South Melbourne's stand-in captain, Steven O'Dor, celebrates with Joseph Youssef. Image courtesy: Cindy Nitsos
By Kristian Silva
A South Melbourne win has concluded the VPL "catch-up round", with the home side ending a three-game losing streak with a 3-1 win against Altona Magic at John Cain Memorial Park.
James Stefanou’s own goal gave Altona the lead after 34 minutes, but Steven O’Dor struck twice in the space of four minutes to put South Melbourne ahead. Kyle Joryeff rounded out the rescheduled round 12 fixture with a cleverly taken free kick in the closing stages.
Games with the Magic generally contain plenty of goals. In fact, they are the highest scoring team in the VPL this season. However, they have also conceded the most goals.
Koce Delev had a penalty claim for handball turned down after just five minutes, when his shot from inside the box cannoned into Steven O’Dor.
Minutes later, John Thornley was through on goal but veteran keeper Peter Zois rushed off his line to deny Thornley from close range.
Goran Talevski was having a solid game for the visitors, and was causing problems on the left hand side for South Melbourne with his dribbling skills.
South Melbourne strung some nice passes together, but couldn’t apply the finishing touches to their moves – Hamid Basma and Daniel Vasilevski the main culprits.
Mathew Theodore was given too much space on the ball, and he cut in from the right and unleashed a powerful shot from 20 yards out which struck Stefanou and went into the net. It was a lucky goal, but given Altona’s dominance it was deserved.
But just before the half time break, South Melbourne had the equaliser that would swing the momentum in their favour.
Andrew Sfetcopoulos punched a South corner clear, but it only went as far as Joe Keenan who was waiting at the edge of the box. The former Melbourne Victory player smashed a volley back towards the target, with Steven O’Dor claiming the goal after getting a touch before the ball crossed the line.
Standing in as captain for the suspended Rama Tavsancioglu, O’Dor’s afternoon would get even better in the 49th minute when he headed home a perfectly flighted free kick from Vasilevski.
Basma should have added a third before the hour mark, after Kyle Joryeff set up a glorious chance with a penetrating through-ball. Basma’s lack of confidence couldn’t have been more evident, as the striker took far too long to shoot after he rounded the keeper. With bodies flying everywhere, Basma eventually did get a shot off but it was well blocked by the Altona defence.
South continued to pile on the pressure – Vasilevski’s long-range effort was parried away and Basma fired over from a narrow angle.
Altona was struggling to recapture their form of the first half, and despite the efforts of their hard-working skipper Pece Sivevski, they were unable to get things going.
South Melbourne coach Vaughan Coveny brought on Jason Riccuiti for the final 20 minutes, and if the young forward was feeling any nerves in his first appearance for the season, he certainly didn’t show it.
Riccuiti forced Sfetcopoulos into a good low save at the near post after breaking through on the left wing.
Then, he combined brilliantly with Carl Recchia to split the Magic’s defence open, with the latter hitting the post as he was being dragged back by an Altona defender.
As there was no advantage to South Melbourne for the foul on Recchia, the referee called the play back and gave a free kick on the edge of the area. Joryeff took it quickly and caught the Magic’s defence napping, giving the home side a 3-1 lead.
Substitute Mario Gasparis had an opportunity to get his third goal of the season in stoppage time, but he headed Joryeff’s cross over the bar.
The result sees South climb up the table to eighth position. A win next Sunday against Heidelberg at Olympic Village will put them in the hunt for the finals, which shows just how close the Victorian Premier League is this season.
“We’ve got the personnel to win the VPL and we won’t take anything but finals,” Steven O’Dor said.
“The VPL’s that sort of competition where you’ve just got to fight, scrap and there’s a lot of desperation at times. Keeping clean sheets is probably our priority at the moment.
“Everyone’s a leader out there, it takes 11 leaders to get results and you can’t have any passengers in the team.”
Altona’s amazing fall from grace continues, with the 2009 Premiers remaining in last position on the ladder and four points from safety. With six rounds to go, they face Dandenong Thunder next Saturday in a must-win clash.
South Melbourne: Peter ZOIS (Gk), Rhodri PAYNE, Steven O’DOR, James STEFANOU, Daniel VASILEVSKI (Marino GASPARIS 85’), Carl RECCHIA, Gianni DE NITTIS (Sebastian PETROVIC 75’), Joe KEENAN, Joseph YOUSEFF, Kyle JORYEFF, Hamid BASMA (Jason RICCIUTI 70’).
Unused Subs: Stefaan SARDELIC (Gk), Eddie CETKIN.
Goals: O’DOR (45’, 49’), JORYEFF (83’).
Yellow Cards: JORYEFF.
Altona Magic: Andrew SFETCOPOULOS (Gk), Doug MLADENOVIC (Dejan RADOJICIC 71’), Kole DELEV (Aleksander KOLTOVSKI 85’), Koce DELEV, Pece SIVEVSKI, Mathew THEODORE, Pece CERGOVSKI, James DUVCEVSKI, John THORNLEY, Slave BOZINOVSKI, Goran TALEVSKI (George PAPADOPOULOS 60’).
Unused Subs: Nenad KUKIC (Gk), Jose VASQUEZ.
Goals: STEFANOU (34’) – Own Goal.
Yellow Cards: BOZINOVSKI.
Last updated: Monday July 5, 2010 12:08PM
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