closed doors and officially informed the Club this week. The match is closed for players, officials and media only.

We are very disappointed that our fans will not be allowed to support the team this weekend in the same positive manner that they have done all season.

For our fans not able to attend this game, SMFC will provide a live stream of the match for everyone to enjoy. Details of the stream can be found on all of our official social media channels over the next few days.

For all media enquiries, please contact Football Federation Victoria.

Male NPL Teams (U12-Seniors)

Seniors: SMFC 3-4 Oakleigh Cannons (Own Goal 23′, Minopoulos 30′, Lujic 72’p)
U20s: SMFC 3-1 Oakleigh Cannons (Hussainy 53′, 68′, 85′)
U18s: SMFC 2-3 Bentleigh Greens (Hawthorne, Crisp)
U16s: SMFC 1-0 Bentleigh Greens (Own Goal)
U15s: SMFC 3-1 Bentleigh Greens (Garrow x2, Di Sisto)
U14s: SMFC 5-1 Bentleigh Greens (Mitsonis x4, Abdou)
U13s: SMFC 5-4 Bentleigh Greens (Chong x2, Panakos x2, Polymenopoulos)
U12s: SMFC 2-3 Bentleigh Greens (Athanasakis, Durso)

Female State League Teams (U12-Seniors)

SL1 (Seniors): SMFC 4-2 Bundoora United (Greiser 32′, 70′, Alberici 55′, Martineau 84′)
SL1 (Reserves): SMFC 3-0 Bundoora United (Sotiropoulos, Mazzeo, Delorenzis)
SL2: SMFC 3-2 South Springvale (Goal Scorers TBC)
SL3: SMFC 0-2 Dandenong City
SL4: SMFC 1-3 Brighton Bobcats (Goal Scorer TBC)
U16s: SMFC 1-1 Peninsula Strikers (Goal Scorer TBC)
U14s: SMFC 4-0 Brighton Sharks (Goal Scorers TBC)
U12s: SMFC 4-0 Monash City (Goal Scorers TBC)

(Photo by Cindy Nitsos)

The Oakleigh Cannons continued their excellent recent form with a tough 4-3 win over a gallant ten-man South Melbourne FC at Jack Edwards Reserve on Sunday night.

Kristian Konstantinidis returned to the first team for the first time since suffering an injury against Avondale on 29 April. His comeback was only twelve minutes old before he was given his marching orders by referee Lucien Laverdure after bringing down Dean Piemonte as he was through on goal. The decision was correct, however it appeared that the linesman had missed an earlier offside call just prior to the red card. From the resulting free kick, former South junior Dusan Bosnjak hit a superb free kick over the wall and past Nikola Roganovic for the opening goal to continue his excellent 2016 season.

South fought back and were 2-1 ahead by the half hour mark. Nine minutes after Bosnjak’s goal, Milos Lujic pounced on a poor back-pass by Perry Lambropoulos and was cleaned up by Oakleigh captain and goalkeeper John Honos after trying to dribble the ball past him. As the fans were screaming for Honos to receive a red card and for Lujic to be awarded a penalty, the ball deflected off Steve Pantelidis and rolled into the empty net to draw South level.

On the half hour mark, Leigh Minopoulos intercepted another poor defensive pass – this time by Aron Wilford – and cooly slotted past the advancing Honos to give South the lead. The home side were back on level terms deep into first half injury time when another former South player Dimitri Hatzimouratis – who scored against South when the sides met earlier this season at Lakeside Stadium – got in between Roganovic and captain Michael Eagar to head Oakleigh and make the score 2-2 at the break.

Matthew Foschini had to be subbed at halftime after injuring himself late in the first half, meaning that South played the entirety of the second half with ten men and only two recognised defenders. Oakleigh looked to have finally taken advantage of this when two goals in three minutes saw them race to a 4-2 lead by 65 minutes. Bosnjak got on the end of a cut-back by Hatzimouratis to finish nicely past Roganovic on 62 minutes and then three minutes later substitute Sean Lovemore – who had only been on the field for five minutes –  weaved his way past several South players before making it 4-2 and seemingly game over.

South bravely fought back again and when Nick Epifano slipped the ball through for Lujic to go one-on-one with Honos, Pantelidis brought the big striker down as he went to shoot. South were furious that Pantelidis only received a caution in a situation that seemed a replica of the one that had seen Konstantinidis given his marching orders earlier in the game. Honos dived the wrong way as Lujic rolled the ball into the bottom right corner to give South a lifeline.

It wasn’t enough though and the Cannons recorded a 4-3 win in a very entertaining match for neutral observers. South are now five points behind first-placed Bentleigh and surely must now need to win all five of their remaining matches to have any chance of winning the Premier’s Plate. Of concern also is the fact that Heidelberg are now only two points behind South, with Oakleigh only four points behind.

In the Under 20s match played following the conclusion of the seniors, Nashir Hussainy scored a second half hat-trick as South Melbourne defeated Oakleigh 3-1.

There is no room for error now as South simply must defeat the Melbourne Victory NPL team in its next match to keep a distance from Heidelberg and Oakleigh and try to reduce the margin at the top of the table.

FINAL SCORE: OAKLEIGH CANNONS 4-3 SOUTH MELBOURNE (HT: 2-2)

Goal Scorers:
1-0: Dusan Bosnjak (14′)
1-1: Steve Pantelidis Own Goal (23′)
1-2: Leigh Minopoulos (30′)
2-2: Dimitri Hatzimouratis (45+2′)
3-2: Dusan Bosnjak (62′)
4-2: Sean Lovemore (65′)
4-3: Milos Lujic (72’p)

Oakleigh Cannons FC:
15. John HONOS (GK) (C), 4. Dominic D’ANGELO, 5. Aron WILFORD, 6. Ioannis GEORGOPOULOS (2. Adriano CHIAPPETTA 86′), 8. Dusan BOSNJAK, 10. Dean PIEMONTE, 11. Dimitri HATZIMOURATIS, 16. Anthony RIZK, 18. Steve PANTELIDIS, 19. Goran ZORIC, 26. Perry LAMBROPOULOS (7. Sean LOVEMORE 60′).
Unused Subs: 1. Evan KRALOGLOU (GK), 14. Konstantinos STRATOMITROS, 21. Abdalla OKUD.

South Melbourne FC:
1. Nikola ROGANOVIC (GK) / 3. Kristian KONSTANTINIDIS (sent off 12′), 4. Michael EAGAR (C), 23. Matthew FOSCHINI (99. Iqi JAWADI 46′), 12. Amadu KOROMA / 77. Stephen HATZIKOSTAS (14. Chris IRWIN 83′), 18. Matthew MILLAR / 27. Leigh MINOPOULOS, 17. Marcus SCHROEN, 7. Nick EPIFANO / 9. Milos LUJIC.

SMFC Melbourne City Toyota Man of the Match: Leigh Minopoulos
Venue: Jack Edwards Reserve
Date: Sunday 17 July 2016

South Melbourne FC will be looking to complete a 2016 league double over the Oakleigh Cannons when it travels to Jack Edwards Reserve on Sunday evening.

Chris Taylor’s side surrendered top spot on the PS4 NPL Victoria ladder last Friday night, with three late goals by Bentleigh seeing them defeat South 3-1 at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex. That result took Bentleigh two points ahead of South at the top of the league standings, with six matches remaining before the finals series.

Despite suffering its fourth league loss of the season, Taylor – who served a touchline ban against Bentleigh but will be back in the dugout on Sunday – will be strongly encouraged by the excellent performance of his team last Friday. South were by far the better team on the night despite playing nearly an hour with ten men and playing the match without the suspended pair Milos Lujic and Tim Mala.

Leigh Minopoulos was South’s man of the match against Bentleigh, scoring South’s goal and enjoying an excellent individual performance that will surely see him feature up front alongside the returning Lujic against the Cannons on Sunday. Tim Mala misses Sunday’s game as he serves the second of his two-game suspension, whilst Luke Adams misses the game as he serves a one-match ban for his red card against Bentleigh.

Co-coaches Peter Tsolakis and Con Tangalakis have overseen a strong season from Oakleigh so far, with the Cannons registering 11 wins, 4 draws and only 5 losses from their twenty league matches in 2016. Oakleigh are currently in sixth place on the ladder, a whopping nine points clear of the seventh-placed Melbourne Knights and only two points behind third-placed Heidelberg United. Sunday presents them an excellent opportunity to further consolidate their position in the top six and push for a top-three finish.

Oakleigh will go into the game in good form, having won their last two league matches. The key men to watch out for are Dusan Bosnjak and Dimitri Hatzimouratis, with both players having scored 15 and 12 goals respectively this season. Dean Piemonte has also chipped in with seven goals, giving Oakleigh some dangerous attacking options capable of punishing South if they are not careful.

SMFC and Oakleigh have played against each other every season since South returned to the State League in 2005. The two sides have also met each other twice in the Dockerty Cup (2013 and 2015), with South prevailing 3-0 both times. The 2015 meeting was in the Dockerty Cup final, which South won with a second-half double from Lujic and a further goal from Minopoulos.

Sunday’s match kicks off at 5:30pm at Jack Edwards Reserve. 

SMFC v Oakleigh Cannons – Head to Head (League & Finals)

Matches Played: 24
Wins (SMFC): 12
Wins (OCFC): 4
Draws: 8

First match: Oakleigh Cannons 0-1 SMFC (4 March 2005, Jack Edwards Reserve)
Last match: South Melbourne 4-1 Oakleigh Cannons (17 April 2016, Lakeside Stadium)

Biggest Winning Margin (SMFC): 3 goals (5-2 win, 27 July 2007, Lakeside Stadium)
Biggest Winning Margin (OCFC): 3 goals (3-0 win, 6 June 2014, Jack Edwards Reserve)

Most Goals in a Match (SMFC): 5 (5-2 win, 27 July 2007, Lakeside Stadium)
Most Goals in a Match (OCFC): 3 (3-0 win, 6 June 2014, Jack Edwards Reserve)

Biggest Finals Win (SMFC): None
Biggest Finals Win (OCFC): 1-0 (21 August 2011, Jack Edwards Reserve)

It was cold, wet and muddy at Fairfield Park on Sunday but didn’t dampen the spirits of the Senior Womens team even when they went down 2-0 inside 7 minutes to the Yarra Jets who we had beaten 12-2 just last week.

The girls hit back immediately and within sixty seconds they had recovered one goal as Sara Alberici launched a low strike from the edge of the area. Not long after Caitlin Gresier got into the action with another long range shot, this time from 25 yards out, which skidded across the mud into the net and more importantly delivered the equaliser.

If one goal in the first half wasn’t enough, Caitlin was back at it again putting South in front. She nutmegged the defender, with a style that would rival Nick Epifano, before delivering the goal from just outside the area. A small defensive lapse gave away a free kick on the edge of the area just minutes before the break and Yarra Jets capitalised drawing scores level once again at the end of the first half.

After the break, South would come out the more aggressive and were quickly rewarded. Goal scorers Sara and Caitlin would link up again, this time Sara serving as the play maker down the left, crossing and setting up Caitlin who made not mistake recording her hat-trick. Sara’s pace proved an advantage just five minutes later as she found herself in the books again hitting the net to deliver the final scoreline, a 3-5 victory.

After the match, smfc.com.au spoke with central defender Deryal Aziz who shared her thoughts on the match saying “the conditions were definitely a little difficult out there today. The pitch was really small, wet and muddy but we can’t use that as an excuse. We didn’t perform at our best today and really should have achieved more on the scoreboard to improve our goal difference, especially knowing how they played from the match last week.”

“We’ve lost a lot of players to injuries in the first half of the year, we’ve bought up a lot of players from State League 2 and the Reserves. We have all taken it upon ourselves to help develop those younger players, talking out on the pitch and encouraging them.”

“It’s been a while since we’ve had our best team on the park. Even when that line-up does make it on to the pitch, there is a lot of improvement for us all as individuals and as a team. As the weeks go on we’ll continue to work together, improving our skills and really looking at the mistakes we make during matches and learning from them.”

“Our backline today was very young and it was very different out there. I have played with those girls before but its been a while since we were together. We focused on just playing the way we would normally play. Dakota [Thyssen] had a great game out there today and I was really impressed with Alexia [Karatzikos] in goal, she did really well playing the full match.”

Lexi Anastassiou has recently joined the club and has made an immediate impact with her experience in the midfield. She was very comfortable on the ball with the pace of play and her touch provided a number of attacking opportunities out of the centre of the park. She reflected positively on the match telling smfc.com.au “we played really well toward the end and pushed the ball around a lot better. At the start it was a bit off as we haven’t played together that much, we were getting used to each other. Towards the end, everyone knocked the ball around well, we pushed forward a lot more which is what we were trying to do getting more players forward. The ball didn’t go into the back of the net that much but overall it was a good game.”

Coach Socrates Nicolaidis continues to be flexible with the line-up each week. Balancing injuries and player availability is the task of any coach however Nicolaidis is steadfast in his commitment to recognising young talent in the club and reward their efforts with opportunities at the top level. This second match against Yarra Jets was another fixture for some variety, especially with the opposition forfeiting the Reserves fixture. Giulia Mazzeo stepped up making her Senior debut and rested Seniors, Captain Alex Cheal and Shannon Foden, elected to maintain some match fitness and share their experience with younger squad dropping down to play a match with the State League 2 team.

The girls maintain their position on top of the State League 1 North West ladder, 3 points clear of Melbourne University. On Sunday they host Bundoora United at Albert Park, kick off 3:00pm.

Match Photos: Greg Oddo

Rain failed to dampen spirits: it’s one of the great clichés of journalism, but in the case of our under-14 girls at the Kanga Cup it was absolutely true.

A squad of 16 – and an entourage of 18 siblings, parents and grandparents – travelled to Canberra for what is billed as the largest soccer tournament in the southern hemisphere. With 378 teams competing – including a couple from South Korea and a handful from New Zealand – that may well be true, but a more accurate tagline might have been “the wettest soccer tournament in either hemisphere”. Or maybe even “the only water polo tournament played on grass” – except that it was mostly played on mud.

And to think it all started so gloriously, with a sun-drenched opening ceremony in the Floriade on Sunday afternoon.

After a seven-kilometre warm-up walk (a deliberate strategy on the part of a couple of canny parents, though some wags suggested an inability to read Google maps may have played its part), the South Melbourne Under 14 girls’ team proudly strutted their stuff on stage, deftly dodging a couple of giant dancing kangaroos. They looked magnificent in their matching blue parkas (the girls, that is, not the roos).

The real action kicked off bright and early on Monday. A heavy shroud of mist hung over the playing fields in Waniassa as they arrived at 7.45am. By kick-off at 8.30, the temperature was still a chilly 2.5 degrees, while the players were mere smudges against the green and brown of the field. It probably didn’t help that the grass was nearly long enough to hide a horse in.

They got off to a roaring start, beating a strong North Shore Mariners – a feeder club for A-League team Central Coast Mariners – 4-2. A stunning goal to Elwen from a 25-metre free kick was a highlight, but what really impressed was the girls’ resilience against a team that had it all over them in terms of height, strength and experience against tough opposition.

Backing that up with a second game on the same day was always going to be a big ask, but the girls dug in, grinding out a tough 0-0 draw against eventual champions Football Mid North Coast, a team of Amazonians who appeared to have wandered in from the land of the giants. The sight of wee Hazel battling it out with girls literally twice her size was truly inspirational.

On Tuesday, the rain fell in earnest. A different field, another 8.30am kick-off, and this time the conditions played havoc with our girls. Despite having the better of the game, a couple of lapses of concentration and a very slippery ball led to a narrow 4-3 defeat to local outfit Woden Valley.

By Wednesday, the competition was in chaos as the rain turned pitches that had been wet to start with into quagmires. Venues were being scratched, games relocated, fixture lists torn up and started again. Our girls, though, remained blissfully unaware of all this; for them, the mud was simply an opportunity to have fun.
And did they ever. They demolished their Wednesday morning opponents Majura 6-0, and played some of their best football of the tournament despite the conditions. Their version of tiki-taka sometimes turned into sticky-stacka as the ball became bogged and players slid over trying to unbog it, but the girls thought it was a hoot, and played with flair and joy. Rumour has it there was even a mass celebratory mudslide at the end of the game, but sources close to the team declined to comment on that one …

They were riding high now, with only two more group games scheduled – against the lowest-placed teams in the comp – and a berth in the semi-final on Thursday afternoon assured. And then came news that the tournament was effectively over.

Too much rain, too much mud, too many games still to play, too few pitches to play them on. The top two in our group would play in the final, we were told, though they were only top because they had not yet faced each other (we had beaten one of them and drawn with the other; in all likelihood, we would finish second if all fixtures were played).

Word arrived at dinner time, via a garbled message. In a rage, The Team Manager announced she was going to storm Kanga Cup HQ, and was taking the Assistant Team Manager with her. The Journalist and the Lawyer thought this sounded like way too much fun not to tag along.
An hour later, our girls were in a hastily arranged semi-final the next day. Sadly, they lost 5-3, to the team they had beaten 4-2 in that opening game. It was a pulsating affair, fast, furious, end-to-end stuff. Remarkably, as in the first game, the opposition team was given, and converted, a penalty. Even more remarkably, Elwen again scored from a long-range free kick. No one was more surprised than she.

Officially that was the end of the girls’ tournament. But barely had they begun to scrape the mud off their boots when another message arrived – South Melbourne had won a Fair Play Award. So off we headed to the Australian Institute of Sport for a ceremony conducted in much the same style as the tournament at large – well-intentioned but shambolic.

Trophy in hand, the pack found a pizza parlour for a late dinner, and treated the proprietor to a rousing rendition of the team song. So much did he love the chorus of “we’re gonna smash them, bash them, we’re gonna crash them” (the Kanga Cup folk clearly hadn’t heard that when they voted), he offered free dessert pizzas to the girls. Consummate professionals that they are, they asked for double serves.
That should have been it, but there was still one last game to play. Possibly the most important game of all.
On Friday, eight of the girls and nine of their entourage were back at the AIS for a guided tour. When it was over, they made their way to the synthetic turf soccer pitch, just for a look. Spontaneously, bags and coats were dropped on the halfway line as goals, and a game was on. Kids versus not-kids – the oldest of the latter group being 80-year-old Edna.

It was another pulsating affair, for those able to find a pulse. The kids barely broke a sweat but the adults were still dripping 20 minutes after the final whistle.

The score was 4-3 to the youngsters, but everyone agreed that anti-inflammatories were the real winner on the day. A rematch beckons, just as soon as the oldies get their breath back.

Congratulations, girls, on a wonderful tournament and a brilliant experience. You did yourselves, your families and your club very proud indeed.

Male NPL Teams (U12-Seniors)

Seniors: SMFC 1-3 Bentleigh Greens (Minopoulos 27′)
U20s: SMFC 0-0 Bentleigh Greens
U18s: SMFC v Northcote City – Postponed
U16s: SMFC v Northcote City – Postponed
U15s: SMFC v Northcote City – Postponed
U14s: SMFC v Northcote City – Postponed
U13s: SMFC v Northcote City – Postponed
U12s: SMFC v Northcote City – Postponed

Female State League Teams (U12-Seniors)

SL1 (Seniors): SMFC 5-3 Yarra Jets (Alberici 9′, 58′, Greiser 17′, 23′, 53′)
SL1 (Reserves): SMFC 3-0 Yarra Jets (Forfeit win to SMFC)
SL2: SMFC 2-0 Mooroolbark (Stoic, Sinclair)
SL3: SMFC 5-0 Kingston City (Van Den Bulk x3, Moloney x2)
SL4: SMFC 1-1 Glen Eira Sirens (Vrljic)
U16s: No game
U14s: SMFC 12-0 Keilor Park (Stringfellow x6, Louloudis x4, Nickolaus, Wicks)
U12s: No game

Bentleigh overtook South on top of the 2016 Ps4 NPL Victoria ladder with a late 3-1 win at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex on Friday night.

South went into the game without right-back Tim Mala (sent off against Hume), centre-forward Milos Lujic (fifth yellow card against Hume) and coach Chris Taylor (sent from the touchlines against Hume). Leigh Minopoulos and Manuel Herrero both started up front as South went for a more attacking line-up against Bentleigh.

Minopoulos justified his place in the starting eleven just short of the half hour mark when he bundled the ball across the line following an excellent cross from Marcus Schroen. South went down to ten men just before the halftime break when centre-half Luke Adams was given a straight red card as last defender, having fouled Chris Lucas as the striker went through on goal.

The away side continued to play well in the second half, even with the disadvantage of one less player. Things seemed to swing back into South’s favour when Bentleigh substitute Kamal Ibrahim – who had only been on the field for a short amount of time – was given a straight red card for an apparent elbow on Matthew Millar. Minopoulos put substitute Chris Irwin through on goal with a brilliant flick but Bentleigh goalkeeper Ryan Scott made a vital save to prevent his team going 2-0 down.

The save proved crucial as Bentleigh scored all their goals late in the game to secure the three points and undo the fantastic work of the South players, who played for over an hour with ten men. Jack Webster levelled the scores with a header on 79 minutes, before Lucas played through substitute Matthew Thurtell to finish past Nikola Roganovic and put the Greens ahead. With South pushing forward in search of an equalising goal, Tyson Holmes scored in the fifth minute of injury time to seal the result.

Bentleigh currently lead South on the NPL Victoria ladder by two points. Both clubs have six matches remaining before the finals series, with 18 points up for grabs and with it the Premier’s Plate.

In the Under 20s, Bentleigh and SMFC drew 0-0.

South travels to Jack Edwards Reserve next Sunday 17 July to play the Oakleigh Cannons, with kick-off at 5:30pm.

FINAL SCORE: BENTLEIGH GREENS 3-1 SOUTH MELBOURNE (HT: 0-1)

Goal Scorers:
0-1: Leigh Minopoulos (27′)
1-1: Jack Webster (79′)
2-1: Matthew Thurtell (86′)
3-1: Tyson Holmes (90+5′)

Bentleigh Greens FC:
1. Ryan SCOTT (GK), 5. Jack WEBSTER, 8. Wayne WALLACE (C) (6. Liam McCORMICK 74′), 9. Chris LUCAS, 10. Tyson HOLMES, 11. Dion KIRK, 12. Joshua BRINDELL-SOUTH (18. Matthew THURTELL 74′), 16. Troy RUTHVEN, 22. Ryan PACZKOWSKI (14. Kamal IBRAHIM 55′ [sent off 59′]), 24. Luke PILKINGTON, 26. Lambros HONOS.
Unused Subs: 2. Nick APOSTOLOPOULOS, 21. Kile KENNEDY (GK).

South Melbourne FC:
1. Nikola ROGANOVIC (GK) / 12. Amadu KOROMA (8. Mathew THEODORE 74′), 4. Michael EAGAR, 5. Luke ADAMS (sent off 41′), 11. Brad NORTON / 23. Matthew FOSCHINI / 17. Marcus SCHROEN, 18. Matthew MILLAR, 7. Nick EPIFANO / 27. Leigh MINOPOULOS (22. Andy KECOJEVIC 84′), 15. Manuel HERRERO (14. Chris IRWIN 56′).
Unused Subs: 21. Zaim ZENELI (GK), 77. Stephen HATZIKOSTAS.

SMFC Melbourne City Toyota Man of the Match: Leigh Minopoulos
Venue: Kingston Heath Soccer Complex
Date: Friday 8 July 2016