Following the Dockerty Cup Final and the Australia Cup Semi-Final, South returned to League football on Sunday with a game against ladder leaders Avondale. Both finals and relegation were off the table for South, so the only thing at stake in this game was pride.

There was some additional context I though, this fixture was the last home game of the season, and it would have a role in the premiership race. Avondale have been neck and neck with Heidelberg all season for top spot, and after the Bergers dropped points against Oakleigh, a win against South would help Avondale go clear atop of the NPL Victoria table with a single game to go.

I think this external context matters little for South though. The truth is with little to play for and having to manage an exhausted playing group South did what is entirely reasonable and rested most of its key players – even Lopez was rested, giving Charlston the start in goals!

Amazingly, this team didn’t start too badly and held their own for much of the first half. Avondale did eventually nab the lead but only in controversial circumstances. A failed corner clearance from the young Charlston gave Avondale an open shot at goal, which appeared to be saved on the line by Ingelse, but the referee allowed the goal despite South’s protests.

After being on the receiving end of a similar call in the Dockerty Cup Final, there’s an element of ‘what goes around comes around’ as a South fan most of us will probably just accept the call. However, as a twitter profile hilariously pointed out (sorry can’t remember who) this meant that yet another controversial referee decision would ultimately work against Heidelberg, as the goal pushed Avondale to the top of the live table! Heidelberg have now endured a 13-minute injury time loss to Avondale, a disallowed goal in a Cup Final, and now a second goal line decision going against them!

Unlike the admirable first half performance though, the second half was, to put it bluntly, a shit show. Avondale proceeded to enjoy a 15-minute purple patch where they scored our goals. The first of these was a well worked move that penetrated South’s compact defensive block. The next three goals though represented more egregious errors in South’s defence. One was a failed goalkeeper clearance, another was a counterattack which exposed poor defensive positioning, and finally poor marking in the box which allowed a clear shot at goal.

Ahead of this game I understood the heavy rotation of players, but the second half collapse illustrated that one of Marshall or Jankovic should have at least started the game to support our newer and clearly overwhelmed central defenders. The rotation did offer the opportunity to blood some more youngsters with Killick, Papadimitriou and Burchmore all coming on to receive their first senior minutes for South, however overall South were poorly set up to face a mighty Avondale.

Overall, the result was a little embarrassing for the club and perhaps a bit of a wake-up call ahead of the Australian Championship. Next week’s game against Oakleigh will be far more insightful though as there will be more expectations from fans to get a result, and less of an excuse to rest key players.