Knights put three past Paco

The Melbourne Knights have got their season back on track after a come from behind 3-1 victory, defeating Pascoe Vale at CB Smith Reserve last Friday evening.

Tomislav Uskok made his return to the starting 11 after serving his one match suspension. Luke Jurcic also returned to the starting lineup, replacing the suspended Nikola Jurkovic.


The Knights got off to the worst possible start conceding the opening goal of the game in only the 7th minute.

As they were pushing numbers forward it was Anthony Duzel who coughed up possession in the middle of the park paving the way for Davy Van’t Schip to find space down the left-hand side. A neat pass to the edge of the area found 18 year old sensation Nicholas Georgopoulos who fired an unstoppable shot to the bottom corner, putting the hosts up 1-0.

Despite going down to an early goal, the Knights continued to dominate possession and take the game to the hosts. Some clever build up play in the 10th minute saw Albano with a chance but his effort couldn’t find the target.

As the Knights continued to throw numbers forward in search of an equalizer, they nearly found themselves two goals down as Phillipe Beranbo-Madrid was threw on goal but an outstanding save by Harry Cakarun kept the Knights in the game.

Five minutes later and the Knights should have been on level terms after a great ball across the area found Hamish Watson at the back post but Nick Feely made a world class save to deny the Knights from drawing level.

Feely was having an exceptional game for Pascoe Vale as only minutes later he denied a one on one opportunity from Anthony Duzel and his exceptional goalkeeping would see the score remain at 1-0 going into the half time break.

A substitution just before the hour mark saw the game change on its head as Atilla Ofli was introduced in place of Anthony Duzel.

Only five minutes after entering the game a superb chested through ball from Ofli caught the Pascoe Vale defence napping as Watson’s shot was parried into the path of Albano but as he went to get his shot away was cruelly brought down inside the area by Hakeem Alaraibi who was duly sent off.

Hamish Watson then stepped up from the spot to put his side back on level terms scoring his 6th  goal in 9 games. The equaliser sparked the Knights and they were well and truly on top of their opponent.

Corey Sewell nearly put his side in the lead when he advanced forward down the left-hand side but his superb volley cannoned off the woodwork.

However, only a minute later it would be substitute Atilla Ofli who found himself free at the back post and smashed the ball into the back of the net to score his first goal in a Knights jersey and put them 2-1 ahead.

The Knights continued to dominate the game and sealed all 3 points in the final minutes as some fabulous build up play saw Uskok put in a great first time ball into the path of Gian Albano who made no mistake and ensured the Knights would move up to 3rd on the table.

The Knights now face State League 2 SE outfit Mooroolbark on Wednesday evening on Round 4 of the FFA Cup at Knights Stadium with a 7:45pm kick off scheduled.

FFA CUP

Match Stats

Pascoe Vale FC: 1
(Georgopoulos 7’)

Melbourne Knights FC: 3
(Watson (p) 65’, Ofli 71’. Albano 88’)

Attendance: 387

Lineups

Melbourne Knights FC: 1. Harry Cakarun, 2. Luke Jurcic (Tom Podaridis 89’), 5. Ayden Brice, 6. Tomislav Uskok, 7. Gian Albano, 9. Hamish Watson (AJ Inia 92’), 10. Marijan Cvitkovic, 12. Corey Sewell, 13. Ivan Grgic, 19. Anthony Duzel (Atilla Ofli 57’), 27. Joseph Franjic

Pascoe Vale FC: Feely, Vakirtzis, Alaraibi, Talarico, Abascal, Rahimi, Calabria, Ballan, Georgopoulos, Van’t Schip, Berabo-Madrid.

 

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