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A 10-man Melbourne Knights outfit has progressed to the Fifth Round of the Dockerty Cup after a 4-0 drubbing of second-tier NPL Victoria side Whittlesea Ranges on Saturday afternoon at Knights Stadium.
A first half brace from Jacob Colosimo and a James McGarry finish helped the Red, White & Blue to a three goal cushion, which they took into the half time break.
Marijan Cvitkovic bagged the second half’s only goal, which was more than enough to topple the far inferior Whittlesea side.
Shayan Alinejad helped set up three of the four goals, with his best assist coming in the form of a long range pass which picked out Jacob Colosimo and put him through to goal.
However, the first goal was created by fellow wide man Daniel Visevic, whose pin-point free kick from deep in the left wing found Colosimo in the box.
The forward put a glancing header towards the far post, which sailed into the back of the net and past a hapless Ante Raspudic of the Ranges.
With his deadlocking breaking first goal coming in the 14th minute, Colosimo doubled his and the Knights’ advantage five minutes later when Alinejad’s sublime 40-yard long-ball put him through to slot coolly past Raspudic for the second time.
On the half hour mark, Colosimo turned from goal-scorer to suplier when he brilliantly chested the ball with enough weight into the path of the incoming James McGarry to strike the ball home from close range on the half volley.
Alinejad was involved once again, this time picking out Colosimo’s upper body with a great cross from the left wing.
Two minutes after creating the three goal margin, Andrew Marth’s men controversially had a goal disallowed when Marijan Cvitkovic did ever so well to rise above his opponent and head the ball inches inside the right side of far post.
However, the referee on the night deemed that he had illegally impeded his opposite number in the process, while jumping barely 8 yards out from goal.
The controversy didn’t end there, with young defender Ivan Grgic sent from the field of play less than 60 seconds after his side had their fourth goal ruled out.
Grgic received his first yellow card retrospectively, with the referee deciding to book the defender after awarding a free kick to the Knights, while the second caution occurred after a late tackle in the middle of the pitch.
Apart from a good Kliment Dimitrieski effort shortly after the red card, which forced a fine save from Chris May, the Knights didn’t approach the game too differently, and finally got their fourth of the afternoon 10 minutes out from the interval.
Another dangerous Alinejad cross into the area was this time met by Cvitkovic, who put some power behind his header to flick the ball towards the back stick and into the netting.
A series of substitutions from both sides which broke up the play, and the likelihood that the match was beyond doubt, meant that the latter stages of the game didn’t have too many chances, although Chris Talajic forced a fine save from Raspudic and Daniel Visevic went inches wide with a dragged effort towards the far post.
Andrew Marth’s men now progress to the Round of 32 – or the Fifth Round – of the Dockerty Cup. The next opponent is unknown but it expected Football Federation Victoria will announced fixtures this week.
Melbourne Knights is next in action on Friday in NPL Victoria when the Club travels to Pascoe Vale in the second game of the home and away season. Kick off is at 8.30PM from Hosken Reserve.
