Image: Steve/Starek Melbourne Knights
The Oakleigh Cannons were the biggest winners of Friday Night Football as heavyweights Bentleigh Greens and South Melbourne played out a stalemate while the honours were also shared at Knights Stadium between the struggling hosts and North Geelong Warriors.
The Cannons collected their third successive win on the bounce to move into the top six alongside in place of the defeated Pascoe Vale, while Bentleigh momentarily hold onto first place in what proved to be a costly goalless draw for the home side.
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The Greens entered the fixture looking to bounce back following a poor 3-0 defeat to Heidelberg United last week but were without the services of star striker Matt Thurtell who was absent through injury while the visitors were looking to stretch their unbeaten run in all competitions to eight games.
John Anastasiadis’ men began the contest on the front foot with Lambros Honos having two early opportunities on goal – the latter chance seeing him thwarted by an alert Nikola Roganovic in goal.
A Nick Epifano half-volley on goal managed to glance the head of Hellas marksman Milos Lujic, whose header went just over the crossbar, with the four-time reigning Golden Boot winner involved in a clash with Greens shot-stopper Ryan Scott minutes later which sparked the game’s first major flashpoint.
Chris Taylor threw on former Brisbane Roar Youth midfielder Jesse Daley on at half-time and the teenager almost made an instant impact as he teed up Marcus Schroen only to be denied by a sharp save from Scott, who was called into action several times over the course of the second half.
The game’s second major flashpoint saw the fierce rivals brawl once with Greens centre-back Ross Archibald being shown a red card for his involvement in the fracas, with the former Melbourne City man set to face a minimum two-week suspension for what was his second sending-off of the season.
The third spark occurred in the dying minutes of the game deep into stoppage time as Marco Jankovic was shown a second yellow card for kicking the ball away having fouled Lujic for a second time in a matter of minutes, with the Queenslander also set to miss Bentleigh’s next match.
With captain Jack Webster already missing through injury, the suspensions of Archibald and Jankovic further depletes their defence as they prepare to visit Oakleigh next Friday evening.
Highlights of last night's 0-0 draw with @smfc 👉🏻https://t.co/cHkNnzgrJ1#PS4NPLVIC #BGRvSMF #Green17 pic.twitter.com/NTe8px9P09
— Bentleigh Greens SC (@BentleighGreens) May 6, 2017
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Last year’s Grand Finalists have recovered from a slow start to the season and have won their past thee away games having come from behind to defeat Pascoe Vale 4-2 at CB Smith Reserve last night.
Proceedings got off to a good start for the hosts who hit the front after just four minutes when Davey van’t Schip teed up All Whites international Luka Prelevic for his first goal of the campaign.
A delightful dink over the top of his marker saw Dusan Bosnjak lob the ball into the back of the net after Paco custodian Alex Pavlidis lost his footing in his attempts to prevent the equaliser on 10 minutes.
The Rams were back in front in the 14th minute when van’t Schip reacted quickest to a loose ball in the area to blast home his 11th of the season to move four goals ahead at the top of the Golden Boot standings in what was a frantic start to the contest.
A fantastic save minutes later denied the Dutchman from adding to his tally while out-of-form Cannons Canadian import Nate Foster missed a gilt-edged chance to score his first goal of the season on the stroke of half-time as Vitale Ferrante’s men headed into the sheds with the half-time lead.
Bosnjak then changed the course of the contest on the hour mark when he drifted into the box before delicately dinking the ball over Pavlidis for the second time on the night, with the playmaker seemingly in his element having now netted six goals and claiming five assists for this term.
An excellent reaction save from Pavlidis minutes later denied the visitors the lead, however they were not to be denied when substitute Giuseppe Marafioti hit a vicious half-volley from 25 metres that sailed past Pavlidis and gave Oakleigh the lead with 15 minutes on the clock remaining.
The victory was secured five minutes later when winger Goran Zoric secured a hat-trick of assists on the night, as his corner was met by the glancing head of defender Adrian Chiappetta as the Cannons entered into the top six for the first time this season.
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Over in North Sunshine, a host of former Socceroos and ex-NSL stars were in action in a curtain-raiser clash with all proceeds raised going to support former Warriors and Knights legendary defender David Cervinski in his ongoing battle with cancer.
A who’s who of names, including Jimmy Campbell, Ken Murphy, Mark Silic, Zoran Markovski, Joe Spiteri, Dragi Nastevski, Joe Bacak, Ivan Duzel, Damian Grganovic, Danny Tiatto, Robert Markovac, Vilson Knezevic, Mijo Trupkovic, Josip Biskic, Steve Gojevic, Gary Cole, Jeff Olver, Goran Lozanovski, Ante Deak, Josip Skoko, Joey Didulica, Adrian Cervinski, Vinko Buljubasic and Ante Kovacevic were all involved in the occasion.
Upon resumption of the NPL game, the Knights took a 7th minute lead thanks to a precision volley from Kiwi midfielder Jason Hicks, who now has five goals from 12 starts this year.
The lead did not last long as the visitors levelled the scoring six minutes later when a Josh Pugh corner was diverted into goal by Knights defender Ben Surey, with Elvis Kamsoba unable to clear the ball away.
Both sides exchanged opportunities throughout the remainder of the contest as goalkeepers Fraser Chalmers and Marko Stevanja proved to be resolute in keeping the opposition at bay.
The 1-1 result does no favours to either side with the draw confirming Knights’ place in the relegation play-off spot for another week, while North move level with St Albans on 5 points but still claim last position on the ladder due to an inferior goal difference to that of Dinamo.