By Brad Hutchings (@BradHutchings_)

South Melbourne has seen off Hume City 2-0 thanks to two second-half goals to maintain its six-point gap ahead of Oakleigh at the top of the NPL standings.

An own goal to Hume’s Isyan Erdogan and a quality finish by Nick Epifano proved the difference at Lakeside Stadium on Sunday night, in a contest which failed to deliver any real entertainment.

It was a frustrating day all round for Hume City, which just couldn’t keep up with its highly fancied opponents.

On top of conceding an own goal, Hume lost captain Shane Rexhepi early in the first half to injury and hit the crossbar on no less than three occasions on a night where nothing went its way.

It was South Melbourne’s 15th win of the season, but it was far from its prettiest.

It was a dour first half, with both sides struggling to gain any substance to their game.

South Melbourne in particular was guilty of not switching on from the opening whistle as passes missed their intended targets too often.

Hume City was forced into an early unwanted change inside the opening 20 minutes when Rexhepi was forced off the ground after copping a heavy knock to the knee in a tackle.

The loss of Rexhepi appeared to rattle Hume as it was without one of its main focal points in attack.

Any type of attacking play was non-existent in the opening 25 minutes of the game, as both sides looked to get into the game.

Epifano made up for the lacklustre start in the 26th minute as he fired off a stinging shot from outside the box that just went inches over the bar.

Before putting one into his own net, Erdogan was close to scoring at the right end midway through the first half, but could only find the post with a header.

Hume came agonisingly close to taking a shock halftime lead when John Sapazovski hit a half-volley that struck the goal frame two minutes before the break.

Hume came out the stronger side in the second half but couldn’t find the breakthrough.

Its bright start to the second half came to nothing, thanks to Erdogan’s misdemeanour.

Erdogan couldn’t deal with a low cross from the right flank as his goalkeeper Chris Oldfield could only watch as the ball went by him.

The woodwork again came to save South Melbourne just past the hour mark when Chris Cristaldo’s deflected shot smashed against the crossbar.

The points were secured for the home side in the 67th minute when Epifano found the net when he got on the end of some nice play by Iqi Jawadi.

Despite its best efforts, South Melbourne couldn’t increase the margin in the dying stages of the match as it controlled the final 15 minutes.

South Melbourne manager Chris Taylor still felt his side had more to give in the encounter.

“I thought we were very flat in the first half. We got to give credit to the opposition, they dropped numbers behind the ball to make it difficult for us. We had a couple of chances, probably should have done better, but a couple of pieces of individual brilliance changes the game,” Taylor said.

“In the first half we had a couple of chances but I don’t think we were fluent. We certainly didn’t move the ball fast enough. We only have to play for five to 10 minutes sometimes and we will create chances and score goals.”

Hume boss Lou Acevski was pleased with the effort despite going down, and said the severity of Rexhepi's knee injury was unknown.

“Disappointed in a couple of facets of the game, obviously the result and the injury to Rexhepi. That’s the negative out of the game but overall I’m very proud of the boys,” Acevski said.

“We have a very, very young squad at the moment. A lot of injuries, a lot of suspensions, a couple of boys overseas in Brazil for the World Cup so we’ve got a very limited squad at the moment. Overall, very happy with what happened today.”

Hume City will look to bounce back in a tough away fixture to second-placed Oakleigh on Friday night, while South Melbourne will host an in-form Melbourne Knights in the Melbourne derby on Sunday.

MATCH DETAILS

Round 17, 2014: South Melbourne 2 (Erdogan OG 54’, Epifano 68’) defeated Hume City 0 at Lakeside Stadium [HT:0-0]

South Melbourne: Jason Saldaris (GK), Tim Mala, Michael Eagar (C), Nick Epifano (Bradley Norton 79’), Matthew Theodore (Tyson Holmes 76’), Milos Lujic, Iqi Jawadi, James Musa, Jamie Reed, Stephen Hatzikostas, Shaun Timmins

Unused subs: Chris Maynard (GK), Andrew Mullett, Kobbie Boahene.

Yellow cards: Eagar (85’)

Red cards: None

Hume City: Chris Oldfield (GK), Jeremy Walker, John Stocjevski (Adrian Roglis 72’), Isyan Erdogan, Shane Rexhepi (Nikos Jackson-Tserexidis 17’), Abel Fesseha (Anthony Proia 72’), John Sapazovski, Richie Cardozo, Christopher Cristaldo, Baki Efe, Aaron Turner.

Unused subs: Ilhan Altuntas, Evan Alexandrow-Ridley (GK)

Yellow cards: Efe (75’), Cardozo (90+3’)

Red cards: None

Image credit: Cindy Nitsos