Two in a row to start the season

That was almost relaxing. Monday night, perfect weather and a 3-1 win against the Knights to keep our perfect start of the season maintained.

I headed in with a few mates and parked just a little out of the action to avoid the traffic management nightmare that is associated with the Grand Prix preparation. I was hopeful of a big crowd but as we walked towards the stadium it was clear my hopes would need to be reduced slightly. Monday nights are becoming more common in football. Bulleen have had great success with their Monday nights and in the A-League Macarthur have found some success with the timing too. I was hopeful this could be the case for South too, however the balance of factors clearly wasn’t weighted in our favour.

In the pro column, there are no competing events on Monday, in the con column, it’s a tough turn around from work and school. Early signs weren’t too encouraging however by the end of the game the result was a pass with probably around 2,000 people at the game – turns out people just rock up a little later! The big difference though with South compared to Bulleen or Marcarthur or even Preston and their Friday nights, is that Lakeside is hardly a suburban area and the fan base is spread pretty far across town. South has a huge reach but compared to those other clubs struggles to convert fans to match day attendees as frequently, maybe the occasion of the Australian Championship will change that, maybe not – time will tell, but overall tonight was a good crowd.

The weather was perfect. We walked into Lakeside through the social club entrance where we noticed the new merch and got our seats just after kick off. Knights started well and controlled the game for the first 10 minutes or so. They created a few chances and forced a few saves, but South got more comfortable and played their way into the game. By the half hour mark South were holding possession in the front half and crowding the box frequently. At the 33rd George Mells broke the deadlock with a lovely volley. It was also his first goal for the club and fantastic to see. South scored again soon after, a long throw saw a goal mouth scramble which ended in Mells firing it into the Knights defenders, where the ball spilled to Bonada who found the back of the net. 2-0 up in just a few minutes. South went onto dominate the rest of the half.

In the second, Knights again started brightly but I wasn’t around to see it. Instead I was stuck in canteen purgatory. After waiting in line for 10 minutes I was told that the canteen had no food available and I would need to wait at least another 10 minutes. Furious I walked over to the other side of the stand hopeful to find at least a meat pie but was disappointed to find they were only serving drinks. With half time wasted I decided to go back to the canteen and endured another 10 minute wait for the honour of ordering the chicken chips – because the lamb was not available. The food was well priced and tasty, but after over a decade its remarkable that the social club canteen is still run so poorly. Side note, I saw James Hird in line at the canteen, his son plays for the Knights so there you go!

Anyway by the time I got back to my seat the Knight’s purple patch was still on. At the 64th they were awarded a goal for a shot that seemingly didn’t cross the line and it seemed briefly that the game was on. Just 10 minutes later though South scored through Moller – a huge relief for me to see. Not only is he real, he is physically imposing like Sawyer was and now he’s got himself on the scoresheet. Three goals from three scorers was definitely a confidence booster that we needed after that cagey Port Melbourne game.

South managed the rest of the game well. Overall it was great to see the team play a little less direct. they moved the ball down the left wing well throughout the game and Brennan was excellent in the first half especially. We were more patient, more pro-active and more comfortable on the ball – I’d forgotten what it was like to watch South without so much stress!

On the way out we took a look at the merch – I was tempted by the black and golden third kit – and we made our way out. Great night overall. Go South!