By Brandon Galgano (@bgalgano94) 

Two second-half goals were enough for Heidelberg United to seal an impressive victory over Melbourne Knights at Knights Stadium on Sunday Afternoon. 

In a game of relatively few clear chances it was the visitors who took the three points ending what has been an already miserable week for the home side. 

The Knights came into the match following a disappointing trip to Brisbane, where they saw their FFA Cup campaign end at the hands of Olympic FC, with both goalkeeper Chris May and goal scorer from that match Jordan O’Doherty shown red cards, meaning they would be serving suspensions against the Bergers. 

Heidelberg on the other hand came into the game on the back of a tense draw against Green Gully during the week and were looking to get back to winning ways in their quest of closing the gap with second-placed Oakleigh. 

There was no holding back in the opening few minutes of the game as both sides showed an intention to go in hard from kick-off, with the referee having to stop the game on a number of occasions as challenges flew in from both parties. 

It was Heidelberg though who created the first real chance on goal after six minutes as Dan Heffernan broke through past the Knights defenders before seeing his effort parried away by stand in goalkeeper Michael O’Farrell. 

Heidelberg begun to dominate the contest as the hosts struggled to clear their lines, and they created another opportunity in the 25th minute as Heffernan once again found space on the edge of the area following some great build up play from Kaine Sheppard, but his effort was straight at the keeper. 

Despite dominating the opening period though, Heidelberg couldn’t make the most of their chances and as a result the score remained at 0-0 going into the break. 

The second half picked up from where the first left off as Heidelberg continued to dominate in possession and created two great opportunities to open the scoring through both Costa Karnakaris and Jacob Williams, but both were denied by the Knights ‘keeper. 

The opener came just nine minutes into the second half though in bizarre circumstances. 

Having just seen Williams’ effort saved by O’Farrell the Bergers were keen to keep the pressure on from the resulting corner. 

They did more than just that though as Jack Petrie swung the resulting set piece straight over the head of the Knights custodian and into the back of the net, catching everyone, including Petrie himself, by surprise in the 54th minute. 

The goal seemed to inspire the home side into action and it very nearly equalised just a minute later from its own set piece but the header from Milan Batur flew over the bar.  

Heidelberg then sealed the points with just seven minutes remaining as a fantastic lofted pass found Dan Heffernan free on the edge of the box, and the NPLV leading scorer showcased all his class with a seemingly effortless chip which left O’Farrell with no chance as the ball sailed into the top corner to make it 2-0. 

They very nearly made it three right at the death as another driving run forward and cut back from Heffernan found youngster James Goulopoulos free inside the area with just the keeper to beat but his effort smashed onto the crossbar and away. 

It mattered little though as the final whistle sounded just minutes later to seal an impressive victory for Heidelberg who was simply too strong for an inexperienced Knights outfit. 

Heidelberg coach George Katsakis was thoroughly delighted at his side’s display throughout the entire 90 minutes, before emphasising his desire to not just settle for third spot over the remaining rounds of the 2014 NPLV campaign.

“I just thought we were dominant, I thought we were always in control and even though they looked threatening on the counter we created the better of the opportunities and were clinical with our chances,” Katsakis said. 

“We just need to make sure we go into each match with a winning mentality and whilst everything is still mathematically possible we will continue to chase second position.” 

Melbourne Knights skipper Ben Surey was understandably frustrated with his side’s performance in the second half following on from an already disappointing week for the club, and stressed the need for improvement going into a massive Friday night clash against fellow strugglers Port Melbourne. 

“The second half just wasn’t good enough to be honest, in the first half at least we had a go but in the second half as soon as we conceded the first goal we lifted a little but it was too late and we need to do that from the start of the game really,” Surey said.

“It’s going to be a difficult game on Friday night and we have to win but it really just comes down to attitude and we need to be much better than we were in that second half if we are going to come away with anything out of that game.”

Match Details: 

Heidelberg United 2 (Petrie 54’, Heffernan 83’) defeated the Melbourne Knights 0 at Knights Stadium. 

Melbourne Knights Line-up: Michael O’Farrell, Michael Doyle, Ivan Grgic, Milan Batur, Sam Torrens (81’ Antun Kovacic) , Leo Athanasiou (67’ Chris Antoniadis) , Tomislav Uskok, Ben Surey ©, Shayan Alinejad, Stipo Andrijasevic, Daniel Visevic (54’ Marijan Cvitkovic)    

Yellow Cards: Torrens 49’, Batur 76’ 

Red Cards: None 

Heidelberg United Line-up: Griffin McMaster, John Lazaridis, Jordan Wilkes, Luke Byles ©, Jacob Williams, Costa Karnakaris (67’ Paul Miller), Jack Petrie (61’ Zane Sole), Mark McGough, Andrew Cartanos (81’ James Goulopolous), Dan Heffernan, Kaine Sheppard

Yellow Cards: Karnakaris 33’, Byles 84’ 

Red Cards: None