Melbourne Knights FC Official Website Ben Surey’s Knights return to home soil after a 2-1 win on the trot against Manningham United Blues, this time coming face-to-face with Heidelberg United.
Following a string of suspensions across both NPL and Australia Cup competitions, the Knights have spent the last two games adjusting the starting 11 to accommodate the suspensions, notably Ivan Franjic (missing the Australia Cup Round 4 match against South Melbourne FC) and Mitch Hore (missing NPL Round 8).
From the get-go, the Blues looked to take early control of the game, testing Chris Oldfield in front of goal in the opening seconds of the match, however, the Blues faced a setback with the sending off of goal scorer, Alexander Castiello. With the opposition hampered by a player deficit, the Knights were able to overcome the Blues thanks to a Ciaran Bramwell brace. Now sitting on four goals this season, speaking on his brace Bramwell offered that “it was great to finally get a brace, hopefully this week I can continue and build on the form”.
Last week’s win marks an important step for the Knights who now sit in 8th place and one point outside of the top six. John Anastasiadis’ Bergers walk into Round 9 yet to face a defeat this season, with four wins and four draws under their belt and sporting the best goal difference in the league, with 16 goals to their tally while only conceding 4 goals. Their seemingly impenetrable defence will test the likes of Tommy Semmy, Saif Sakhi, Ciaran Bramwell and Gian Albano. With enough firepower up forward, the Knights will need to
be keen to play their style of football, control possession and chip away at the defence to get a chance on goal. The Knights will need to be wary of Kaine Sheppard (4 goals) and Joshua Pin (5 goals) who have been the most prolific for Heidelberg this season.
With the return of a full-strength squad, the Knights will be looking to give the Bergers their first defeat of the season and add another three points to their name.
Melbourne Knights FC
2.Ben Carrigan, 4.Corey Sewell, 5.Ivan Franjic, 6.Anthony Duzel, 7.Mitch Hore, 8.Steve Whyte, 9.Ciarran Bramwell, 10.Gian Albano, 12.Felipe Sanchez, 13.Chris Oldfield, 14. omas Karlovic, 15.John Mabok 17.Mohammed Sumaoro, 18.Jack Morton, 21.Jakeb Wiseman, 23.Tom Woerndl, 27.Joseph Franjic, 29.Saif Eddine Sakhi, 32.Tommy Semmy
Heidelberg United FC
1.Yaren Sozer, 3.Ben Collins, 4.Jamal Ali, 5.Ajdin Fetahagic, 6. Anthony Lesiotis, 7. Leo Mazis, 8.Eoin Ashton, 9.Adrian Zahra, 10.Dom Falla, 11.Nathan Konstandopoulos, 12.Deion Nikolaidis, 13.Johnny Apostolopoulos, 14.Kaine Sheppard, 16.Asahi Yokokawa, 17.Joshua Pin, 18.Anthony Theodoropoulos, 19. Sean Ellis, 20.Mohamed Aidara, 21.Nicholas Olsen, 29.Matthew Tsalikidis