By Andrew Macdougall (@RealMacdougall)

South Melbourne clinched its tenth-straight victory with a 1-0 win over Werribee City on Sunday afternoon at Galvin Park.

A first-half goal from in-form striker Milos Lujic was enough to lift the ladder leader past Werribee and keep its perfect record intact.

South Melbourne, after withstanding some early Werribee pressure, had the first meaningful chance of the match on eight minutes when Iqi Jawadi blasted a goal-bound effort which was deflected away.

Three minutes later, Werribee launched an offensive attack and found Joshua Groenewald down the right side of the penalty box, where he was be fouled by Bradley Norton.

Appeals for a penalty were waved away when the referee indicated contact was outside the box, and Werribee couldn’t convert its resulting free kick.

In the 16th minutes Jamie Reed released Lujic who was fouled by Ryan Filipovic, with Filipovic appearing to be the last defender. Appeals for a red card from South Melbourne were ignored.

Five minutes before halftime, a Werribee goal kick found Robbie Naumoski in midfield and after some terrific foot work, he released Ray Markley on goal, who forced South Melbourne into giving up a corner.

The breakthrough came in first-half injury time when a poor turnover from Anthony Ragusa in midfield allowed Jawadi to break free and find Lujic, who beat his man and then ‘keeper Tommy Dunn one-on-one to find the back of the net.

Six minutes after the resumption of play, Werribee was able to clear a South Melbourne goal-line scramble to keep the deficit at one goal.

South Melbourne continued to apply pressure and on 61 minutes Werribee was unable to clear its lines as the ball fell to Lujic, who was denied by a terrific save by Dunn.

Werribee had its best chance of the half at 77 minutes when Matthew Cundari found himself inside the box only to have his powerful effort flash across and wide of the goal.

As time wound down and with the lead still at 1-0, Domenico Marafioti tried a spectacular overhead volley at 79 minutes, only to see it hit the top netting.

South Melbourne coach Chris Taylor was thrilled to take the winning streak into double digits.

“Quite happy with it [the win], it’s some achievement,” Taylor said.

“For any club to achieve it is absolutely fantastic.”

Taylor also praised his midfield’s performance.

“That’s probably where we have been strong [in midfield],” he said.

“I didn’t think we linked well enough with the front men today. Probably didn’t set the world a light out wide, but the midfield did well.”

Battling hard all day, Werribee City coach Nino Ragusa was pleased with his players’ efforts and singled out Dunn for his performance between the posts.

“The boys did extremely well,” Ragusa said.

“Tommy (Dunn) is an exceptional product, he is in his third year of senior football and only 22 years old.

“He is ready for this level... he did try out at Central Coast last year for the second spot, very happy with him.”

Match Details

Werribee City 0 lost to South Melbourne 1 (Lujic 45’+1) at Galvin Park [HT: 0-1]

South Melbourne: 1. Jason SALDARIS (GK), 2. Tim MALA, 3. Andrew MULLETT, 14. James MUSA, 27. Leigh MINOPOULOS (7. Nick EPIFANO 81’), 8. Mathew THEODORE (6. Dimi TSIARAS 90’), 9. Milos LUJIC, 10. Tyson HOLMES, 11. Bradley NORTON, 12. Iqi JAWADI (20. Slaven VRANESEVIC 92’), 17. Jamie REED.

UNUSED SUBS: 21. Chris MAYNARD, 4. Michael EAGAR.

YELLOW CARDS: Jason SALDARIS 53’, Tyson HOLMES 71’.

RED CARDS: None.

Werribee City: 1. Tommy DUNN (GK), 4. Ryan FILPOVIC, 6. Anthony RAGUSA, 7. Simon ZAPPIA, 13. Milan SAVIC, 14. Bobby VIDANOSKI, 19. Robbie NAUMOSKI (11. Domenico MARAFIOTI 76’), 20. Daniel PETROV, 26. Ray MARKLEY (8. Daniel SWEENEY 56’), 33. Joshua GROENEWALD (17. Matthew CUNDARI 19’), 43. Steven CUDRIG.

UNUSED SUBS: 5. Nemanja GOVEDARICA, 12. Roderick YOUSEF.

YELLOW CARDS: Ryan FILIPOVIC 15’, Robbie NAUMOSKI 23’, Daniel PETROV 31’, Steven CUDRIG 52’.

RED CARDS: None.

Image credit: Cindy Nitsos