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David Davutovic, Geelong Advertiser
Tuesday, 2 December 2003
Adrian Leijer finally has a travelling companion, albeit for a week. Geelong’s Kris Trajanovski last week joined the Jan Juc youngster in signing a one-year deal with the Melbourne Knights after a short stint in Singapore.
The veteran attacker, who’s scored 76 NSL goals in 303 games, has been signed to add spice to a lifeless attack, which has the worst record in the league (six goals in nine games).
He couldn’t make a difference last week in his debut against his former side, Brisbane Strikers, with the Knights going down 1-0 in Brisbane.
The Knights are the NSL journeyman’s sixth club and he’s delighted to return to Australia after an indifferent experience in Singapore with Tanjong Panger.
”It was good playing but the trainings weren’t the best and I was there by myself,” Trajanovski said.
”The average temperature was 33 and the humidity was 90 per cent, we were getting to a stage where we got to a game and we were (physically) gone.
”We had long sessions in the heat, nothing was sharp, but we were spending 2-1/2 hours every night training, the coach thought we just had to train.”
Trajanovski is staying with his father in Geelong, but plans to move to Melbourne next week with wife Debbie and three-month-old daughter Alexandra.
After initially declining Trajanovski’s offer, Knights coach Ian Dobson invited him to the club and he believes he can help the Knights – who are currently second last – jump into finals contention.
”At 31, I don’t think I’m finished at NSL level. I still think I’ve got another 2-3 years left at this level,” he said.
”If we can win three or four games on the trot, we can put some pressure on mid-table teams and finals is not out of the question.”
Leijer was on the bench last week but is a chance to return to the line-up with captain Andrew Marth struggling to shake off a hamstring strain.
Trajanovski will get his first chance to impress home fans on the weekend, with the Knights playing host to Newcastle on Sunday at 6pm.
