By Sean Ellicott (@seanellicott)

Heidelberg United has secured its fifth successive win, defeating a depleted Melbourne Knights 1-0 at Olympic Park on Sunday night.

An own goal from Antun Kovacic saw his slide slump to its seventh consecutive defeat, leaving the Knights reeling with six points after nine games.

Heidelberg entered the match in flying form, sitting third on the table after netting four against Green Gully last weekend while the Knights sat in 12th position, missing up to eight first-team regulars and forced to rely upon youth and experimentation with tactics.

The game kicked off in unfortunate circumstances for Heidelberg, which saw Daniel Vasilevski withdrawn from action after only a few minutes and taken to hospital with a dislocated knee.

His side nevertheless kicked on, with Paul Miller almost scoring in stunning fashion on the volley, only to be foiled by Knights custodian Christopher May, who was outstanding on the night.

Jack Petrie's set pieces also provided problems for the Knights in defence, leading to Heidelberg's only goal after 19 minutes.

Successive corners from Petrie were inefficiently dealt with by the visitors, which saw the ball find its way into the back of the net. Kovacic was unfortunate to have the final touch among the congestion.

With the advantage, Heidelberg pressed forward in an attempt to capitalise on its superiority.

Kaine Sheppard and Dan Heffernan combined well in the final third for Heidelberg, the pair continuing their fine form thus far, having entered the contest  netting 11 between them from nine rounds, with the latter bagging all four last week.

Both had plenty of opportunities to extend their side’s advantage and perhaps could have on any other given day if not for May's superb goalkeeping.

The Knights thought they had found an equaliser prior to the break when Christopher Talajic converted from a corner, only for the assistant referee to adjudicate that the ball had swung out of play before re-entering.

Upon the restart, the Knights continued their attempts to wrestle their way back into the match.

May was again on call to keep his side in the game with a brilliant double save, while the visitors provided Heidelberg some headaches at the other end when Miller was forced into a last-ditch goal-line clearance from Talajic's volley.

Leo Athanasiou soon replaced Talajic and was lively upon entering the fray, flashing his shot on goal just outside the penalty area agonisingly wide of Ryan Norval's upright.

Sheppard and Heffernan continued to torment the Knights’ defence and easily could have doubled the lead on numerous occasions, but May continued to stand tall between the posts.
The Knights desperately pushed forward in search of an equaliser yet failed to breached United's resilient defence, as the home side held on for another crucial win and consolidated third spot on the table.

Heidelberg United coach George Katsakis described his side’s five-game winning streak as "absolutely amazing”.

"I think we've made a statement now that we are not going to concede goals as easy as we were early on in the season, but more importantly I said after the game to the players that this was almost a payback from the defence to our attackers,” Katsakis said.

"They've (Heidelberg attackers) been scoring numerous amounts of goals every week and you can afford to concede every now and then and today they didn't concede anything and it only took the one goal to win the game.  

"Had one or two others gone in I think it could have opened the floodgates as such but after all it was very hard fought and we had to grind the result out."

Knights captain Ben Surey was disappointed but acknowledged his side was well undermanned.

"Disappointing again, working hard obviously with a depleted squad, a lot of young players but no excuse really,” Surey said.

"That’s the reason why we're not doing as well as expected but we could have nicked a point today just as we could have in a couple of other games.

"It's disappointing but we are saying the same thing every week so we'll keep trying and pushing, we are trying to stay positive but it’s hard."

MATCH DETAILS

Heidelberg United 1 (Kovacic own goal 19’) defeated Melbourne Knights 0 at Olympic Village [HT: 1-0]

Heidelberg United: 20. Ryan NORVAL, 4. Jordan WILKES, 3. Les DOUMBALIS (2. Peter KRATKY 68'), 13. Luke BYLES, 6. Paul MILLER, 17. Steven PACE, 10. Jack PETRIE, 5. Daniel VASILEVSKI (23. Andrew CARTANOS 3’) 9. Kosta KANAKARIS (7. Stefan BARICEVIC 86’) 14. Daniel HEFFERNAN, 22. Kaine SHEPPARD (7. Stef BARECIVEC 83').

Unused Substitutes: 1. Griffin McMaster

Yellow cards: Miller (47'), Byles (84')

Red Cards: None

Melbourne Knights: 1. Christopher MAY, 2. Michael SIMMS (17. Luke JURIC 85'), 4. Ben SUREY, 5. Milan BATUR, 6. Tomislav USKOK, 7. Christoper TALAJIC (10. Leo ATHANASIOU 56'), 11. Anthony COLOSIMO, (18 Anthony DUZEL 56'), 13. Antun KOVACIC, 17. Nikola SRBINOVSKI, 12. Ivan GRGIC 64’ 19. Shayan ALINEJAD.

Unused Substitutes: Michael O'FARRELL

Yellow Cards: Uskok (47'), Kovacic (59'),  Grgic (90').

Red Cards: None

Image credit: Steve Starek/Melbourne Knights FC