Wednesday, 25 September 2002 12:00 AM
Two goals either side of the break saw South Melbourne go down to Newcastle in the 2002/2003 season opener at Newcastle last Friday night.
In the last two encounters away to Newcastle, South Melbourne has played out two draws, and with Newcastle’s 3rd place finish last season, coach Danny Wright was justified in saying, in the lead up to the match, that the road trip two Newcastle would be one of the toughest this season.
Newcastle’s two goals came from corners, in the 43rd and 47th minutes, from Griffiths and Baillie respectively. Danny Wright was obviously disappointed with the result but was more upset in the manner in which the two goals were conceded.
“The two goals, two minutes either side of the break, shows a lack of concentration. We need to be disciplined for the full 90 minutes not just 85 minutes”.
“In general play we more than matched Newcastle and the longer the game went scoreless we began to take control in the midfield”.
“Going two goals down in the space of 4minutes from two corner kicks put us on the back foot and never really recovered”, says the South Melbourne coach.
South Melbourne has the Bye this weekend but the Lakeside Oval will be opened on Sunday as the Club holds a Family Day at Bob Jane Stadium on Sunday, 29 October 2002 beginning at 1.00PM.
Round 1 – SOUTH MELBOURNE SQUAD
1 Dean Anastasiadis (gk)
2 Steve Iosifidis
3 Fausto De Amicis
4 Mehmet Durakovic
5 Robert Liparoti
6 David Clarkson (-62′)
8 Vaughan Coveny
9 Paul Trimboli
12 Radomir Sekulovski (-62′)
16 Massimo Murdocca
19 Patrick Kisnorbo
13 Vince Lia (+62′)
15 Nick Tolios
17 Michael Baird (+62′)
23 Eugen Galekovic (gk)