By Brad Hutchings (@BradHutchings_)

South Melbourne returned to winning ways with a comprehensive 4-0 win over Werribee City at Lakeside Stadium.

Fresh from a mid-week loss to Bentleigh Greens, South got its runaway charge to the title back on track with a dominate display over Werribee.

Meanwhile, the defeat sees Werribee remain in the relegation dogfight that is currently taking place at the wrong end of the table.  

South Melbourne recorded its win thanks a double by Milos Lujic, which sees the marksman back on top of the goal scoring charts with 17, a Jamie Reed penalty and a Nick Epifano strike in the second half. 

The hosts started the match strongly and attacked Werribee from the opening whistle.

Desperate to make amends for its mid-week loss, South peppered the Werribee defence and came close to an opener in just the second minute when Reed’s free kick went just wide of the post.

The home side came even closer to scoring just eight minutes later when Tyson Holmes’ chipped shot was cleared off the line by a desperate Ryan Filipovic to deny what would have been a fine goal.

Despite the constant threat of conceding, the Werribee defence held strong to keep a charging South Melbourne goalless in the opening half hour.

Keeper Tommy Dunn and Filipovic in particular were integral for Werribee in the opening exchanges, dealing with whatever South threw at them.

However, Werribee’s good work came undone on the half hour mark when the referee pointed to the spot after Dunn took down Epifano, which Reed perfectly dispatched to give South Melbourne the lead.

Werribee self-imploded from that point on.

Lujic rounded off the half with two goals in there minutes to give his side an unassailable half time lead. 

His first came in the 40th minute as he got on the end of a nice passage of play to fire his shot past Dunn.

The top scorer's second came just three minute later when a Milan Savic defensive error led to the easiest of tap-ins for the striker.

Epifano got in on the fun in the 56th minute when he got in behind the Werribee defence to put his curling shot into the back of the net to put the result further out of Werribee’s reach.

Nature intervened on any hopes South Melbourne had on adding to the scoreboard as Lakeside Stadium was hit with persistent rain which hampered play. 

Epifano came agonisingly close in the 85th minute but his shot could only hit the post.

It mattered little as South Melbourne ran away with the win to see its lead on top of the table go back to seven points.

While content with the three points, South Melbourne manager Chris Taylor was less than pleased with his side’s performance. 

“Happy with the three points, disappointed we didn’t get more goals," Taylor said.

"Being 3-0 up at half time and scoring in the first 15 minutes of the second half I thought we totally dominated them.

"Goal difference is a big thing as well, Oakleigh are well in front in that stat and I thought we had a good chance to peg that back today but we lacked that killer instinct which was disappointing. Other than that I thought we played well and moved the ball around.”

Werribee manager Nino Ragusa openly admitted post-game the gulf between his side and the ladder-leaders.

“Let’s give compliments where compliments are due, they are a class outfit that played extremely well today," Ragusa said.

"Sometimes we didn’t make it easy for ourselves too but let’s give them compliments they are a class above us. We couldn’t execute any more than our defensive game.”

MATCH DETAILS

Full Time; South Melbourne 4(Lujic 40’ 43’, Reed 32’, Epifano 56’) defeated Werribee City 0 at Lakeside Stadium. [HT:3-0] 

South Melbourne: Chris Maynard, Tim Mala, Micheal Eagar, Nick Epifano, Milos Lujic, Tyson Holmes(Leigh Minopoulos 65’), Bradley Norton, Iqi Jawadi, James Musa(Matt Theodore 83’), Jamie Reed(Shaun Timmins 83’), Steve Hatzikostas 

Unused Subs: Jason Saldaris, Kobbie Boahene.

Yellow Cards: None

Werribee City: Tommy Dunn, Ryan Filipovic, Milan Savic(Liam Brian 56’) , Steve Cudrig, Bobby Vidanovski, Damir Marusic(Matt Cundari 72’), Anthony Ragusa, Devon Bonne, Simon Zappia, Simon Tolli, Evan Batsis(Dom Marafioti 77’)

Unused Subs: Roderick Yousef, Julien Casana.

 Yellow Cards: Milan Savic(27’), Dunn(30’)