The Melbourne Knights continued their John Cain Memorial Park hoodoo on Sunday afternoon going down to cross town rivals South Melbourne 3-1 after taking the lead 25 minutes into the second half.
A healthy crowd of just over 1300 saw the two teams kick the game off tentatively with neither committing too many players up forward resulting in a stalemate in the centre of the park.
Half chances fell to South’s Jesse Krncevic as his two shots outside the box were cleanly collected by Knights custodian Martin John to keep the scoreline 0-0 while Anthony Colosimo had an opportunity to score but his shot from a tight angle bobbled past the far post.
Explosive Knights winger Daniel Dragicevic was kept unusually quiet on his wing by South captain Steve O’Dor, while Josip Kozic and Ben Surey had to contend with Fernando De Moraes and Marinos Gasparis giving neither team real opportunity to penetrate behind either defence, both of which shut down most tentative attacks with ease.
The first half fizzled out without many chances to either team, a truly tense derby atmosphere.
Both teams went into the break hoping to change up their game plan in search of the game breaking opener.
Good work by Anthony Colosimo and Daniel Dragicevic on the right wing resulted in Jean-Charles Dubois being released behind the South defence giving him time to carefully choose his pass’ destination, only to see Steve O’Dor manhandle the ball, resulting in a penalty for the Knights.
Up stepped Josip Kozic to convert his third penalty of the season, sending the ball into the bottom left corner away from the outstreched arm of South custodian Zaim Zenelli giving the healthy Knights contingent something to celebrate.
The Knights had a brief ten minute spell after the penalty with chances to Shaun Romein and Ryan Filipovic going begging.
South were always going to come back into the game and did so in spectacular fashion. Their 20 minutes of play began in the 79th minute as a free kick from former Knights midfielder Daniel Vasilevski sailed over the wall and dipped under Martin John’s crossbar for a goal the year contender.
It was clear to see that the Knights were rattled after South’s goal and were punished only five minutes later with good link-up play between Kamahl Ibrahim and Marinos Gasparis releasing Jesse Krncevic in a crowd of players inside the box, taking one touch the lanky forward blasted low and to Martin John’s left leaving him with little chance from point blank range.
The Knights pushed for the equaliser through Anthony Colosimo on the right wing and substitute Rudi Saglam on the left with both whipping in great crosses which were hastily cleared by a desperate South defence.
Free kicks within scoring range in the final minutes fell to the Knights, as Rudi Saglam’s low effort was deflected into the path of four Knights players with none being able to get a foot onto the ball. Craig Sweeney’s smart effort lacked pace in the dying minutes to bring the scoreline to 2-2 and soon after South put the final nail in the Knights coffin.
A counter attacking move saw former George Cross winger Kyle Joryeff released through on goal and with all the time in the world slotted calmly past Martin John’s outstreched left hand to give South a two goal buffer with a minute to play.
The 3-1 loss leaves Knights in sixth place on 8 points while South propel themselves into second position.
Meanwhile, in the Under 21’s, the Knights recovered from being down twice in the game to take a point away from a strong South Melbourne side, drawing 2-2 with a double to on-fire striker Brandon Zezovski.
Next week the Knights look to get their season back on track against the Oakleigh Cannons who despite bursting out of the blocks early on, have lost their last two matches against South Melbourne and Heidelberg meaning they will also be desperate for the three points.
The Round 7 clash kicks off on Sunday 3rd April at Knights Stadium, under lights at 6pm.
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