Knights snap winless streak
By Jason Turner (@jaseangelo)
Melbourne Knights has snapped its four-game winless streak with a controversial 1-0 win against fellow mid-table struggler Port Melbourne on Friday night.
Stipo Andrijasevic’s second half header gave the visitors a deserved lead, however, the hosts appeared to have a couple strong penalty claims turned down.
In what shaped as a crucial clash between two sides still treading on the edge of relegation danger, the nerves shone through in a scrappy opening to the contest.
The visitors settled earlier and took a firm grip on the territorial advantage camping in Port’s defensive third for a majority if the first half.
Knights’ defender Milan Batur came the closest on 13 minutes with his powerful header from a corner being slapped away by Sharks’ keeper Stjepan Gal.
Apart from a couple of hopeful forays forward, the Sharks were restricted to containing the dominant Knights.
Eric Vassiliadis’ men improved after the break, managing to stretch a stern Melbourne defence further.
The first of the hosts’ big penalty claims occurred after a charging Andrew Milicevic was brought down from behind by a retreating Michael Doyle without appearing to touch the ball.
Lambros Honos once again proved one his side most dangerous outlets, forcing a couple of saves from Michael O’Farrell and also creating chances.
However, the Knights had always proved a threat the other way and their height at set pieces proved crucial.
Leaping above a pack of opponents, Knights forward Andrijasevic connected onto the end of a pinpoint corner, nodding his header across Gal and into the bottom corner.
It was deserved and immediately after the opener, it was the visitors that appeared the most likely to score again, enjoying more of the ball in their attacking half.
But just as both sides have demonstrated throughout the season, clear cut chances were rare.
Despite Sharks coach Vassiliadis throwing men forward, the Knights looked comfortable winding down the clock until one final onslaught from the Sharks.
With mere seconds left, the home side had another penalty claim turned down to the horror of the Port Melbourne bench.
Port coach Vassiliadis believed the controversial calls had an impact on the final result but he added that the officials “were trying their best”.
“Honestly, he’s trying but some of the stuff I saw today was bordering on farcical,” Vassiliadis said.
Despite the disappointment with the result he praised his players’ endeavour.
“I thought we did enough to get something out the game,” he added.
“But our final pass and execution was very poor.”
Knights defender Tomislav Uskok said he was pleased with the points and their first clean sheet in eight games.
“It’s been a tough couple of weeks. Some bad results and a lot of travel so it’s good to just get the three points, especially away from home,” Uskok said.
“It was a real six point game for the club.”
Next round, the Knights are back at home hosting Green Gully while Port face a challenging trip to Bentleigh Greens.
MATCH DETAILS
Port Melbourne 0 defeated by Melbourne Knights 1 (Andrijesevic 68’) [HT 0-0]
Port Melbourne Sharks: 22. Stjepan GAL, 6. Chris GROSSMAN (4. Timothy PATON 87’), 18. Milos RIDESIC, 23. Connor REDDAN, 11. Nicholas KROUSORATIS, 27. Andrew MILICEVIC (9. Alexandru ANTONESCU 74’), 17. Phillip RICCOBENE, 26. Lambros HONOS, 15. Stefan NIGRO, 14. Kamal IBRAHIM (10. Luka PRELEVIC 68’), 7. Amadu KOROMA
Unused Subs: 19. Nick McNAMARA, 1. Adam HREHORESIN
Yellow Cards: Milicevic 34’
Red Cards: none
Melbourne Knights: 25. Michael O’FARRELL, 14. Michael DOYLE, 3. Samuel TORRENS, 5. Milan BATUR (13. Antun KOVACIC 81’), 6. Tomislav USKOK, 4. Ben SUREY, 7. Daniel VISEVIC (12. Ivan GRGIC 92’), 9. Stipo ANDRIJASEVIC, 10. Marijan CVITKOVIC (8. Leo ATHANASIOU 88’), 11. Jordan O’DOHERTY, 19. Shayan ALINEJAD
Unused Subs:18. Nikola SRBINOVSKI, 1. Hrvoje CAKARUN
Yellow Cards: Uskok 10’
Red Cards: none
Last Modified on 09/08/2014 17:57
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