Beaten 4-0 by Eastern Suburbs at Bill McKinlay Park, it is the only team without a win, with just one point to show for its efforts five weeks into the national football league.
Chances were few and far between, as Eastern Suburbs dominated play, scoring two goals in each half as it coasted to victory. Southern was its own worst enemy, turning over ball and putting itself under pressure, while failing to take the chances that came its way.
"We conceded sloppy goals and missed good chances," Southern coach Paul O’Reilly said.
"You can’t do that at this level and expect to win games.
"The first half, we pressed quite well and we did create chances, which was a positive. But the thing that’s killing us at the moment is we’re giving away really sloppy, poor goals.
"If we continue that, it’s going to be difficult. We’ve got to eradicate and stop giving away poor goals. [I’m] really disappointed today. It was a poor result and performance-wise we’ve got to be better."
O’Reilly praised the quality of Eastern Suburbs. It was a club with a large budget which helped it attract high-level players, which was hard for Southern to compete with.
The score was 2-0 at halftime, but it could easily have been 2-2. Armin Pasagic put Eastern Suburbs into the lead in the 15th minute from the spot, although Southern could count itself unlucky, the penalty looking fairly innocuous. Southern had its own stroke of luck minutes later, another innocuous challenge seeing Tennessee Kinghorn fall in the box. Danny Ledwith’s penalty down the middle caught the trailing foot of goalkeeper Josh Dijkstra. However, the score remained
1-0. Eastern Suburbs extended the margin in the 34th minute, as Pasagic finished with his left after some clumsy play from Southern saw it turn the ball over in the danger zone, leaving its defence exposed. Southern showed glimpses of its attacking threat, nearly pegging one back when Kinghorn was found in the box, but his finishing deserted him as he hit the right post.
Eastern Suburbs exerted its full dominance in the second half, limiting Southern to a handful of long-range shots, and picking up a further two goals itself. The first, a header to Luke Adams, saw the Southern defence lost off a corner, the ball trickling through a gap that should never have been.
Fabien Kurimata added the last, a brilliant left-footed strike from outside the box, beating his man and sneaking it past goalkeeper Liam Little’s left-hand side.
In other games, Tasman United picked up its first win, beating Hamilton Wanderers 3-2, while Wellington Phoenix under-20 upset Auckland City 1-0. Team Wellington picked up its third win with a 2-0 victory over Waitakere United and Hawke’s Bay United drew 1-1 with Canterbury United.
