Georgies get out of jail against unlucky Knights

The Melbourne Knights quest for their first win of the season was quashed once again last night, as poor finishing and the Georgies luck keeping the scores deadlocked at 2-2 after a 10 minute flurry of action at the end of the first half.
The Georgies drew first blood against the run of play after Knights attacking midfielder Josip Magdić had a golden opportunity in the tenth minute to slot home past Martin John who in the end did well to save a powerful shot from inside the penalty area.
The Knights were on top early in the game, and forced numerous saves from Georgies keeper Martin John, with the best chance falling to Bryan Bran who dribbled through the centre of the park to fire a shot across John from just outside the area, only to be denied.
Georgies English-import Kyle Joryeff  had luck on his side as his speculative shot from 30 meters out rocketed off the crossbar and in, much to the bewilderment of Knights custodian Ante Lončarić who thought the ball was going over. The Knights responded quickly and showed great character as they continually penetrated the Georgies back four resulting in a Kevin Townson tap in after good work by Danny Tiatto and Josip Magdić on the right hand side.
Two minutes later the Knights were in the lead through a superbly headed goal by Jean-Charles Dubois who netted his second of the season through a driven corner from Tiatto. The fairytale was not to be as Kyle Joryeff swiftly replied with his second of the game after Liam Cannell was clearly fouled and dispossessed giving Fidell Richards the opportunity to pick his pass carefully to an incoming Joryeff who made no mistake. The Knights were clearly disheartened although the kept pushing for the rest of the game.
A second half stalemate looked to eventuate until the 75th minute when the Knights stepped up a gear and the Georgies retreated. Numerous chances fell to the Knights who were denied only by Martin John, the posts and crossbar. Kevin Townson had a golden opportunity in the 85th minute to take the lead although his toe poke from inside the area hit the post and rebounded right into the arms of a waiting Martin John. Canadian Tomislav Pleš could have been the hero of the day as the Knights pressure resulted in another golden opportunity as substitue Gazmend Ajdini whipped a superb cross to Pleš who struck the ball at the penalty spot only to have John get his fingertips to it and ricochet off the crossbar.
Knights coach Ivan Đuzel was not impressed with some refereeing decisions, but ultimately said his side needed to find the back of the net more often.
“I think we played an excellent game tonight, unfortunately a couple of fouls, especially the one over the Quarry side when Pleš was through on the last man and was fouled - he was last man, executing a professional foul and not even a yellow card. I don’t want to go into the referee too much but we have to score more goals all the time, we have to score 2,3,4 goals to complete the game, because this is a new team, new spirit, new character. What I can say is we have a good bunch of boys, they’re going to go hard into the future, to make sure we start winning games.”
It was a last minute lapse that cost the Knights a seemingly certain three points against Heidelberg in round two, and this time, they should have taken the points in the dying stages, according to Đuzel.
“We played around 70 minutes, we dropped about 5-10 minutes, then we come back last 10 minutes creating 3-4 good chances to finish the game off. Unfortunately we didn’t, but the boys can lift it up when they need.”
Đuzel said he believed the guest stay of Knight Danny Tiatto would be just that, saying that he would most likely not play more games with his original club - but the coach and managment at the Knights still harbour a desire to see Danny play some games later in the year.
Sunshine coach Andy O’Dell was blunt in his assessment of his side, admitting the Georgies got out of jail.
“Hammered. Very impressive, Melbourne Croatia, very good. From start to finish, we got hammered. They were far better at passing, they’re a good side,” he said.
O’Dell said it was an up and down second half for his side, saved by some brilliant finishing by Joryeff.
“We got one nil up, but we’re not mentally strong, we’re not.
“We switch off in vital times in the first half, we concede a silly goal, our defenders had a chance to clear it. The second goal, the boy’s got a free header in the six-yard box, so you get what you deserve. It showed a bit of character to get back in the game 2-2.”
O’Dell said his mantra of staying in the premier league had not changed, and he did not getting carried away by his side’s spot in the top five early in the season.
“You get your priorities right, you have to stay in the league, we’ve got five points and we’re unbeaten three games.”
Although dejected, the Knights were upbeat. The superb football Ivan Đuzel has the Knights playing is already paying dividends with another big crowd turning out this week to watch the team which is getting a reputation of playing the best football Somers Street has seen in a decade.
This Friday the 19th of March the Knights travel to SS Anderson Reserve in Port Melbourne to take on the on fire Hume City - a game which promises to be another entertaining encounter with the Knights looking to surprise a win over the fancied Vlahos-coached side. Kick off is at 8:30pm.