Thunder rolled by South juggernaut
By Brad Hutchings (@BradHutchings_)
South Melbourne has defeated Dandenong Thunder for the second time in under a week with an emphatic 5-0 win at Lakeside Stadium on Sunday night, extending its winning streak to 11 matches.
Fresh from a midweek 1-0 extra-time Dockerty Cup win over Thunder on Wednesday, South did it comfortably this time as it poured in the goals in front of a buoyant home crowd.
Two two-goal blitzes at the end of each half blew the scoreboard out.
The scoreline was somewhat flattering for South Melbourne with Dandenong’s performance not reflected in the result.
Despite the soggy conditions, it was a free-flowing start to the match with both sides spurning multiple chances to open the score in the first 15 minutes.
Dandenong showed it meant business from the opening whistle with Jake Nakic testing South Melbourne ‘keeper Jason Saldaris before Marcus Schroen sent his header wide from a short corner routine.
The scare in defence kicked the home side into life as they asserted their presence on the game.
Marksman Milos Lujic had the first real chance of the game in the fourth minute but could only send his close-range shot high over the bar.
It was then Jamie Reed’s turn to try and open the scoring as he fired off a stunning free kick in the 12th minute that smacked into the crossbar to deny the home side the opener.
The frantic opening 15 minutes tempered slightly after that, with both sides happy to sit on the ball.
Dandenong peppered South Melbourne with some ferocious tackles in the first half that were lucky to go unpunished.
Drama entered the match in the 33rd minute when an Alan Mulcahy tackle resulted in a push-and-shove sequence that threatened to escalate into something nasty. After the players cooled down, Mulcahy was carded for the initial challenge and former South man Ramazan Tavsancioglu was put into the book for his part in the aftermath.
With halftime approaching, South Melbourne blew the game wide open with two goals in three minutes that changed the complexity of the match.
Lujic did well to beat Thunder keeper Zaim Zeneli after being fed through by Mathew Theodore to open the scoring in the 41st minute, before Theodore got in on the scoring himself with a headed goal just three minutes later.
Dandenong battled to get back into the game in the second half but was missing the extra spark to penetrate the South Melbourne defence.
Tyson Holmes put the game out of reach for Thunder as he blazed his shot home after Zeneli couldn’t deal with Reed’s stinging free kick in the 70th minute.
With the three points secured, South Melbourne went in search for more goals in the final 20 minutes. Two goals in two minutes from James Musa and Reed from the penalty spot put the exclamation mark on a resounding South Melbourne victory.
South Melbourne captain Michael Eagar was pleased to keep the hot streak going.
“We’ve got a new challenge each week. We did the job on Wednesday in what was a very tough game. Luckily tonight we put in a good performance and came away with a result with a good performance on top of that,” Eagar said.
“Tonight we really had to start off well and I think we did. I’m happy with how it all went.”
Dandenong manager Dean Hennessey felt the scoreline didn’t do his side any justice.
“Disappointed over the 90 minutes, but the first 43 minutes when it was nil-nil I actually thought it was reasonably even. If any anything we shaded our chances, we had four or five good chances but were not clinical and they get their opportunity and they finish it,” Hennessey said.
“If we go in at halftime one-nil, (it’s) not as big as a challenge but as soon as it went two-nil it was always going to be what happens next. The third goal finished it off.”
MATCH DETAILS
South Melbourne 5 (Lujic 41', Theodore 44', Holmes 70', Musa 88', Reed 89' pen.) defeated Dandenong Thunder 0 at Lakeside Stadium [HT:2-0]
South Melbourne: Jason Saldaris(GK), Tim Mala, Michael Eagar(C) (James Musa 74’), Nick Epifano, Mathew Theodore (Leigh Minopoulos 84’), Milos Lujic, Tyson Holmes, Bradley Norton, Iqbal Jawadi (Kobbie Boahene 87’), Jamie Reed, Andrew Mullett
Unused Subs: Chris Maynard, Dimitri Tsiaras
Yellow cards: Jawadi 27', Eagar 57'
Red cards: None
Dandenong Thunder; Zaim Zeneli (GK), Brendan Elmazovski, Kris Kioussis, Ramazan Tavsancioglu, David King (Feston Azizi 67’), Alan Kearney, Matt Millar, Kieran Dover, Marcus Schroen, Jake Nakic, Alan Mulcahy (C)
Unused subs: Ilir Pali, Frazer Siddall, Anthony Giannopoulos, Ryan Barnes
Yellow cards; Mulcahy 34’, Tavsancioglu 34’, Schroen 90’+2
Red cards: None
Pictured: Brad Norton congratulates goalscorer Jamie Reed (Image credit: Cindy Nitsos)
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