Avondale hands South Melbourne its first defeat of the NPL Victoria season

The Avengers handed Hellas their first loss of the NPL Victoria season at Lakeside Stadium on Saturday to launch back into the premiership race.

George Ott scored a brace, while Yusuf Ahmed converted a penalty to earn the club’s first win at Lakeside since 2019.

The win is an immediate response to a shock 1-0 defeat to Green Gully last week and sees Avondale move within three points of South at the top of the table.

Missing a host of key players, including Kristian Trajceski, Stefan Zinni, Matthew Reid, Kalilou Kamara, Blake Carpenter and Dillon Jakupi, Avengers coach Zoran Markovski said his squad was at its best when its back was against the wall.

“It’s massive … to get a response against South and give them their first loss was one of the most memorable wins,” Markovski said.

“We played three outstanding games then we had the cup game mid-week and the boys looked really flat against Green Gully.

“It was probably one of the worst performances since I’ve been here as head coach.

“It wasn’t motivation, you just can’t have an off day.

“Training was really positive during the week and we were more focused on ourselves than South Melbourne to tell you the truth.

“If you want to be the best team in the league you’ve got to knock off these teams and the effort the boys put in on the weekend was remarkable.”

South Melbourne started strongly but it was the visitors that struck first as Ott opened the scoring in the 14th minute, finishing off a swift counter-attack.

Liston Diaz threaded a through ball to the New Zealand striker and he cooly finished between a sprawling Jake Marshall and keeper Javi Lopez.

Trailing at the half for just the second time this season, Hellas were soon back on level terms.

Skipper Harrison Sawyer converted from the penalty spot in the 51st minute – his league-leading 12th goal of the campaign.

However, just five minutes later the Avengers were back in the lead as Ahmed converted a penalty of his own.

Ott then sealed the three points in the 62nd minute, Yitayew Towns pouncing on a loose Ross Archibald pass, and he slammed it into the back of the net from the top of the box.

Markovski was pleased for Ott after coming off the bench for much of the season and had high praise for young gun Massimo D’Argenio for his job on Sawyer.

“I was proud of George, he worked hard at training,” Markovski said.

“He has been all year, coming off the bench and not starting many games and there was an opportunity for him.

“I had to use Kur Kur at full-back, which really worked, he’s the only left-footer in the team aside from Blake Carpenter and Massimo.

“I didn’t want to take Mass out of a central position because he was our best player against Green Gully.

“He did an exceptional job on Sawyer, a 19-year-old kid on the top marksman in the NPL.”

South Melbourne’s day was further soured by an apparent knee injury suffered by defender Marko Jankovic in just the 15th minute of the match.

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Hellas outshot Avondale 21-10 and had five corners to nil but couldn’t take advantage of their possession.

Despite the loss, South remains on top of the ladder, three points clear of Avondale, Hume City and Heidelberg United.

The Warriors dominated Manningham 5-0 as Kaine Sheppard scored a brace, while Hume was too good for Altona Magic 2-0 with Lloyd Isgrove and Aamir Abdullah both scoring their eighth goals of the year.

Elsewhere, Melbourne Knights responded to sacked coach Ben Surey with a 3-0 win over Dandenong Thunder, Green Gully humbled St Albans 4-0 and Port Melbourne defeated Dandenong City 3-1.

Originally published as Avondale hands South Melbourne its first defeat of the NPL Victoria season