Knox City v Clifton Hill

Knox City 1 Clifton Hill 2 (Half-time 0-1)

Knox City’s failure to take advantage of an extra man cost it the chance to make up ground on the league leader. Instead, Clifton Hill grabbed the three points and moved into second place pending the result of the late game between Doncaster Rovers and North Caulfield.

Knox dominated the first half but their continued inability to take their chances was again evident. They pressed high up the mark and gave Clifton Hill no chance to settle.

Edgar got clear of his marker fat a corner but his header went narrowly wide. Then Nick Veljovic unleashed a thunderbolt from 30 metres which Watkins did exceptionally well to tip over the bar at full stretch.

Knox suffered a blow in the 15th minute when Saunders, who had been lively upfront was forced off the field with a knee injury.

A turning point in the game arrived in the 27th minute when Jorgensen was harshly adjudged to have held on to the ball for too long. The resultant short free kick was blocked on the line by Dos Santos, but the Clifton Hill forwards reacted qucker and the ball was scrambled into the net.

Seven minutes later, Plunkett was shown a second yellow card and the game appeared to swing back in Knox’s favour as they continue to make most of the running. Hingert was having a field day as he showed great ball control and speed on a slippery pitch.

The second half was a different affair as Clifton Hill adapted very well with 10 men. They squeezed the game into the centre of the field and too often Knox was forced into resorting to the long ball instead of using the width of the pitch to stretch the opposition.

The better chances were being created by the visitors and they increased their lead in the 74th minute when a Karkaletsis free kick was only parried by Jorgensen and Tyrikos pounced on the rebound.

Knox mounted a number of attacks in the last 15 minutes but they lacked cohesion and penetration until the 89th minute when Edgar was fouled in the box trying to wriggle past his man on the bye-line. Dos Santos (not Suat as reported by the referee) stepped up to easily covert, but time has just about run out on the home side and the final whistle came.

Knox City: M. Jorgensen, G. Dos Santos, A. Edgar, D. Perazic, P. Veljovic, J. Hingert, N. Giannopoulos A. Saunders (L. Grubic – 15th), N. Veljovic, K. Suat, D. Veljovic (A. Christou – 60th) . Subs not used – G. Moon, K. McEvoy.

Clifton Hill: A. Watkins, A. Vlahos, L. Grounds, I. Stojanac, S. Tyrikos, G. Karkaletsis, B. Harbinson, P. Katris, N. Kyriopoulos, Z. Romanozski (G. Kotsiris – 46th), L. Plunkett (Red Card -34th). Subs: B. Light, C. Govas, A. Staikouras.