Well that was a relief. In our run home, the Altona fixture was always highlighted on the calendar as our most winnable game left for the season. Thankfully the boys maintained their good form and won this 6-pointer to effectively confirm our NPL status for next year.

Mercifully it took just 7 minutes for Bonada to give us the lead, after he poked a goal home following yet another long throw into the box.

The game soon flipped though when about half an hour in, Jankovic was shown a red card for an extremely soft challenge, so much so that play continued and no Altona players expected a foul. However the fourth official didn’t see it that way, calling back the referee to reassess the incident which resulted in a shock red card. My read is that there was no malice in the challenge, and no sense in the call either…

The shock undoubtedly sparked a reaction from the players but thankfully the aggression was contained to a small post incident scuffle and the game remained 1-0 at the break.

South came out charging in the second half though, and at the 49th minute, Pope scored a wonder goal from outside the box to double the lead. The shot enjoyed a heavy deflection but for me seeing the team find Pope in space is what made the goal. The play down the wing was fast, the Altona defence was scrambling and Pope continued to ride his wave of confidence to score from distance.

The team is looking good and playing as a unit. Everyone is contributing including Lopez, who once again made a couple of key saves. The team now faced two more games in the next seven days, including a flight to Tassie for the Cup!