This past weekend, The Corner Flag took a road trip up to Ballarat, to witness the opening National Premier League fixture at Morshead Park which featured Ballarat Red Devils and South Melbourne. It certainly was a day to remember!
Pre-game
The drive goes relatively to plan, even adding a pitstop by the lake on the way to the ground. However, there is a bit of a problem, rain has begun to fall and this bunch of precious writing/photographing staff were ill-prepared for that scenario, especially with the discovery there would be no cover in the temporary stand built around the impressive looking pavilion. The building itself isn’t completed, the upstairs function room still houses ladders and cladding, while the roof still needs to be put on in some parts. Of course Morshead Park is still in the early stages of it’s development, but the signs are there that this could be quite a venue to play football in years to come. A look at the plans indicates there will be stands on the east side of the ground as well, and more on the Western side. It will also be interesting to see how the embankments on the other three sides transform over the coming years.
The change rooms, six in all, still have a waft of fresh paint, while the pitch looks immaculate, with the ball rolling true and the only menace evident in the U20’s clash is a the usual extra skip off the surface because of the moisture. As we take our seat, the sun breaks through. Thank the heavens.
10:00 (Game time)
It’s not the most inspiring start from both sides, and perhaps the most eye catching thing is the brand spanking new Brazuca match ball. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of having a kick with one, it is a beauty, and both sides seem to stroke the ball around well on a greasy surface.
12:00
There is the South Melbourne that we know! The runaway league leaders made the breakthrough thanks to Milos Lujic. After being played in behind by a wonderful through ball by Iqbal Jawadi, the striker beats the closing defender and smashes low towards the near post and past Aaron Romein. That made it seven goals in seven games for the league’s leading marksman, and continued his dream start to his time at South Melbourne.
21:00
South Melbourne are well and truly on top at this stage, with Lujic having a goal disallowed for offside in the 15th minute while Jamie Reed cracked an effort onto the crossbar from long range. That strike really deserved a goal. On the bright side, Ballarat had registered their first shot at goal, with Charlie King bombing forward, but narrowly missed the postage stamp at the near post.
Aaron Romein was certainly a busy man, and was called into action in the 20th minute, pulling off a good save off a powerful Jamie Reed effort. The keeper has proven himself to be a decent shot stopper in the games he’s played so far in but he couldn’t keep out Reed’s goal from the resulting corner.
Michael Eagar found himself wide open on the back post, and drove a volley into the mixer, where it took a couple of deflections towards Romein. Unfortunately the keeper couldn’t react quickly enough to pounce on the loose ball, and Reed was on hand to score an opportunistic tap in on the line.
By this stage, the home faithful weren’t so faithful, with many beginning to outwardly predict a rout.
The floodgates did indeed open after the goal, but in a different way, bringing waves after wave of rain as opposed to South Melbourne goals.
35:00
You’ll have to forgive me at this stage, as the only person without an umbrella, I was now soaked through as was my bag and really needed to find some cover. The few minutes since the goal has been a blur, but after making my way to the marquee which happened to be the bar, I find a good samaritan who shall remain unknown who offered me the use of his umbrella. Score! I can now watch the game again, as opposed to what happens when the ball comes by the heated marquee. Oh I forgot to mention I’ve lost the rest of the crew.
45:00
With relief from the driving rain, the action is now clear again. Lo and behold, Ballarat won a free kick on the edge of the box courtesy of a generous decision. It seemed like Musa had gotten to the ball in the challenge, but nevertheless, it was Dane Milovanovic who stepped up to take the free kick.
It’s was a pearler. Milovanovic curled it up and over the wall straight into the top corner on the far post. That took some doing! Suddenly the crowd are not so pessimistic, and began to believe their team could comeback strong in the second half.
Half Time
After reuniting with a couple of the party, we sought shelter in the players race. No need for the umbrella at the moment then. I probably should have mentioned by now, it wasn’t the most stable umbrella, as it was bent and damaged down the middle of the rod. It was no surprise then when I tried to retract it, the thing snapped in two…less said about that the better, but I have to thank the above good samaritan for it! The remnants certainly kept us from becoming more rain soaked in the second half.
75:00
There wasn’t much action to speak off in the second half, but Ballarat did actually come out strong after the break. They managed to keep possession well, but were unable to breach South Melbourne’s back line. Perhaps they were missing the speed and trickery of Nelson Salvatore, missing through a thigh injury. The rain really made it difficult for the players, with the ball whizzing off the surface in all directions.
Full Time
In the end it wasn’t to be for the home side, who proved once again that they are a sturdy unit that is tough to beat. South Melbourne’s first half burst turned out to be enough to secure their seventh straight win to start the season, a new club record.
To the post game interviews then, which were held inside one of those brand spanking new club rooms. In typical coach’s form, Chris Taylor was quick to point out he wasn’t entirely happy with the performance.
“Pleased with the overall seven games, not entirely happy with the performance today but sometimes you have to take the wins that you’re not entirely happy with,” he said, putting a slight damper on the record breaking win. But I guess that’s what you’d expect from a coach, who needs to keep his players grounded. He did go on though.
“For 25 minutes I thought we were outstanding, we created a lot of chances, probably could have had two or three more goals but when the heavens opened up it became a little bit of a battle and they probably adapted to it a little bit better than us. And credit to them they made it very, very difficult for us and we didn’t find any fluency after that.”
So some nice words for Ballarat there then.
On to Ballarat’s coach’s interview (Simon Murphy was also present) and a chance to speak to James Robinson. He is usually reserved when speaking to the media, but in front of what became a media scrum (at NPL level? Nice!), he opened up a bit more. He admitted they weren’t good enough to start the game, although nerves were not a reason for that. Robinson also put a case forward to the citizens of Ballarat to get behind his team.
“If you don’t jump on this train, you’re going to be left behind because, what a facility, what an environment it’s creating not just for the senior squad but for the younger generation coming through and it’s unbelievable and it’s only going to get better,” Robinson said.
“We’re pushing, we’re striving to improve every single day, not just on the pitch but off the pitch.”
Robinson was then quizzed about being a “new kid on the block”, but with one sentence he encapsulated the mood of the camp. “We’ve given people food for thought,” he said. Northcote City would certainly attest to that, as would all the other teams whom Ballarat have come up against this season.
That was our day in Ballarat, and it really was an experience to be at Morshead Park on the day. The 1000+ fans that braved the conditions surely didn’t go home too disheartened, certainly not the South Melbourne faithful who will be rejoicing in the fact they’ve maintained that perfect record.
Photos from Matt Johnson. View more pictures in his gallery by clicking here