Melbourne Knights coach Andrew Marth was delighted with his side’s thrilling performance against Oakleigh Cannons in their Westfield FFA Cup clash at Jack Edwards Reserve.
The Knights found themselves down 1-0 with the clock ticking towards the final whistle but a spirited comeback performance saw Melbourne storm home to finish the game 2-1.
The home side took the lead just before half-time when Dusan Bosnjak netted in the 44th minute, and staring down the barrel of an FFA Cup exit, the home side then stunned Oakleigh as Knights skipper Milan Batur headed home a James McGarry corner kick to equalise in the 89th minute, with Joshua Brekalo slotting home the winner in stoppage time.
Marth credited the spirited comeback effort to his side having the heart to take the game on paired up with his team’s preparations on the training ground.
“It’s beneficial that the boys dug deep,” he said.
“[In the] second half we were all over Oakleigh and in the end I think we probably deserved the victory.
“Traditionally, over the years Melbourne Knights have always had a big heart of a character and there’s no exception [tonight].”
Ben Surey came back the line up from suspension and performed well for Knights, gaining praise from the Melbourne coach but Marth also reserved praise for his youngsters who showed maturity beyond their years to come back and snatch victory in a crucial game for the Knights.
“Prime example [of character] is today – most teams would give up and we fought to the end and obviously deserved the result,” said Marth.
“Full credit to the boys, we’ve got a really young squad.
“We’re not a high spending club. We rely on our youngsters coming through and over the last three to four years we’ve released five or six players to either Victory or City,” he added.
Marth also spoke highly of Stipo Andrijasevic who he described as “exceptional” and youngster Nick Glavan who is in his first season with the Knights; saying the former Victory man has “[gotten] better and better every week”.
Strong performances from a number of players including stand-in goalkeeper Michael O’Farrell – who stood tall despite being troubled by Dusan Bosnjak – will cause a headache at the selection table for the Knights’ coaching staff but Marth says he won’t fix what’s not broken.
“Michael’s been training hard and he had an opportunity first and foremost against Heidelberg and failed. He put his hand up … came in and done exceptionally well.
“That’s my mentality, the boys play well I’m not going to change them. After tonight’s performance I think Michael will play whether Fraser [Chalmers] is ready or not,” he said.
The win gave Knights revenge over Oakleigh Cannons who defeated them in the league just days earlier.
Melbourne Knights are now through to the FFA Cup Round of 16 with Marth joking that his side could draw South Melbourne if history is anything to go by.
The additional workload of the FFA Cup in addition to the regular NPL Victoria season will test the legs of Andrew Marth’s side but the coach insists his boys have what it takes to succeed on the national stage this season.
“You can only do the best with what you’ve got – the boys are digging deep each week and you never know it wouldn’t surprise me if we get South Melbourne next round but we’ll see what happens though,” Marth said.
“We probably find [the FFA Cup] a bit more important than the league at the present moment there’s an incentive towards the end of the tunnel so to speak.
“We’ve got a couple of players back today and a result we wanted to achieve.”
Melbourne Knights will face off against Melbourne Victory at Epping Stadium in Round 10 of the NPL Victoria season. Kick off is at 3pm Saturday 30 April.
Photo: Steve Starek / Melbourne Knights FC