Ryan Filipovic heads home the Knights' second goal against Altona Magic. Image courtesy: Melbourne Knights FC
By Liam Coventry-Poole
The Melbourne Knights have drawn with Altona Magic, after dropping a 2-0 lead in the second half. The Knights lead 2-0 at the 57th minute mark, before letting their guard down and allowing the Magic score two goals in the final 25 minutes.
Both clubs went into the match desperately needing all three points to create a buffer between them and the relegation zone. The Knights’ spirits were lifted with the surprise inclusion of their captain, Danny Tiatto, after he was in doubt to start midweek, suffering soreness of the ankle.
The Knights produced the first chance of the match after two minutes, when Jean Dubois received a decent through ball into the box, before being tackled by a determined Tommy Tomich, who gallantly came off his line.
One minute later the Knights came close again after Anthony Bran headed a Danny Tiatto corner over the bar.
Altona created their best chance of the half in the 16th minute after Goran Talevski broke the Knights’ defensive line. John Thornley played a beautiful through ball into the path of Talevski, after the Magic counter-attacked with three forwards, onto a three-man Knights defense.
Talevski carried the ball into the box and went one-out with Antony Loncaric, who came off his line to pressure the forward. Talevski made a meal of it, shooting it wide of the right hand post.
The Knights made the Magic pay just two minutes later, opening their account for the afternoon via Jean Dubois. Tiatto found Dubois just inside the area, taking a touch on his chest before smashing the ball past Tomich, and into the net.
Dejan Radojicic had a chance to equalize just minutes later, shooting from 20 yards, but disappointingly only finding Loncaric’s chest.
Besides a few chances to the Magic in the first 20 minutes, they didn’t show much more for the rest of the half. The Knights did well to slow the match down to their pace, but even they couldn’t register another chance on goal for the half.
Altona made just the one change at half time, replacing Koce Delev with Aleksander Koltovski.
Jean Dubois came out firing again in the second half, shooting from close range, but like Radojicic in the first half, found the chest of the keeper.
The Altona fans were out of their seats when Pece Siveski came agonizingly close to equalizing in the 53rd minute. His volley struck from outside the area, dipped at the last moment, clearing the cross bar by a few inches.
The Knights responded again, scoring a second in the 57th minute courtesy of Ryan Filipovic. He got his head onto a ball in from the right, heading it across goal and into the far bottom corner of the net.
The Knights suffered a blow in the 62nd minute, when goal scorer and danger man Jean Dubois was replaced by Tomislav Ples, Dubois was injured after coming off second best in a challenge.
Following the goal, the Knights stopped. They allowed Altona to get back into match, pulling back on any attacking mentality they had before the second goal.
Altona began to pressure the Knights up back, and pulled one goal back in the 66th minute. It was John Thornley who headed in the goal after he received a terrific cross into the box from substitute, Koltovski.
Altona continued to push for the equalizer, setting up a good chance for Slave Bozinovski two minutes later, who went narrowly wide with a headed shot from inside the box.
In the 71st minute Mathew Theodore made a cracking solo run down the middle of the park, cutting the Knights’ defense in two. He decided to unload early and from distance, calling Loncaric into action, who had no trouble denying the shot.
Altona’s pressure began to get to the Knights, who were becoming increasingly more physical, as both Tiatto and Kevin Townson were both shown yellow cards within two minutes of one another.
Both teams struggled to create any real opportunities to score until Altona dramatically equalized in the 86th minute. It took a cracking strike from Pece Cergovski to beat Loncaric from over 25 yards out. Bizarrely, his strike went straight over Loncaric’s head, with the Knights’ fans dumbfounded as to why he didn’t make a better effort to stop the shot. He was clearly positioned poorly and really should have at least got a hand to the strike.
Scenes of frustration by the Knight’s fans welcomed the final whistle, ruing their opportunity to jump out of the relegation zone after leading the Magic 2-0 with just over half an hour remaining, when Altona Magic never really looked dangerous prior.
A win would have taken either side out of the relegation zone by three points, leapfrogging the Bentleigh Greens in 10th position. Now both clubs face an uphill battle, with only three matches remaining. Bentleigh have four games in hand due to the re-scheduling of their Round 16 clash with Northcote, to August 4. Altona still have a slight advantage, on top of the Knights in 11th position, by two goals on goal difference.
The Melbourne Knights have a fairly difficult run home, facing the Bentleigh Greens at the Kingston Heath Soccer Complex this Friday night, Northcote at Knights Stadium in round 21 and Green Gully at Green Gully Reserve on the final day of the Alanic Victorian Premier League home and away season.
Altona Magic have an extremely hard run home, facing the in-form Hume City next Saturday night at Paisley Park, then Richmond at Kevin Bartlett Reserve on Friday week, and finally facing the Oakleigh Cannons at Jack Edwards Reserve on the final day.
Melbourne Knights: 1. Antony LONCARIC, 2. Ryan FILIPOVIC, 4. Ben SUREY, 5. Anthony BRAN, 10. Ivica PRAIZ, 11. Kevin TOWNSON, 12. Adrian ZAHRA, 13. Thomas SKARA, 14. Jean DUBOIS (9. Tomislav PLES 62’), 15. Anthony COLOSIMO (8. Josip MAGDIC 78’), 17. Daniel TIATTO
Unused subs: 7. Liam CANNELL, 16. Jacob COLOSIMO
Yellow cards: Jean DUBOIS 42’, Daniel TIATTO 73’, Kevin TOWNSON 75’, Ben SUREY 90+1’
Goals: Jean DUBOIS 18’, Ryan FILIPOVIC 57’
Altona Magic: 1. Tomislav TOMICH, 5. Doug MLADENOVIC, 7. Dejan RADOJICIC, 9. Koce DELEV (4. Aleksander KOLTOVSKI 46’), 10. Pece SIVESKI, 11. Mathew THEODORE, 14. Pece CERGOVSKI, 16. James DUCEVSKI, 18. John THORNLEY, 19. Slave BOZINOVSKI, 23. Goran TALEVSKI (13. George PAPADOPOULOS 62’)
Unused subs: 8. Justin NIKOLOVSKI, 21. Sime KOVACEVIC, 31. Andrew SFETCOPOULOS
Goals: John THORNLEY 66’, Pece CERGOVSKI 86’
Last updated: Monday July 26, 2010 5:46PM
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