By Tomasz Ng (@tomaszng07)

South Melbourne has continued its perfect start to the season with a 2-0 win over Ballarat Red Devils at Lakeside Stadium on Thursday night.

Jamie Reed was the hero for the home side, with goals in either half firing South to victory in its first NPL home match.

Ballarat provided some stern resistance though, but was undone by two moments of quality.

The home side began well, with Milos Lujic almost putting South ahead as he smashed a shot against the crossbar.

Unluckily for the striker, the rebound fell just before the line despite his appeals for the goal to be given.

There was a lack of any clear-cut chances for the rest of the half, with South coming close through an Epifano shot in the 16th minute and a close header which was saved well by Aaron Romein in the 30th minute.

Ballarat looked fairly threatening on the break but only had a couple of attempts from Nelson Salvatore cutting in off the flank to shout about.

With five minutes to go until the break, Reed should have opened the scoring after flashing a volley just wide of the goal with Romein beaten, but made amends with halftime looming.

The Englishman was played in by Epifano and had no hesitation to shoot just outside the box, striking his shot well and it flew into the goal at the far post.

Ballarat actually came out the stronger of the sides in the second half and went close to scoring when Salvatore’s header looped just wide and Shaun Romein’s free kick also drifted just past the goal.

But after Lujic had a goal disallowed for offside in the 70th minute, Reed doubled his tally with a burst down the right, capped off with a bullet shot past Romein.

Bentleigh recruit Dane Milovanovic almost scored on debut for the Red Devils, but the match came to a close with his speculative volley from the right wing smashing the upright.

South Melbourne coach Chris Taylor was pleased his side grinded out the result.

“We didn’t play well but sometimes you have to play ugly to win games and I thought we did that a bit today,” Taylor said.

“You can’t complain with five straight, it’s pretty good.”

Ballarat coach James Robinson was happy with his side’s resistance.

“Disappointed with the result, never good to have a loss but fully proud of the boys, 100 per cent effort level and it was a bit of quality and a great finish by them just before the halftime (which proved the difference),” Robinson said.

“We’ll start dissecting what happened tonight and then we’ll move on tomorrow and start planning because we have a game Monday and then a game Saturday.”

Next up for Ballarat is the rescheduled clash against Heidelberg United on Monday afternoon, while South Melbourne has over a week off before travelling to Melbourne Knights for the derby.

MATCH DETAILS

South Melbourne 2 (Jamie Reed 45’ 77’) defeated by Ballarat Red Devils 0 at Lakeside Stadium (HT: 1-0)

South Melbourne: 1. Jason SALDARIS (GK), 2. Tim MALA, 4. Michael EAGAR (c), 14. James MUSA, 7. Nick EPIFANO (27. Leigh MINOPOULOS 65’), 8. Mathew THEODORE (15. Kobbie BOAHENE 79’), 9. Milos LUJIC, 10. Tyson HOLMES, 11. Brad NORTON (3. Andrew MULLETT 85’), 12. Iqbal JAWADI, 17. Jamie REED

Unused subs: 21. Chris MAYNARD (GK), 20. Slaven VRANESEVIC

Yellow Cards: Theodore 75’, Norton 82’

Ballarat Red Devils: 1. Aaron ROMEIN (GK), 16. Charlie KING, 25. Steve THOMSON, 18. Daniel O’DONNELL, 3. Daniel TINKER, 15. Dom SWINTON (20. Bolish SALVATORE 57’), 6. Liam HARDING, 17. Shaun ROMEIN (13. Michael TRIGGER 78’), 11. Nelson SALVATORE, 22. Pat KARRAS (4. Dane MILOVANOVIC 71’), 31. Simon MURPHY

Unused subs: 40. Jordan FRANKEN (GK), 2. Tristan ROMEIN

Yellow Cards: S. Romein 29’

Image credit: Cindy Nitsos