Melbourne Knights FC Official Website 
The Melbourne Knights face the Dandenong Thunder in round two of the NPL Victoria season at Knights Stadium on Friday, March 5th at 7:30PM.
The Knights will be aiming to make it two from two in their Friday night clash with the Thunder, after defeating the Port Melbourne Sharks 1-0 in the season opener.
In the Knights 1-0 win against the Sharks, the boys got off to the best of starts, taking the lead through Gian Albano within the first 20 minutes. The match looked to take an unfortunate turn for the Knights, when Nikola Jurkovic was sent off halfway through the first half. The lads got on with the job and held on to a valiant 1-0 victory.
The Dandenong Thunder scraped through for a point in their last outing against Dandenong City. Dandenong City broke the deadlock in the 61st minute and looked to take home all three points, until the Thunder secured an equaliser from the penalty spot, thanks to Nahuel Bonada in the 94th minute, to secure the point.
The last time these two sides faced was in the interrupted 2020 NPL Victoria season, before the suspension of the competition. The match ended in a 3-3 draw, in a contest that saved all of the excitement until the very end.
Within the final 10 minutes of our last matchup with the Thunder, the Knights took the lead through a Hamish Watson penalty in the 87th minute. It wasn’t over yet, as Knights goalkeeper Harry Cakarun was shown a straight red card in the 94th minute, which saw the Thunder steal a point in the 96th minute, thanks to their captain Brayden Barnes, who equalised.
For the huge home clash, the Knights will be without vice-captain Jurkovic, after he sustained a one match ban, the lowest possible penalisation after receiving a red card in last weeks match. Despite the loss, the side will be sure to dig deep, as they did the previous week to leave the park with all three points in hand.
The Knights hope to return home will help propel a string home wins with the Knights fans there to show their support. Get on down to Knights Stadium tomrorow night for a 7:30PM kick off, to be one of the many Knights supporters in attendance! It’s going to be epic!
– Tom Hayes
Melbourne Knights Squad:
21- Thomas Manos, 99- Harry Cakarun, 2- Jack Marth, 3- Lachlan Weier, 4- Nikola Jurkovic, 5- Ayden Brice, 6- Anthony Duzel, 7- Mathew Breeze, 8- James McGarry, 9- Alun Webb, 10- Gian Albano, 11- Caleb Mikulic, 12- Ivan Grgic, 13- Daniel Petrov, 14- Trevor Zwetsloot, 15- Felipe Sanchez, 16- Mohammed Sumaoro, 17- Trevor Ssemakula, 18- Dante Karlusic, 19- Nicholas Glavan, 22- Lucas Cuschieri, 23- Joseph Colina
Dandenong Thunder Squad:
Ali Sulemani, Dau Akol, Giuseppe Marafioti, Harley Orr, Harry Ascroft, Jamal Ali, Joshua Meaker, Kane Runge, Mersim Memeti, Nahuel Bonada, Paul Kuol, Paul Wilson, Zelfy Nazary
2021 NPL Vic Round 2 – Melbourne Knights FC v Dandenong Thunder FC
Date: Friday, March 5th
Time: 7:30PM (AEDT)
Venue: Knights Stadium, Sunshine North
Where to watch: Livestream via Facebook and YouTube
