By Mark Gojszyk (@hahahamark)

Melbourne Knights has withstood a late barrage to defeat Green Gully 4-3 at Knights Stadium. 

It was a tale of two halves, as four opening half goals by the Knights were almost cancelled out by three to the visitors after the break.

The left wing was a hotbed of activity for Melbourne, with all of their goals – scored by Stipo Andrijasevic, Jordan O’Doherty and two by Marijan Cvitkovic – coming from that side. 

The two Matthews did the damage for Gully, with Sanders bagging a brace, and Reid adding another, but the visitors fell agonisingly short of what would have been a remarkable draw.

Knights started in scintillating fashion, with Shayan Alinejad finding Andrijasevic from the wing, but his flick at goal was held by Kieran Gonzalez.

There was nothing the ‘keeper could do about Andrijasevic’s next effort just seconds later, as the striker pounced on an underhit backpass to calmly slot home.

Gully then thought it may have had the reply when Sanders waltzed through on goal, but he was flagged offside before getting his shot into the net.

The Knights added a second goal in innocuous circumstances soon after, as a Cvitkovic cross evaded everybody and bounced into the net.

Just 25 minutes into the contest, the hosts had a third goal when Alinejad beat his opponent on the wing, dribbled into the box and found O’Doherty, who took a touch and finished calmly.

Everybody was getting in on the action for the home side, as Cvitkovic added the fourth goal after capitalising on Daniel Visevic’s dribble and pass into the box. 

The 38th and 39th minutes were Gully’s most productive for the half, with Downes scuffing his side’s first shot wide, and then Sanders had the best chance to score past an advancing O’Farrell, but was also pressured into shooting wide.

The second period commenced in scrappy fashion, though Gully looked like it was finally starting to find its feet. 

Michael O’Farrell was forced into two fingertip saves, keeping out a Jason Hayne set-piece, and a Sanders’ point-blank half volley from a Haynes cross.

The sustained period of pressure culminated in a defensive error from Tomislav Uskok, who let Sanders through on goal, and the striker finished neatly. 

Minutes later Surey was also forced into an uncharacteristic error, and Jeff Fleming found Sanders for his second goal in five minutes.

In response, the Knights tried to wrestle back the ascendency and put the game beyond doubt with a flurry of chances.

Visevic flashed a free kick just wide of the goals, while Andrijasevic also curled a shot over Gonzalez – who was off his line – narrowly wide.

The latter was played through on goal moments later, but the ‘keeper blocked what looked like a certain goal.

Gully’s task was made all the more difficult in the 80th minute when Haynes received his marching orders, but the visitors kept pressing and found a third goal when Reid bundled the ball over the line from close range.

Nervous moments ensued for the home fans just a minute before time, when a corner kick was met by Fleming, but his header flashed just high.

One more foray into the Gully box in extra time was cleaned up by O’Farrell, with the Knights holding on for a nail-biting win.

Knights’s double goal scorer Marijan Cvitkovic was relieved with the victory.

"Coming out before the first half we said to ourselves, "it’s been a long time since we’ve had a home win, so were keen to come out and get off to a good start" and we did that," Cvitkovic said.

"In the second half we took the foot off the pedal, [we were] in first gear - credit to Gully, they came out and pressed us."

Green Gully coach Slobode Stojcevski was disappointed with the manner in which his side conceded soft goals in the first half, putting themselves on the back foot. 

"We made basic errors, the first two goals were gifts, they were poor quality, I wasn’t happy with the first half at all in terms of quality," Stojcevski said. 

"Confidence went down and we continued to make mistake after mistake."

MATCH DETAILS 

Melbourne Knights 4 (Andrijasevic 2’, Cvitkovic 16’ 33’, 23) defeated Green Gully 3 (Sanders 64’ 69’, Reid 82) at Knights Stadium [HT: 4-0] 

Melbourne Knights starting XI: 25 Michael O'FARRELL, 3 Sam TORRENS, 4 Ben SUREY (C), 5 Milan BATUR, 6 Tomislav USKOK, 7 Daniel VISEVIC (13 Antun KOVAC 82’), 9 Stipo ANDRIJASEVIC, 10 Marijan CVITKOVIC, 11 Jordan O'DOHERTY (17 Joey MONEK 72’), 14 Michael DOYLE, 19 Shayan ALINEJAD (8 Leo ATHANASIOU 90+2’)

Unused Subs: 1 Harry CAKARUN, 18 Anthony Duzel

Yellow Cards: Surey 72’, Cvitkovic 81’

Red cards: None 

Green Gully starting XI: 1 Kieran GONZALEZ, 5 Rodrigo VARGAS, 6 Stephen DOWNES, 7 Jeffrey FLEMING, 8 Jason HAYNE, 10 Ratip CILELI (18 Cameron DAVIS 89’), 11 Jem BERKANT (22 Peter MODAFERRI 68’), 12 Mathew SANDERS, 16 Thomas DENG, 19 Peter DENG, 21 Adam PETKO (4 Matthew REID 46’)

Unused subs: 23 Christopher AILAKIS, , 13 Omar ABDIGAFAR, ,.

Yellow cards: Peter Deng 27’, Sanders 47’,  Gonzalez 80’

Red cards:  Hayne 80’

Image credit: Jason Heidrich