Souths spring through

By Gavin Staindl
WITH a comfortable win over Berwick City, South Springvale is through to the second round of the Mirabella Cup, setting up an intriguing battle against rivals Noble Park this week.
The Souths were never troubled in their first round encounter against Berwick, beating the youngsters 3-1 at Warner Reserve last Saturday.
South Springvale recruit Alex Akrivopoulos set the match alight in the opening half, using his powerful right boot to give the home team the opening goal.
Akrivopoulos, who was traded from Kingston City and the end of last year, also put the game to bed with South’s third goal that he neatly placed in the right corner from a dead-in-front free kick. Berwick had no answers for the defensive pressure placed on its defenders, continually coughing up possession in its back half.
Only a late goal in the final few minutes returned a sense of respectability to the Berwick scoreline.
South Springvale sets up a second round clash against Noble Park, who had a 4-1 win over Harrisfield Hurricanes at White Eagles Stadium.
Noble Park and South Springvale enjoyed a friendly rivalry last year as both clubs battled for promotion to Division Two. As it turned out, both sides advanced to the higher league, but the two teams will meet earlier than expected when they clash this Saturday at Warner Reserve ahead of the season proper.
“Both teams have a lot of respect for each other,” South Springvale coach Steve Voursoukis said. Noble Park beat South Springvale in the final game of 2010 to sneak into first place at the expense of its opponents, so Voursoukis is looking forward to getting one back on his rivals.
“After losing last year, we owe them a little bit.We have played many times so it will be nice to get one over them before we start the season together,” he said.