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Oakleigh Cannons defeated Melbourne Knights 3-1 at Jack Edwards Reserve on Friday night, thanks to goals by Nate Foster, Goran Zoric and Dusan Bosnjak.
Knights suffered an early setback when Sam Torrens, who was set to return from a shoulder injury, felt his hamstring during the pre-game warm up – forcing a last minute change to the starting XI. Michael Simms took his place, while Adrian Barresi and Billy Kathopoulis were drafted in to the bench.
Nontheless, the visitors came out of the blocks early and tested Oakleigh ‘keeper John Honos with a couple of chances in the opening three minutes; the most notable being Shayan Alinejad’s strike which forced a strong save from Honos.
After some early scares, Oakleigh started to work its way into the game after about ten minutes. Nikola Srbinovski stepped up in the 13th minute with a strong tackle to deny Zoric from the six-yard line, before a strike from range by an Oakleigh midfielder five minutes later struck the crossbar and bounced down. Despite appeals from Cannons players, the ref waved play one.
Despite an action-packed first half, the scoring wasn’t opened until the 39th minute. A Chris May goal kick was headed back towards Knights’ defensive half, Nate Foster pounced on the loose ball before putting the ball in the net with a well struck shot.
HT: A Nate Foster goal late in the half has Oakleigh ahead at the interval. #NPLVIC #OCvMK pic.twitter.com/tEkCJjgpZp
— Melbourne Knights FC (@MelbKnights) May 9, 2014
After a quiet start to the second half, Oakleigh doubled its lead through Goran Zoric in the 58th minute. A lovely pass by Dusan Bosnjak opened the Knights defence and found Zoric, who finished the move with a cool finish. The visitors, however, didn’t drop their heads and kept pushing for a way back into the game. Andrew Marth pushed Milan Batur forward, a move which paid dividends in the 66th minute.
Alinejad plays a ball through, Batur runs onto it and slots it past Honos. #NPLVIC #OCvMK pic.twitter.com/I8iqBQLpzv — Melbourne Knights FC (@MelbKnights) May 9, 2014
Shayan Alinejad found Batur with a well-weighted pass, the defender showed a nice turn of pace to run on and slot the ball past Honos.
Hopes of a comeback were dashed nine minutes later when Zoric was brought down in the area and the referee pointed to the spot. Bosnjak stepped up and sent May the wrong way, restoring Oakleigh’s two goal lead and giving Knights a mountain to climb to get a result.
Despite pushing hard in search of goals, Knights couldn’t find the net and Oakleigh ran out 3-1 winners.
Knights next game is against Heidelberg at Olympic Village on Sunday, May 18. Kick off is at 6pm.
