Stonnington v Knox City

Stonnington City 0 Knox City 2 (Half-time 0-0)

Knox City maintained its unbeaten record and Stonnigton failed to score its first win in a tight, scrappy game that was only put beyond doubt in the third minute of added time.

The visitors had the best of the first half without ever dominating the game. They had the ball in the net twice but both efforts were correctly ruled out by the referee, the first for hand ball and the second for impeding the keeper.

Whilst Mejias and Stavridis were lively in the Stonnington midfield, the home team lacked penetration and Jorgensen in the Knox goal was untroubled for the entire first half.

Petkovic made a good save when Suat was put through one on one with the keeper and the same Knox player had the ball in the net five minutes later but the ball had unfortunately bounced and hit his hand before his shot beat Petkovic.

Edgar and Grubic also went close for Knox before a second goal was disallowed for Nick Veljovic jumping into the keeper.

Stonnington came out a different side in the second half and took the game to Knox in no uncertain manner. Di Gregorio was just wide with a header and Perazic brought Stavridis’ run to an end at the expense of a yellow card.

Stavridis forced Jorgensen to make an excellent one-handed save at full stretch in the 63rd minute to keep the game scoreless. The Knox keeper followed this with another excellent save as Stonnington continued to press forward.

At this stage, the home side looked more likely to break the game open, but it turned Knox’s way in the 68th minute when Grubic chased a long ball that the Stonnington defender tried to shepherd out for a goal kick. Grubic won that battle and squared the ball to Suat who was unmarked in front of goal. Petkovic did well to get a hand to the cross but Suat was able to turn, collect the loose ball, swivel and score.

After this, Knox started to create some chances. A Nick Veljovic free-kick hit the cross bar and Suat blasted over after he had got goal side of two defenders.

At the other end, Jorgensen pulled off another great save to fingertip the ball away from an advancing forward after a great cross from Sakellaridis.

Peter Veljovic, on as a substitute after three weeks on the sidelines had a couple of opportunities, but it was not until the third minute of added time that Suat made the game safe. He evaded the offside trap, beat the onrushing Petkovic and side-footed the ball into the net.

Knox City Reserves also maintained their unbeaten record as they went to a 5 win 1 draw record with a tight 2-1 victory in the opener. Christou in the 3rd minute and Gounder in the 56th gave them a comfortable lead but they had to withstand a late fight back from Stonnington who scored with ten minutes to go.

Next week, Knox City entertains the improving Chelsea at Egan Lee Reserve.

Stonnington City: B. Petkovic, A. Varvaras, C. Vlahakos, M. Sioulas, S. Petkovic, S. O’Brien (E. Santino -73rd), A. Stavridis, O. Mejias (S. Sakellaridis – 77th), G. Pavaris, D. Nash, M. Di Gregorio. Subs not used: N. Alevropoulos, S. Triantafyllou.

Knox City: M. Jorgensen, G. Dos Santos, A. Edgar, D. Perazic, G. Moon (P. Veljovic – 78th), N. Giannopoulos, M. Hoogendyk (A. Saunders – 46th), H. Swami (J. Hingert – 56th), L. Grubic, N. Veljovic, K.Suat. Subs not used – W. Stolke, K. McEvoy.