South Springvale have continued their strong performance in the FFA Cup with another win this weekend over North Geelong Warriors, putting the Aris just one win away from joining the A-League clubs in the FFA Cup on the national stage.
Warner Reserve in Springvale was the host to Sunday afternoon’s match, with those close to the club recognising the squad as similar to the line-up from last year’s successful FFA Cup run, albeit with a few new faces.
It took just 22 minutes for the first ball hit the net, as Dionysios Liosatos opened the scoring for the home team in what would be the only goal of the first half.
After the break, North Geelong came out aggressively to find the equaliser, moving with confidence around the midfield and pushing forward into the final third.
It was somewhat against the run of play in the 60th minute that South Springvale earned a corner.
On the right wing, closest to the bulk of home team supporters, Thomas Brooks stepped up and put the cross into the area.
The ball bounced once inside the six yard box before crossing the goal line into the side netting untouched to give the home side a two goal advantage.
North Geelong continued desperately to get back on the scoreboard, but their only breakthrough came three minutes from time when they earned a penalty for Matt Townley to put into the bottom left corner, setting up an exciting finish.
For the Warriors it just wasn’t to be, as the Aris held on to make it through to Round 7.
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After the clash, South Springvale coach Bill Lambropoulos said his players thrived on proving themselves in the Cup.
“It was a tough physical game. It’s not very normal for us to play physical games, we’re a little bit more technical as a team,” Lambropoulos said.
“The boys dug deep today and they wanted it. It’s obviously our Cup run again. We do it the hard way, but we’re there. We’re still in it.”
Despite their national headline-grabbing Cup run last year, Lambropoulos said his side were improved on last season and have enjoyed the challenge of testing themselves against NPL sides.
“Technically we’re much much better. As we go into the next phase now, there’ll be more time on the ball with teams that are more technical. I think we’ll enjoy that. The physical part of it, we have to live through that,” he said.
We got through today and that’s more important to us. We’re the only team from last year to still be in the running from the four including St Albans, [Melbourne] Knights and Bentleigh Greens. So I’ve got to take that as a positive.”
With local Greek rivals Oakleigh Cannons – who have seen a topsy-turvy this season in the league – standing in the way of another national Round of 32 berth, the South Springvale coach also believed his side were well equipped to handle the rigours of the upcoming Cup clash with a deep squad featuring plenty of talent.
“We’ve probably bought in five or six players. The disappointing bit is our best player did an ACL, he came on in the last fifteen minutes to help us out a bit. So the next few games he’ll be getting better in his stride and that’s going to help us,” he said.
“The squad is twenty deep, we’ve got plenty there. We just started the year with a lot of injuries and we’re blending them back in now.
“It was a collective performance tonight. Obviously our striker can do the business, you saw with the first goal he puts a lot of pressure on defenders.
“Shayan [Alinejad], the boy from the Melbourne Knights on the flanks is going to be a big asset to us.
“We’ve got young Perry Lambropoulos on the other flank who’s got a lot of legs and will be able to help us as time goes on.
“Defensively it’s very important that we keep as solid as we can. It’s unlucky we got a penalty and we sweated on it a bit at the end but we got the job done tonight.”
South Springvale will host NPL team Oakleigh Cannons in Round 7 of the FFA Cup in a date between the 15th and 22nd June. In a local derby, a win will see South back on the national stage yet again.
