By Agron Dauti

Melbourne Knights demolished a struggling Dandenong Thunder with a 4-1 victory in wintery conditions at George Andrews Reserve on Saturday night.

The clash pitted the ninth-placed Dandenong Thunder against the 10th-placed Knights, but those rankings counted for little as the in-form Knights played like a top-four side on its way to capping off a brilliant month of football.

An early onslaught from Stipo Andrijasevic, Daniel Visevic and Ivan Grgic saw Melbourne earn itself a three-goal cushion in the first half-hour as it looked determined to atone for its defeat to Thunder in Round 4.

The visitors were able to slot four past Thunder goalkeeper Zaim Zeneli, with their dangerous strikeforce replicating their four-goal haul last round.

Dandenong came out of the blocks firing, but its decent chances to score did not translate on the scoreboard – something that would soon haunt the home side.

Momentum quickly swung to the visitors and Melbourne’s Andrijasevic made Thunder pay in the 13th minute when he got on the end of a Visevic pass and slotted the ball into the back of the net from close range.

A brash challenge in Dandenong’s penalty area gave the visitors the chance to double their lead from the penalty spot just moments after opening the scoring, and Visevic wasted no time in placing the spot kick toZeneli’s right as the Knights heaped the pressure on Thunder.

It was Visevic who was at the centre of the action once again when he set up teammate Grgic – he got his head on the end of Visevic’s free kick – for the Knights’ third and final goal of the first half.

The 3-0 scoreline seemed to only strengthen Melbourne, as it looked much more polished and clinical with Shayan Alinejad and Visevic causing numerous headaches for the struggling Thunder defence.

Dandenong started the second half just as it begun their first, only this time it was able to make a dent in the scoreline in the 50th minute via Jarryd Barnes, with the goal igniting hopes of a spirited comeback for the hosts.

Knights goalkeeper Chris May was able to prevent Lamb from reducing the deficit even further, and was on alert once more in the 58th minute when Alan Kearney got onto a loose ball at the top of the box, but the Thunder midfielder blazed his shot past the post.

The home side’s defensive woes continued in the 65th minute when Michael Doyle headed in a brilliantly struck Visevic corner to seal the Knights’ third consecutive win.

Knights co-captain Marijan Cvitkovic – who played out his first full 90 minutes since Round 4 – was pleased to make amends for the Knights’ home loss to Dandenong early in the season.

“Credit to the boys up front, very clinical … just really thrilled to get the three points,” Cvitkovic said.

“I think the boys put in a really solid effort. We played so well against them in the first game at our ground and we dropped the points which was extremely disappointing – we wanted to chase those three points back and we did that.”

The 4-1 home loss made matters worse for Dandenong, which slumped to its fourth loss from its past five games.

Frustrated coach Dean Hennessey said defence was the issue.

“Very disappointed [with the result],” Hennessey said.

“The general play’s alright but [we] can’t defend set pieces … no matter what personnel we’ve had out there, it’s been our Achilles heel all season.”

Despite the final result, Hennessey was pleased with the performances of Matt Millar and Kieran Dover and reserved sympathy for goalkeeper Zeneli.

“When you lose 4-1 it’s hard to highlight a lot of points but I think those two (Millar and Dover) counted themselves and also Ilir Pali – I thought he did really well and he’ll get an opportunity next week,” he said.

The Knights have a massive week ahead, with their Dockerty Cup semi-final against Bentleigh on Tuesday night and a league match away to rival South Melbourne on Sunday.

Dandenong will host Bentleigh on Saturday night in Round 18 action.

MATCH DETAILS

Round 17, 2014: Dandenong Thunder 1 (Barnes 50’) defeated by Melbourne Knights 4 (Andrijasevic 13’, Visevic 15’, Grgic 21’, Doyle 65’) at George Andrews Reserve [HT:0-3]

Dandenong Thunder: Zaim Zeneli (GK), Jarryd Barnes, Brendan Elmazovski (Rees Duncan 70’), Ramazan Tavsancioglu, Faisal Sakhi Zada (Feston Azizi 70’), Alan Kearney, Matthew Millar, Kieran Dover, Carl Lamb, Kris Koussis, Ilir Pali (Brendan Craig 70’).

Unused subs: Frazer Siddall, Josh Caruana

Yellow cards: Tavsancioglu 19’, Sakhi Zada 47’

Red cards: None

Melbourne Knights: Chris May (GK), Nikola Srbinovski (Joseph Manek 75’), Milan Batur, Daniel Visevic (Chris Stefani 83’), Marijan Cvitkovic, Antun Kovacic, Stipo Andrijasevic, Jordan O'Doherty, Ivan Grgic, Michael Doyle, Shayan Alinejad (Leo Athanasiou 82’).

Unused subs: Michael O'Farrell, Sam Torrens.

Yellow cards: Batur 36’, Alinejad 38’, Visevic 57’, Srbinovski 74’

Red cards: None

Image credit: Melinda Cimera/Melbourne Knights FC