South Melbourne’s strange season continues to twist and turn in unpredictable ways. There was the excellent start to the season – six wins and two draws from the first nine games, with more than two goals per game.
Then there was the disaster in Hume: two players sent off early, and five goals conceded. And since Hume – 2 wins, a draw and 3 defeats in the VPL, including another 5-0 defeat at Northcote. Then there’s the amazing 14-0 win against Yarraville in the Mirabella Cup, balanced out by the depressing 2-1 defeat last week against State League side Port Melbourne. Against these wild fluctuations in form there was the brief stay of human headline Ljubo Milicevic, who showed the difference between a top A-League player and a state league player.
Whilst operating in central defence and midfield rolls, he managed to score a couple of goals, and pick up a red card. Some have pointed to Ljubo’s presence as the reason for the change in form – but a look at the form book shows that he was present during the second half of that great start, and had left prior to the disappointment at Port Melbourne. Others have been critical of the coaching of Eddie Krncevic – just a few weeks ago being talked up by (then) Melbourne Heart board-member Joe Mirabella as the next Ange Postecoglou, and now suddenly being accused by some of lacking man-management skills and tactical awareness.
Yet it was Eddie who got the season off to such a flying start, and it is Eddie that has the club sitting third in the league, still only five points behind the leaders. The season continued on it’s strange path at the weekend, with the club headed over for another adventure in Singapore. Last year’s participation in the Singapore Cup earned the club many friends in Asia and an invite to come back, which they were happy to accept.
South were keen to match last year’s effort, which saw the club reach the quarter finals. But there was to be no repeat in 2011 as they came up against Albirez Niigata Singapore FC, a Japanese side based in Singapore. Niigata played a typical Japanese style – fast, flowing football with lots of skill and pace and came out easy winners by a 3-0 margin. Early on it looked like South’s greater physical qualities might be enough to knock the Japanese side over, but the longer the game went on, the more the skill and conditioning came into effect. They scored their first in the 15th minute, against the run of play, catching the South defence out with an easy ball into the box which no one challenged, to allow Ihata to head home from close range, and from that point on they controlled possession, passing neatly around whilst only occasionally showing the ambition to come forward for more goals. One such break forward leading to a brilliant stop by Zaim Zeneli in the South goal.
South tried to impose themselves more in the second half, but it was the Japanese who came forward with greater threat – Zeneli again saving excellently from Sakurada. There was a brief spell in the half during which South looked to get back into the game – Kyle Joryeff forcing the keeper to tip the ball around the post, and Jesse Krncevic hitting the bar from the following corner kick.
However it was met by Niigata immediately stepping up a gear, racing to the other end of the field and scoring twice in the space of a few minutes. Eddie Krncevic commented after the game that he felt it wasn’t a 3-0 game, and that the result was harsh on his team who battled hard throughout and had a few chances of their own, But observers noted that South’s best player on the night was probably keeper Zaim Zeneli, and that had he not been on form the result could have been harsher. South will be back in Australia at the weekend for a blockbuster top of the table derby with Oakleigh Cannons, hoping to get back to the early season form that saw them win at Oakleigh in round 5.
