Despite the return of a finals series to the NPL Victoria for season 2015, the lure of finishing atop the ladder is still a huge motivator for Chris Taylor and his South Melbourne side.
A bumper Friday of football saw Bentleigh Greens – who sat five points clear on the ladder – drop points, while across the city at Lakeside Stadium, South earned an important 4-2 win over Port Melbourne Sharks to put fate back into their own hands.
Just two days later Heidelberg United slumped to a disappointing 3-3 draw with North Geelong Warriors, to put South Melbourne in the drivers seat heading into the pointy end of the season.
Sitting three points behind the Greens with a game in hand and with a superior goal difference to their name, Chris Taylor understands the importance of their win last weekend, although they were made to work hard as Port twice equalised off the boot of Nick Krousoratis.
“When we got the first goal, I felt pretty confident that they’d bounce back straight away,” Taylor said on Port’s resilience.
“A bit forward was our defending, we didn’t keep a solid backline and that brought them back into the game, but that was good.
“They pressed high and made the game a bit difficult for us but the longer the game went, the more I thought we’d get on top.
“In the end, we probably should have had a few more chances. They were organised and they gave us a good battle, but in the context of things, it was all about us getting three points.
“It doesn’t matter how we get them, we just want to keep pressure on the leaders and obviously that’s happened tonight.
“We’re still behind the 8-ball because we’ve got the game in hand. Three points off the top, three games in hand, it’s all there for the taking.”
The weekend’s results have put plenty of fire into the back end of the season, with South now the form team of the competition; Taylor pointing at the short memory of some football supporters, who questioned their title credentials.
“We’re confident in our own ability, we’re the [reigning] champions after all,” he said.
“People shouldn’t forget that. Bentleigh have the runs on the board, they’re three points ahead of us but we’re up for the challenge and we’ll fight them to the death [for the title].”
Aside from the result, the game will be best remembered for a controversial penalty decision paid South Melbourne’s way early in the second half, with the scores still at 1-1.
Nick Epifano – who scored a brace alongside Milos Lujic – converted from the spot to punish Port Melbourne, but both coaches had their opinions on the decision.
“Obviously, apart from the isolated result itself, mathematically it probably means it’s the end of our season, as far as finals aspirations are concerned,” Port Melbourne boss Eric Vassiliadis said post-game.
“So it’s disappointing in that sense. We can pull out some positives from there but if we’re looking at this game in isolation, it turned around with that – in my view – debatable penalty.
“I think the soft penalty turned it around, it’s as simple as that. Look at the last few games and it seems like teams against us are given massive free-kicks and we seem to have to score quality goals.”
His South counterpart was measured in his assessment of the decision, accepting that these decisions can go either way over the course of a season.
“It looked like a penalty to me. If it was a wrestling match, he’s definitely brought him down, but everyone’s going to have their own opinion on that,” Taylor said.
“We’re guided by what the referee says. Sometimes these decision go your way, sometimes they don’t. But in the overall context of things, I thought we probably shaded the game and were the better side.”
South Melbourne are away to Avondale Heights this weekend, in a vital match-up which could decide the NPL Victoria title race. Kick-off is scheduled for 3:00pm this Saturday at Avondale Heights Reserve.