South Melbourne go Green

South Melbourne (5th) traveled to Green Gully (8th) on Saturday afternoon to be defeated 3-2 for what was a cold and wet Melbourne winter encounter.

South were coming off a 5-0 thumping from Northcote City last week and regained top class defender Ljubo Milicevic along with marksman Jessie Krncevic for the vital mid table six pointer.

The decent size crowd at Green Gully reserve didn't have to wait long to see their team take the lead with Andy Vargas heading home after only four minutes.

In what was a franectic paced game South quickly hit back when Joryeff was crudely brought down inside the area by Gully 'keeper Roganovic. Strangely no card was given.

Fernando De Moraes stepped up and comfortably tucked the penalty away to level the scores 10 minutes in.

The remainder of the first half, whilst still played at high pace, was an arm wrestle in the midfield with few clean goal scoring opportunities and no team showing a clear dominance. The scores were locked at 1-1 and the heavens looked as though they were about to open at any moment.

The second half started much the same as the first with Green Gully attacking down the flanks at every opportunity. On 52' a cross from Vargas was not dealt with by South 'keeper Deroune and after a scramble the ball was slotted home by Medjedovic to give the Gully a 2-1 lead. In a mirror image of the first half South were awarded a second penalty five minutes after Green Gully had scored. Again it was Joryeff that was bought down and again Fernando De Moraes stepped up and tucked the ball into the net comfortably to level the scores.

Ex-Melbourne Victory title winner and North Queensland player Simon Storey came on as a substitute not long after and played a steady hand in defending the many South Melbourne attacking forays.

Green Gully coach Lapsansky brought Sanders on in the 75th minute and he quickly made his coach look like Sir Alex when he scored the eventual winner three minutes later.

South were desperately unlucky to not equalise again shortly after when Krncevic, who is surely A-League or Europe bound soon, smashed the crossbar from 20 meters out, the follow up brilliantly saved by Roganovic.

Ljubo Milicevic again showed why he is as loved as he is disliked playing up to the Green Gully players as well as to a small band of Green Gully supporters.

Even though South Melbourne have conceded eight goals in the last two games today they were well lead at the back by former football superstar competitor Steven Topalovic, who is another who must be on the radar of a few A-League clubs.

Final Score:

Green Gully 3

Vargas 4' Medjedovic 53' Sanders 77'

South Melbourne 2

De Moraes 11' (PEN) 58' (PEN)

Green Gully:
1. Nikola ROGANOVIC, 2. Daniel JONES, 4. Cameron DRAKE, 7. Jeffrey FLEMING, 8. Jason HAYNE, 9. Brent FISHER, 10. Graham HOCKLESS, 15. Hamid BASMA, 16. Mile MEDJEDOVIC, 17. Andy VARGAS, 19. Johnathon MUNOZ.
Substitutes: 23. Michael O'FARRELL, 6. Michael ANDERSON, 11. Pasquale VIZZARI, 12. Mathew SANDERS, 14. Simon STOREY.

South Melbourne:
1. Abdelhadi DEROUNE, 33. Bobby RUSSELL, 18. Marinos GASPARIS, 15. Fernando DE MORAES, 13. Ljubo MILICEVIC, 6. Steven TOPALOVIC, 5. Daniel VASILEVSKI, 4. Steven O'DOR, 3. Rhodri PAYNE, 11. Jesse KRNCEVIC, 25. Kyle JORYEFF.
Substitutes: 17. Jake VANDERMAY, 23. Sebastian PETROVIC, 21. Zaim ZENELLI, 14. Kamal IBRAHIM, 16. Trent WATERSON.