By Skip Fulton
The South Melbourne Under 20s were on a run of five consecutive wins however that run came to an end with a tough match on Sunday afternoon at Lakeside Stadium. A close physical encounter would see Northcote City prevail with a single goal to Salih Sefil.
The match-up was billed to be an interesting challenge for both teams since their last fixture in late July when South Melbourne won 1:4 at John Cain Memorial Park. After a challenging start to the season, South Melbourne sit in sixth on the NPL U20 ladder without prospects of that changing. Therefore the focus is on maintaining the undefeated run and ending the season on a positive front.
For Northcote however it is a different story. The City boys are right in the mix for title contention with Green Gully, Oakleigh Cannons and the Melbourne Knights. It is a four-way tussle and the loss to South Melbourne a few weeks back put a big dent in what was a commanding position for Northcote. Having to win their last four matches and hope Oakleigh drop points to South Melbourne in two weeks, changes were made to reverse the fortunes from their last South fixture.
Northcote City bought in eight new faces compared to the last encounter. There were six changes to the starting line-up including the introduction of one over-age player, rarely seen in the NPL U20s this year. South Melbourne coach Sasa Kolman made just two changes from last weeks win over Dandenong Thunder with Peter Constantinou and Juan Igic returning to the line-up for Sam Kagioglou and Eric Hauser.
Northcote started the more positively of the two teams controlling possession and play in the midfield. In the opening fifteen minutes both teams had opportunities on goal but were without success. Nick Bavcar was in form for Northcote City and South Melbourne struggled at times to find space and flow around the ground. Half time came and with no goals being scored, the home team was in for a battle.
Northcote would continue where it left off however the break did South well and movement down the flanks started to become more consistent. Northcote hit the woodwork in the fifty nineth minute and then in the sixty eighth minute Salih Sefil scored with a strong strike into the back of the net.
South Melbourne stepped up the pace and started to find the space the team desperately needed to maximise its speed. The Northcote back line closed ranks and formed an impenetrable barrier South couldn’t break through. South Melbourne being defeated by Northcote City 0:1.
After the match, smfc.com.au spoke with coach Sasa Kolman who reflected on the match saying “Good game. It was similar to the Melbourne Knigths game, so we were playing against big boys, strong boys. I am pretty sure they dropped some of the senior players down but that doesn’t matter. When you consider that we have a team of sixteen and seventeen year old kids and they actually put up a really good fight against this team and had chances to score too, I’m happy. All the credit to the boys, a good fight.”
Striker Stefan Valentini also spoke to smfc.com.au on the match saying “Northcote came out strong and they came hard. They wanted to prove a point from when we beat them 4:1 in the first game. We went hard but they got their goal. They took their chance we didn’t take our chances. We’ve scored twenty goals in five matches and only conceded one. We score but today it just didn’t work us. We had big opportunities but we didn’t put them away. That’s football, that’s what happens.”
South Melbourne have a week off before meeting effective ladder leaders Oakleigh Cannons at Albert Park on Sunday 7th September. South can avenge their loss to Oakleigh in the middle of the year whilst an Oakleigh win will all but secure the NPL U20 title.
FINAL SCORE: SOUTH MELBOURNE 0-1 NORTHCOTE CITY (HT: 0-0)
Match Photos: http://on.fb.me/1vC7Jmx
Goal Scorers:
0-1 Salih Sefil (69’)
South Melbourne FC:
Jason Giccominato (GK), Ioannis Avramidis, Jordan Moncrieff, Peter Constantinou, Dion Paola, Juan Igic, Stefan Zinni, Ryan Babare, Tim Kakoliris (Angel Taravillo 83’), Joshua Markovski (Spiros Stamoulis ‘72), Stefan Valentini.
Northcote City:
Luke Gavalas (GK), Steve Sifinos, Nick Bavcar, Jacob Eliopoulos, Nasr Said, Josh Hiles, Phil Vaiopoulos, Aminta Makalovski, Salih Sefil (Sam Beninato 88’), Michael Sdregas (Ziyad Markous 62’), Arron Handakis
SMFC Man of the Match: Ioannis Avramidis
Venue: Lakeside Stadium
Date: Sunday 24 August 2014