Knights remain unbeaten with win over new boys
By Tonci Prusac (@tonciprusac)
Melbourne Knights has maintained its unbeaten start to the PlayStation 4 NPL Victoria season with a hard fought 2-1 victory over North Geelong Warriors at Elcho Park on Saturday evening.
A solitary 72nd minute goal by Knights striker Andrew Barisic - his third in as many matches - was the only difference between the two sides in what had been a fairly even clash all afternoon.
The first half was a case of the actual game not living up to the occasion as it took awhile for both teams to settle their nerves in front of a bumper crowd.
The home side's best effort came in the 21st minute when Michael Anderson made a protruding run through the centre and threaded a delightful ball to livewire striker Juso Julardzija out wide.
But his cross, which as aimed at Rob Zadworny, on the far side, was slightly mistimed and in the end amounted to nothing.
The visitors, on the other hand, were starting to look dangerous towards the latter stages of the opening stanza, resulting in the best scoring chance of the game in the 41st minute.
A delightful through ball to striker Andrew Barisic set him up for a one-on-one showdown with towering Warriors' 'keeper, Daniel Zilic.
In what should have been the opening goal of the game, the tall North custodian, however, had different ideas. He managed to get down low and thwart Barisic's low and powerful drive.
Following the interval, the second half commenced in much the same vein as the first.
Despite stringing together a series of several delightful passes, both teams were failing to be productive in their respective final third of the field.
It wasn’t until the 72nd minute that the scoreboard attendant was troubled for the first - and only - time that afternoon.
Adrian Zahra floated a high ball to Barisic inside the box, which the prolific goalscorer could only trap, as he fell towards the ground.
But displaying tremendous composure and balance, Barisic managed to sweep the ball gently along the ground and watch with bated breath as the ball trickled ever so slowly past a wrong footed North ’keeper, Daniel Zilic, into the back of the net.
It was enough to send the traveling Knights fans into a frenzied celebration while simultaneously silence the shattered home support.
MATCH DETAILS
North Geelong 0 lost to Melbourne Knights 1 (Barisic 72’) at Elcho Park, Geelong
North Geelong: 1 Daniel ZILIC, 2 Darren LEWIS, 3 Matt TOWNLEY, 99 Nathan LONG, 17 Nicholas JURCIC, 8 Vito CICHELLO, 16 Michael GRGIC (4 Nikola JURKOVIC 80’), 14 Mark PALEKA (7 Reardo LUKA 70’), 23 Michael ANDERSON, 10 Rob ZADWORNY, 11 Juso JULARDZIJA
Subs Not Used: 21 Matija DRAGOVIC, 6 Josh PUGH, 31 Antonio BARESIC
Yellow Cards: D. Lewis 59’, M. Anderson 69’
Red Cards: None
Melbourne Knights: 1 Chris MAY, 3 Adrian DEL MONACO (13 Anthony KATIFORIS 88’), 4 Ben Surey, 5 Milan BATUR, 6 Tomislav USKOK, 8 Jamie McGARRY, 15 Alex DAO (7 Chris TALAJIC 66’), 18 Joshua BREKALO, 21 Stipo ANDRIJASEVIC (11 Anthony COLOSIMO 82’), 23 Adrian ZAHRA, 27 Andrew BARISIC
Subs Not Used: 25 Michael O'FARRELL, 17 Josh BERRIOS
Yellow Cards: J. McGarry 30’, A. Barisic 53’, T. Uskok 68’
Red Cards: None
PHOTO: Steve Starek / Melbourne Knights
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