Narrabundah 1 (Dim Mihailakis 76') def. by O'Connor Knights 5 (Jake Wilsener 12', Dylan De Montis 32', Josip Jadric 67', Thomas Cosentini 76', Kynan Dodd 90')

By Rhyan Misner 

The O’Connor Knights cemented their position at the top of the NPL2 ladder after an emphatic 5-1 win over Narrabundah FC at Jerrabombera Oval.

With five rounds to go in the competition before finals, the Knights were keen to stamp their authority further while Narrabundah were eager to claim a prized scalp against the ladder leaders and maybe close the gap to the top four.

Narrabundah started the affair the spritelier of the two and were on the front foot early when Nick Mihailakis fed a well-timed through ball to Matthew Atkins, but he fired just wide from inside the box.

It only took 11 minutes for the game to have its first goal; Josip Jadric’s shot from the by line was parried by Alex Belperio, only for the ball to find Jake Wilsener who calmly chested and volleyed the ball into the net to put the visitors ahead.

The goal came against the run of play and Narrabundah continued to create clear chances. Mihailakis was the recipient of a through ball from Atkens though his chip was saved onto the post to, the hosts coming agonisingly close to an equaliser.

22 minutes in and Narrabundah had another glorious chance to find an equaliser when Atkins latched onto a through ball before Jason Denham could reach it, only to be tackled by a backtracking defender before he could put the ball into an empty net.

The Knights made them pay 10 minutes later and doubled their lead, a free kick from the left side was swung into the box Daniel De Montis met it to time his header perfectly into the net.

The 2-0 halftime scoreline wasn’t a fair reflection of a 45 minutes where Narrabundah were able to constantly ask questions of the O’Connor defence.

After such a frantic start to the match the beginning of the second half was very different, with neither side able to gain control and create clear goal scoring opportunities.

O’Connor were in the clear though when Jadric scored his second in the 67^th minute; a volleyed cross from Danny Krajacic found Jadric unmarked in the area shortly after he had remonstrated for a penalty and he tucked home from close range.

Narrabundah kept toiling and were given a lifeline when a clumsy push inside the box gifted them an opportunity from the spot and substitute Dim Mihailakis made no mistake putting it to Denham’s right.

With 15 minutes left in the game the points were secured for the visitors when Thomas Cosentini was played through into the area, and slotted the ball in from a tight angle to put his team ahead by three goals.

The sealer came on 90 minutes when a cross from the left side found Kynan Dodd in the area, and he headed in from close range to make it 5-1, capping off a great performance.

Knights coach Miro Trninic believes a bigger squad with more quality is the reason to believe they are building something great at O’Connor this season.

“We have a bigger squad now of about 24 players to pick from whereas last year we had 16 and 2 goalkeepers,” Trninic said.

“So now we can rotate, and we have improved the talent in the team.

“Last year we started to build something and now we are delivering and making ourselves ready for promotion next year where we can get even better.”

“We have to continue with this consistency and prove week in and week out we deserve the top spot, and then we can continue to grow and hopefully continue to compete with NPL teams in the future.”

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