Tonight we face Bentleigh in the Cup down at Kingston Heath. It will be the first game for the new coach Sinisa Cohadzic and will be an important tune up ahead of the Oakleigh game this weekend.

Fresh from a 4-0 loss to Avondale (which I don’t think we played THAT bad) the boys will be looking for a bit of a confidence boost, and at the very least a goal. Out last goal came against Eastern Lions in the Cup (April 19th) and before that against Dandenong City (a 1-3 loss in on March 31st). Bonada will almost certainly not play, even recovered it would not be worth risking a follow up injury in a game like this so it’s likely that Harding will again lead the charge, despite his unconvincing performances up front so far.

It will be interesting to see if Sinisa Cohadzic continues with Minopoulos’ possession based approach. This change in style has made us look a lot better (at least to eye still adjusting from Esta-ball) but it have not yielded any strong results. Cohadzic by all accounts plays attacking football, it will be interesting how he implements such a style with our current squad.

In terms of Bentleigh their form has been better then ours. The VPL1 outfit defeated George Cross to reach this stage of the cup and in the league their form has dropped a little, with only 7 points from their last five game including losses to Brunswick City and Bulleen. Despite this, Bentleigh still find themselves 2nd in the league and in line for promotion, undoubtedly the goal for the team coached by none other than George Katsakis.

Although Cup football is no longer a priority for South this year a win here feels like a necessity. Playing against lower league opposition (albeit a strong one) the players can’t afford another hit to their confidence. I want to see a win, an improved playing style, and some promising attacking play. Defensively we’ve been caught out these past few weeks mostly from midfield turnovers, hopefully we can plug this gap!