Hume City's goal scorer, Richard Cardozo, wins the header against South Melbourne's Steve O'Dor. Image courtesy: John Punshon
By John Kyrou
A late Carl Recchia header ensured a 2-2 draw at John Cain Memorial Park between South Melbourne and Hume City in their round 19 clash on Sunday afternoon.
Hume remain in second spot and South remains six points clear of the relegation zone, whilst at the same time creeping to within four points of a finals position.
Hume City started the match strongly, and forward Richard Cardozo had a few early chances to open the scoring. However it was the home side that scored first, when Joe Keenan got past his marker on the left side and from just inside the area fired a wonderful shot across Lou Acevski and into the far top corner of the goal.
The away side were level before halftime following a goalmouth scramble. Despite Peter Zois making a point blank save during the scramble, the ball fell kindly for Cardozo to tap home. Hume City ould have even had the lead going into the break but hit the post instead of the back of the net.
The second half began like the first half as Hume looked the more likely to score; however it was Zois who again thwarted their chances.
Hume did eventually score with just under twenty minutes to go, when another scramble ended with Cardozo tucking the ball away for his second of the afternoon.
South pressed forward looking for an equaliser and was fortunate not to go further behind as Zoran Petrevski had two opportunities cleared off the goal line. The attacking initiative by South was ultimately rewarded five minutes from the end of the match when Recchia used his head to direct a Daniel Vasilevski shot into the goal at the back post.
South could have stolen all the three points right at the death, but former player and South legend Tansel Baser got his body in the way and blocked a stinging shot from Vasilevski that looked goal-bound.
The final whistle signalled the end of a hard-fought game between both sides that probably both deserved a point for their efforts.
Hume is on the road again next week when they travel to Paisley Park to face Altona Magic on Saturday night. On the Sunday afternoon, South faces another huge test against League-leaders Richmond Eagles at John Cain Memorial Park.
Final Score: South Melbourne 2-2 Hume City (Ht: 1-1)
South Melbourne: Peter Zois, Steven O’Dor, Daniel Vasilevski, Eddie Cetkin, Joe Keenan (Sebastian Petrovic 74’), Carl Recchia (Marcus Schroen 90’), Gianni De Nittis, Rama Tavsancioglu, Fernando De Moraes, Marinos Gasparis (Jason Ricciuti 76’), James Stefanou
(Scorers: Joe Keenan 30’, Carl Recchia 85’)
Hume City: Lou Acevski, Fabio Dilizia, Serdar Pir, Isiyan Erdogan, Alfonso Opazo (Turhan Sumbul (66’), Richard Cardozo, Zoran Petrevski, Tansel Baser, Dusko Delic (Ross Thompson 58’), Michael Bosevski, Phillip Riccobene (Brendan Beni 82’)
(Scorer: Richard Cardozo 42’, 71’)
Last updated: Monday July 26, 2010 5:33PM
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