Seven Goal Souths Turn On The Style
Souths United 7 (Omerovic 13’, 46’, Alexander 21’, Maher 23’, 50’, 60’, Radulovic 90’) Capalaba 1 (Basnett 35’) HT 3-1 Played at Wakerley Park
Souths United turned on the style with a Chris Maher hat trick being the highlight when they trounced a poor Capalaba outfit 7-1 at Wakerley Park on Saturday night. Harun Omerovic scored the first of his two goals in the thirteenth minute when he was afforded space on the edge of the six yard box and despite mis-cueing his initial header still had enough time to drive the ball home. It was a portent of things to come. Within ten minutes the game was effectively over as Jacob Alexander nodded home a free header from a corner and Chris Maher waltzed past two defenders before nonchalantly putting his team up 3-0. Somehow, Capalaba managed to get up the other end and, with something of a lucky bounce in the box, scored through Sam Basnett. After the break, Omerovic doubled his tally, Maher completed his hat trick with two excellent strikes and Sasa Radulovic finished off proceedings with a stylish finish when one on one with Sam Chandler. Four minutes before the end, Sam Watt was sent off for a second yellow card which had little bearing on the contest but won’t help the Bulldogs when they come up against Ipswich Knights in a fortnight with an seven point relegation gap against them on the line. Souths have looked good on paper for some time and converted that into form on the park, never letting their opposition into the contest and at times looking like it was all just a bit of a training run. Playing their particular brand of 4-2-3-1, Maher caused havoc with his mobility in the middle of the park, Jacob Alexander owned the left flank and Chihiro Ezaki did exactly the same with his pace on the right hand side. Heading into the massive Westfield FFA Cup game against Holland Park Hawks Coach Vedran Becirbegovic can only be happy with the passing accuracy KPI on display tonight; turnovers were almost non-existent which played a large part in the 63% possession they held tonight. Assessing the Capalaba performance is a tough ask because they were poor everywhere with even Chandler, who has been a rock for them all season, looking lost in the air when crosses were pinged in from both sides of the field. Provided Peninsula don’t beat Ipswich Knights by eight goals tomorrow, United will be in sixth place after the weekend and are right in the mix for a top four finish.
Coaches Reactions:
Vedran Becirbegovic (Souths United) “Back to a full strength squad tonight which really paid off and we are already thinking about the next game on the schedule. Capalaba competed well in the first half but after the break we completely dominated every aspect of the game. Very happy.” Geoff Hurford (Capalaba) “Simple aspects of the game we aren't doing well, or at all, and that is hurting us. There will be changes next week because we can't keep dishing out performances like that. Souths were mobile, moved the ball well and finished their chances but any team will when given that much time and space all over the park. No way to describe our performance tonight other than disgraceful "
FBMedia Player Of The Match: Jacob Alexander (Souths United).
This game was only alive for the first half an hour. In that time Alexander left the Bulldogs defence in his wake, simultaneously demoralising the opposition with his dominance whilst hitting his central striking targets with ease.
Match Stats:
Overall Possession: 63% - 37%
Shots on target: 11 - 6
Shots off target: 3 - 2
Corners: 7 - 3
Free kicks: 14 - 12
Penalties: 0 - 0
Offsides: 2 - 1
Yellow cards: 2 - 2
Red cards: 0 - 1
Team line-ups
Souths Utd: Radovanovic, Seo, McKain, Rodgers, Jeskey, Maher, Anderson, Alexander, Radulovic, Ezaki, Omerovic. Subs: Smith, Lyell, Cantanzaro, Goodwin.
Capalaba: Chandler, Basnett, Honsawa, Fisher, Roby, McEachran, McMullen, Dunn, Watt, Ono, Azzawi. Subs: Booth, You, Robins, Mitch. Referee: Isidro Terol Crespo.
