Memoir of The Geezer
“Sundays just aren’t the same, are they? Doing the big shop. A tip run. Or mowing the lawn. Nothing compares to seeing Big Dave blowing out of his arse after five minutes. Losing his rag at a misplaced pass. Missing a sitter at the back stick. Getting megged by a little gobshite. Won’t live that down, by the way. Having an overhead kick ruled out for offside. Gutted. Didn’t think he had it in him. Lad’ll save a few quid, though. Can’t get fined at home. Every cloud and all that.
Wanting ya Sunday League fix? Our zine is still available to buy. Bag a copy via the link in the bio. Can’t pull ya hammy doing that, eh?” – @trekuartista95
Photo by @nicholasgpriest
Welloffside’s Photo of the Week
1996 The moment that Gareth Southgate missed his penalty kick
during the England v Germany Uefa Euro ‘96 semi-final shootout.
Photo by Mark Leech
The Big One
“CROAZIA…CROAZIA…CROAZIA…CROAZIA”
The stadium echoed with a mere 200 or so spectators at Knights Stadium who shouted out as the full-time whistle blew on a frosty Friday night. A heard of fans in black winter coats rushed down to the fence and barricades to cheer on and congratulate their players as they witnessed Gian Albano score the winner in the 94th minute.
An unspectacular Melbourne Derby due to the lack of attendance, a consequence of Melbourne Knights struggling this season. But they have overcome the odds to defeat their eternal rival South Melbourne. Knights have struck early in the game and frustrated South for all their offensive efforts but it only took a deflection from a long-range effort to bamboozle the goalkeeper very late in the second half for South Melbourne to equalize where many thought they’d snatched a point.
However, a magnificent solo effort from Albano, running down the wing from the halfway mark, a few twists and turns of his body to deceive the remaining two defenders and curling in a scorcher in the top corner from outside the box to the disbelief of everyone at the venue.
This game in particular was coming off the back of a 2-1 loss to Heidelberg away for South Melbourne. If we back track a bit to earlier in the season, they lost 2-1 to Oakleigh at their venue as well.
Three big derby games, 9 points dropped on the road.
South, however, still remain first on the ladder, two points ahead of Oakleigh Cannons and hold a superior goal difference of +4.
This Saturday they will host Oakleigh in what could potentially be a decider for the premiership plate with four games left to play after this.
The outlook of the remaining fixtures after this are as follows:
South:
Altona Magic (Home)
Port Melbourne (Away)
Dandenong City (Home)
Avondale (Away)
Oakleigh:
Bentleigh Greens (Away)
Melbourne Knights (Home)
St Albans (Away)
Hume City (Home)
South’s Harrison Sawyer leads the golden boot tally (17) ahead of Oakleigh’s Wade Dekker (14)
Oakleigh may look back and wonder how things could have been different if they had not drawn against Eastern Lions at home. Lions have only earned 6 points out of 21 games so far and are rooted to the bottom of the ladder as we near the completion of this season. A result that could haunt them for things to come.
As for South, if they lose this Saturday, they are at the mercy of Oakleigh who have an easier run of fixtures. All favourites to win except for the game against Bentleigh who are in fine form and high on euphoria after securing a grand final showdown in the Dockerty Cup by spectacularly knocking out Heidelberg.
Other things to consider, Port Melbourne have been a bogey side for South travelling to their ground and rarely coming away with a win, and an away game against Avondale on the final day will also be excruciatingly difficult given that recent history between the two with dramatic wins and multiple handbags thrown around on the pitch.
For South, they have only come across winning the premiers plate back-to-back in 2014 and 2015 whilst the plate has always eluded Oakleigh throughout the Victorian first division. A lot is at stake and this fixture will most likely decide the fate of the two clubs this season.
Patrick Langlois scores the winner against Thunder last Saturday night
It will all come down to who will have the psychological edge on their opponent as there will be next to no room for error at Lakeside stadium. Expect a lot of shithousery, bus parking and counter attacks by Oakleigh as they demonstrated last time they faced each other, while South will be on the offensive more favourably, sniffing out any defensive mistakes the Cannons may make. But my gut feeling is that it will take a stroke of luck or a moment of individual brilliance to decide the result.
All photos by Luke Radziminski unless otherwise attributed.
To view Luke’s photography, click HERE.
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As Gary Lineker is supposed to have said, ‘Football is a game of ninety minutes and then the Germans win’. Probably he added extra time in some versions.
Keep up the good work on the Victorian Premier League. You don’t have much competition from the so-called mainstream media, though the local papers are probably better. The Geelong Advertiser does have some coverage of Divisions One and Two, and the local clubs in their respective leagues, but it is intermittent and dependent on voluntary effort from Tonci Prusac.
Well, with North Geelong Warriors are scheduled to be promoted to the first division and join South Melbourne, media activity may pick up in Geelong. Potentially I may see you in Geelong down the road once South is fixtured to play away at their ground. It is a venue to cross off my bucket list for sure.