Knox City v North Caulfield

Knox City 0 North Caulfield 0 (Half-time 0-0)

Knox City dropped two points at home for the second time this weekend as they could only muster a scoreless draw against North Caulfield. It was a case of two games in three days being a bridge too far for a team which distinctly faded in the last quarter of the match

It was only in the last 20 minutes that the visitors created any worthwhile chances, but they knew the longer they could hang on the more they would come into the game.

Knox went into the game with first gamer, Kris McEvoy in goal deputising for the injured Mark Jorgensen, however he did everything asked of him and came out of the game with flying colours.

Once again the Knox attack failed to spark as they consistently took the wrong options. Nevertheless, the home team had by far the better of the opportunities as the visitors’ first shot on target did not come under added time in the first half.

Twice in the first half, Rabinowitz cleared the ball off the goal line with his keeper beaten. The first came when Gutworth spilled a cross and Suat was first to the rebound but his shot failed to beat the alert sweeper. The second occasion came in the 33rd minute when Saunders rose high to meet a right wing corner and his header had goal written all over it.

Knox was failing to convert its pressure into goals at this stage, even though they were not playing fluent football.

North Caulfield’s first serious attempt came in the 55th minute when a free kick was lobbed into the area. McEvoy did not clear the ball and the resultant shot was looping towards the top corner when Nick Veljovic headed over and conceded a corner.

Gutworth then made a good save to deny Suat as he attempted to round the keeper. Grubic then hesitated after he got in front of two defenders and the opportunity was lost.

North Caulfield then created a series of chances as Knox’s legs suddenly became weary. Palmer had the ball in the net but he was clearly in an offside position. McEvoy then did just enough to get a touch on a shot from Stammers to deflect it onto the outside of the post.

Possibly the best chance of the match came in the 88th minute when a cross found Suat in front with only the keeper to beat but his header cleared the bar when he should have hit the target.

Knox City: K. McEvoy, G. Dos Santos, A. Edgar,  P. Veljovic, J. Hingert, G. Moon (A. Christou -77th), N. Giannopoulos,  A. Saunders (M. Hoogendyk – 46th), N. Veljovic, L. Grubic, K.Suat. Subs not used – W. Stolke, M. Broxham.

North Caulfield: A. Gutworth, R. Abrahams, J. Rochwerger, G. Rabinowitz, C. Mason, N. Wallace (R. Gudetnetski – 75th), D. Bookman (P. Miller – 80th), O. Harel, G. Hughes, S. Braude (P. Stammer – 27th), D. Miller. Sub not used: L. Makrigiannis.