South Melbourne beat a brave South Hobart 2-1

Photos (Top to Bottom): South Hobart coach Ken Morton (right) with South Melbourne coach Vaughan Coveny; The two squads before the game [Vicki Woods Photos]; Ken Morton...delighted by his team's performance; Kostas Kanakaris...scored Hobart's goal; Wook Bum Heo...brilliant performance for South Hobart; Yong Hee Kim...made the goal for Kanakaris; Jonathon Lo...back with South Hobart this season but did not make the trip to Melbourne [PlessPix]

South Melbourne beat South Hobart 2-1 at Bob Jane Stadium this afternoon.

The Victorians led 2-0 at half-time, but Kostas Kanakaris had the ball in the net for the visitors in the first half, only to have the effort cancelled out because of off-side, a decision even the home side’s players and supporters questioned.

Kanakaris netted for South Hobart in the second period, from a cross by Yong Hee Kim, to make the score-line very respectable.

In the dying seconds, Kanakaris was on his way to goal and might have grabbed an equaliser, but the referee’s whistle ended the contest as the South Hobart player was about to shoot.

The score-line was vastly different to last season, when South Melbourne won 10-0.

“Bart Beecroft was outstanding and Daniel Brown, at centre-back, was excellent,” said South Hobart coach, Ken Morton.

“Wook Bum Heo was absolutely brilliant.

“Kostas worked very hard and scored a great goal but was given off-side.

Morton was delighted with the work-out for his side and with the result.

“Jonathon Lo, one of our top strikers, and Tom Roach weren’t with us,” he said.

“With that to come, and if we can keep playing the way we did, it was absolutely super.

“We defended very, very well and their goals have come in from range. They cracked them with the wind behind them, and, okay, they flew in, and one from a good angle.

“But, I took notes and, other than that, they’ve never had any real big chances.

“They’ve shot from range against us.

“Sam Kruijver was in goal for us and he was very steady, very consistent.

“They brought on four or five players in the second half to freshen it up.

“It was a really solid performance and creative as well, with plenty of buzz about us.”

A-League Results

Melbourne Victory 6 (Thompson 4, Kruse 12, 26 39, Muscat 79 pen, Hernandez 82) b Perth Glory 2 (Vargas og 20, Sterjovski 52)

Att: 20,448 (Etihad Stadium)

Brisbane Roar 0-2 Newcastle Jets (Thompson 50, Bridges 56 pen)

Att: 6,680 (Suncorp Stadium)

Adelaide stay bottom of A-League

Photos (Top to Bottom): Travis Dodd...Adelaide captain scored equaliser; Aurelio Vidmar...Adelaide coach still believes his team can earn a top-six finals spot [PlessPix]

Adelaide United stayed on the bottom of the A-League ladder after drawing 1-1 with eighth-placed Central Coast Mariners before 10,156 fans at Hindmarsh Stadium in Adelaide tonight.

The Mariners moved up one place to seventh as a result of the draw.

Goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic had a fine game for Adelaide and made several crucial saves.

His opposite number, Danny Vukovic, had little to do. One of his few saves was against Cassio in the first half.

The Mariners went ahead through a penalty in the 37^th minute after Cassio had bowled over Predrag Bojic with a clumsy foul.

Nik Mrdja scored easily from the spot as Galekovic dived the wrong way.

Two minutes before the break, Adelaide captain Travis Dodd equalised with a good finish from the right after Lloyd Owuso had put him through.

Adelaide United coach Aurelio Vidmar said he had not given up hope of qualifying for the finals.

Adelaide are in action again on Tuesday when they play Perth Glory.

Wellington Phoenix rise to fourth place and displace Newcastle Jets

Photo: Wellington's WestPac Stadium [PlessPix]

Wellington Phoenix moved up a place to fourth spot on the A-League ladder with a 3-0 win over second-last North Queensland Fury at WestPac Stadium in Wellington this evening.

The match was played in Antarctic-type conditions. It is mid-summer in the southern hemisphere, but the temperature in Wellington was in single digits and the stadium was lashed by driving rain driven by gale-force winds.

There were 7,727 fans in attendance and, 10 minutes from the end, a group of ‘Yellow Fever’ home fans performed their usual ritual when their team is winning near the end - they stripped off to the waist and waved their scarves and chanted in support of their team.

Fury had the better of the first-half chances, with Robbie Fowler shooting into the side-netting in the 3^rd minute and Dryon Daal having a shot saved by Liam Reddy in the 6^th minute.

After the goalless opening half, Wellington took the lead in the 47^th minute with a Eugene Dadi header following a corner.

Dadi later had to be substituted after suffering a bad head wound that bled profusely.

Paul Ifill made it 2-0 in the 78^th minute when he cut in from the left and scored with a right-footed shot from the edge of the box.

Jon McKain completed the scoring in the 90^th minute with a fine header from a deep right-wing cross after a corner.

South Hobart loses to South Melbourne

Photos (Top to Bottom): Reserve coach Rodney Bones addresses the Tilford Zebras squad at training; Troy Kaden puts Jason Voss through his paces; Troy Kaden; Jason Voss; Dale Itchins

South Melbourne beat South Hobart 4-1 this evening in the Tasmanians’ first game against the Victorian giants at Bob Jane Stadium.

South Melbourne fielded what was probably an under-20 team, with three or four over-age players.

South Hobart fielded a youth side in the first half and trailed 2-0 at the interval.

They brought on some senior players for the second half and Andy King managed to pull a goal back for the visitors, but the home side scored twice more.

Kostas Kanakaris also should have done better with a couple of chances that came his way.

Ken Morton was pleased with South’s performance and said that sloppy defending cost them at least a couple of goals.

The senior sides will meet on Saturday in the second and final game of the tour.

*****

Senior coach Romeo Frediani and several senior players were missing from Tilford Zebras’ training session at Queens Walk this evening.

Frediani is in Sydney for a Futsal tournament.

In his absence, Rodney Bones took the session, while Dale Itchins and Nick Di Martino were also in attendance.

New goalkeeper Jason Voss was going through his paces with last year’s first-choice keeper Troy Kaden and another young keeper.