South Melbourne once again were in control, as they notched up a third straight win of the season over Port Melbourne Sharks, to the tune of 2-0.
While their performance was no where near as ruthless as they had seen in previous weeks, they still enjoyed their fair share of opportunities, and were once again quite solid at the back.
The game – forgettable for the most part – will be remembered for the peach of a strike from Iqi Jawadi to open the scoring, before centre-half Luke Adams grabbed a goal from a corner.
Adams nearly had the opener after two minutes after a shallow cross from Jawadi was allowed to bounce in the box, where the defender was waiting at the far post to chest towards goal, but Stjepan Gal was alive to the danger and swept the ball off the line.
Jawadi then opened the scoring after just six minutes with a well-taken shot from range.
The midfielder wriggled past his Port Melbourne marker before freeing his feet for a pile-driver into the top left corner of Gal’s goal, for the first of the night.
Iqi Jawadi with an early contender for goal of the season with this absolute belter last night.Pick that one out!
Posted by South Melbourne FC on Friday, 4 March 2016
Milos Lujic flashed a shot wide of the post while Adams again was proving to be a nuisance in an attacking sense, crashing a shot into the hands of Alan Kearney, although a penalty was not paid.
Instead a corner was, which saw Adams drift free from the marking pack, finding a yard of space at the far post to side-foot home across the face of goals.
A great finish, and South had doubled their advantage.
South had another half shout for a penalty waved away early in the second half as Marcus Schroen – who had yet another good game in South colours – was bundled over on the left side of the box.
Former South forward David Stirton fired narrowly wide from Jamie de Abreu’s cut-back, while half-time substitute Adrian Zahra burst free on the left before sliding a shot across the face of goals.
South saw two great opportunities go to waste through Lujic and substitute Matthew Theodore, as Gal stepped up to make a one-on-one save off the former’s effort, while the latter bounced a half-volley narrowly wide of goals from Nick Epifano’s cross.
Brad Norton came close following some build-up play involving all of South’s regular suspects, while Theodore was forced to clear off the line at the other end from Shaun Kelly’s header.
A cross-cum-shot from Honos came agonisingly close to pulling one back for Port Melbourne as it left Roganovic for dead, grazing the crossbar on its way out.
Likewise, their skipper Kelly – on his return fixture – headed narrowly over the crossbar at the death.
South had one more chance to cap off the result through Epifano, but the winger was unable to finish from a one-on-one opportunity.
Norton and Adams made late clearances to seal a third successive clean-sheet and a maximum haul of nine points for South to start the season.
***
MATCH DETAILS
Port Melbourne 0 defeated by South Melbourne 2 (Jawadi 6′, Adams 24′) at JL Murphy Reserve [HT: 2-0]
Port Melbourne: 1. Stjepan Gal (GK), 26. Lambros Honos, Shaun Kelly (c), 7. Jamie de Abreu (17.Erhan Yalaz), 4. James Karvelis, 10. David Stirton, 22. Ryan Opperman (9. Adrian Zahra), 23. Jacob Eliopoulos, 6. Alan Mulcahy (12. Alec Goodwin), 16. Alan Kearney, 3. James Riccobene
Unused Substitute(s): 25. Michael Stark (GK)
Yellow Card(s): Riccobene, Kearney
Red Card(s): Nil
South Melbourne: 1. Nikola Roganovic (GK), 2. Tim Mala, 4. Michael Eagar (c), 5. Luke Adams, 11. Brad Norton, 23. Matthew Foschini (3. Kristian Konstantinidis), 99. Iqi Jawadi (8. Matthew Theodore), 18. Matthew Millar, 17. Marcus Schroen, 7. Nick Epifano, 9. Milos Lujic
Unused Substitute(s): 33. Zaim Zeneli (GK), 22. Andy Kecojevic, 27. Leigh Minopoulos
Yellow Card(s): Mala, Schroen
Red Card(s): Nil