The second-placed South was in brilliant form as it ran rampant against a City side that has now lost consecutive games.

The retaining of the ANZAC Day Cup was courtesy of a four-goal performance by striker Gianni De Nittis, who won the Best & Fairest player for the day.

But it was Fernando De Moraes who opened the scoring after 36 minutes in heavy rain.

The impressive Joe Keenan fed De Moraes who slotted home into the corner of the net after twisting and turning on the edge of the area.

De Nittis had his first five minutes later after great midfield interplay.

Carl Recchia found Keenan on the right and his ball across the area gave De Nittis a simple finish at the back post.

A minute later and it was three after Sebastian Petrovic put De Nittis behind the City defence and he beat Lupce Acevski to give the visitors a handy lead at the break.

All hopes of a comeback were snuffed out after 52 minutes.

De Moraes had a couple of opportunities before the ball fell for De Nittis to score his hat trick.

But the highlight of the game came after 73 minutes courtesy of Daniel Vasilevski.

With a free kick awarded 25 yards out with barely any angle, the 28-year-old swung a curling rocket into the top right hand corner of Acevski's net, leaving the keeper helpless.

De Nittis wrapped up the thrashing with his fourth five minutes from time after a De Moraes assist, leaving captain Rama Tavsancioglu to lift the cup.

Oakleigh continued its table-topping run with a 2-0 win over Richmond on Monday night.

The Cannons went ahead courtesy of a cool finish from striker Jerry Karpeh just before half time.

The game slowed down in the second period but Nicholas Kalmar sealed the win for the home side with a free kick in the 82nd minute.

Sunshine George Cross scored a huge 1-0 derby win over Green Gully in Bendigo on Sunday.

A brilliant 25-yard strike by Kyle Joryeff proved to be the difference between the two sides just after the hour mark.

It was Joryeff's fourth goal of the season and gave the Georgies a deserved victory in rural Victoria.

Melbourne Knights rebounded from its loss last week with a 2-0 win over Altona Magic.

The Knights went ahead midway through the second half thanks to winger Kevin Townson.

Fellow winger Adrian Zahra played Jean-Charles Dubois into space down the wing.

The striker, who was receiving plenty of attention from the Magic defence, found Townson who opened the scoring for the visitors.

Townson doubled the lead 10 minutes later when he collected Tomislav Tomich's parry from Dubois and dribbled past the Magic custodian before sliding the ball into an empty net.

Dandenong Thunder broke its winless run with a 1-0 win over Northcote City.

Young debutant Murat Abazi was the match winner with his 75th minute goal.

The 17-year-old produced the header from a Joseph Di Iorio cross to give the Thunder a much-needed victory.

In what was supposed to be the opening game of the round, Bentleigh's encounter with Heidelberg was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

Ladder (after eight rounds)

1 - Oakleigh Cannons             +6        17 pts

2 - South Melbourne              +7        15 pts

3 - Hume City                                    +1        13 pts

4 - Richmond                         +1        13 pts

5 - Bentleigh*                         +1        11 pts

 

6 - Sunshine George Cross     -2         11 pts

7 - Green Gully                      -1         9 pts

8 - Melbourne Knights           +2        8 pts

9 - Northcote City                  -2         7 pts

10 - Altona Magic                  -2         7 pts

 

11 - Dandenong Thunder       -10       7 pts

12 - Heidelberg United*        -1         3 pts

* have only played seven games

 

Goals

6 - Fernando De Moraes (South Melbourne)

5 - Daniel Visevic (Richmond), Gianni De Nittis (South Melbourne), Kevin Townson (Melbourne Knights), Jerry Karpeh (Oakleigh)

4 - Osagie Ederaro (Heidelberg United), Jean-Charles Dubois (Melbourne Knights), Jesse Krncevic (Richmond), Damir Lokvancic (Bentleigh), Kyle Joryeff (Sunshine George Cross)