By Bill Roumeliotis.
Over the weekend, South Melbourne FC defeated Port Melbourne FC away from home 3-2. South Melbourne was superior in the Greek derby against Port Melbourne.
Esteban Quintas lined up his team smartly, closing down the central axis and not letting the hosts play vertically. The hosts were automatically led to the crosses, a game that was easily dealt with by the guests.
On Saturday night at S.S. Anderson Oval and in front of around 1,100 spectators, Port Melbourne opened the scoring in the 3rd minute with an excellent free kick by Eoghan Stokes.
The response of South Melbourne was immediate with a goal by Nahuel Bonada in the 5th minute that tied the score at 1-1 – a score that remained until the end of the first half.
Esteban’s players came in furiously to clean up the match quickly and succeeded with two goals. In the 56th minute, Jake Marshall made it 2-1 and in the 67th minute, Bonada made it 3-1.
In the 75th minute, Nick Marinos’ team reduced the score to 3-2 with a goal by Nathan Hancock and gave a dramatic finale in the last 15 minutes of the match with both teams creating opportunities for goals, but not succeeding.
The final whistle found South Melbourne victorious and undefeated at the top of the standings with 29 points and Port Melbourne in 6th place with 18 points.
