South Melbourne and Hume City couldn’t separated last night on the scoresheet nor by the referee as tempers flared in an important top four clash, leaving the door open for Green Gully to gain some ground on them with a 1-0 win over Port Melbourne.
At Lakeside, both sides finished 2-2 in a night that ended up more costly for South Melbourne off the pitch.
Kristian Trajceski continued both his own – and his side’s – blistering form with a top effort to gain the lead just after half an hour.
With Hume looking the goods, and South often hampered this season by criticisms of being unable to rise for the big occasion, they scored a crucial goal before the break via Milos Lujic from the penalty spot for a handball.
The call only increased tension throughout the contest, with Lou Acevski and the Hume camp livid by the call that changed the complexion of the game going into the break.
Matters got worse late in the contest for the visitors with just over 10 minutes to go when new man Manolo combined well with Lujic to assist the striker for his second goal.
However, that’s as good as it got for South as they switched off after the restart; Theo Markelis squared the ledger almost immediately.
The scuffles continued to ensue and led to brawls as Tim Mala ended receiving a red in amongst the action.
Chris Taylor and Hume assistant Zoran Markovski were also sent to the stands in the match for their remonstrations.
While South Melbourne had chances for a late winner, including Marcus Schroen hitting the woodwork, it would prove two points and two players lost, with both Mala and Lujic – who picked up his fifth card for the season – to miss next week’s top-of-the-table blockbuster with Bentleigh Greens due to suspension.
At JL Murphy Reserve, Port’s miserable form post the mid-season window continued, losing 1-0 to Green Gully, who continue their good form on the road.
Liam Boland smashed in the opener on 10 minutes, but the final scoreline didn’t indicate the true narrative of the contest, as Gully had numerous chances to extend the lead.
It was Boland who had a few more opportunities that just didn’t end up in the back of the net.
Lambadaridis, Davies and Boland also all had opportunities to add to the scoreboard in the second half, while Jamie de Abreu also posed a threat for Port, but nothing more eventuated and the score remained 1-0.
“Very important three points and continues our positive run away from home against a team I still consider to be very talented individually,” Gully coach Arthur Papas said post game.
“Going into it we were well aware that if we scored early we would most likely go on to win considering Port have only scored in one out of the last eight matches and this proved to be the case.
In saying that, we were not pleased with the performance of the first half due to not closing the threat of their counter attack correctly. In the second half it was a much improved performance and it’s just a shame we didn’t finish our chances and close the game off.
“At this stage in the league the result matters most, and we allowed them to have the ball in the second half up until a certain point which maybe gave them a false sense of control, but in any half if you create in excess of five clear cut chances it would suggest a dominant performance and a well deserved victory.”
Image: South Melbourne FC