Waverley Wanderers v Knox

Waverley Wanderers 4 Knox City 1 (Half-time 1-1)

This match was won and lost in a six minute period midway through the second half. With the score locked at 1-1 and a man down, Waverley had been penned back in their own half for much of the first fifteen minutes of the second half.

Then it all turned pear shaped for Knox. Dos Santos was red-carded in the 61st minute. This immediately lifted the home side and within a few minutes they were 3-1 up and the game was effectively over.

The match started brightly enough for Knox. Immediately on the attack, they took the lead in the first minute. A poor clearance from Kourketselos in the Waverley goal fell to Hingert, who skipped past two defenders and coolly chipped over the diving keeper into the net.

Four minutes later, Knox were unlucky not to increase their lead when a Nick Veljovic free kick was met by Saunders but his near post header hit the crossbar with the keeper beaten.

Waverley worked their way back into the game and they equalised in the 20th minute. Daglis made a great run into the box to meet a free kick and his header gave Jorgensen no chance.

Four minutes later and the game appeared to swing back in Knox’s favour when Liapis received a straight red card. Despite this, the home side still looked dangerous as Madondo showed clever ball skills on a couple of occasions to create danger for the Knox defence.

Nick Veljovic went extremely close from a 30 metre free kick, before Daglis again got behind the Knox defence but this time from much closer range, his header skewed wide on the stroke of half-time.

As Knox pressed early in the second half, it looked as though Waverley would accept a draw until Dos Santos needlessly got himself sent off and the entire complexion of the game changed. Strapelias, in the 65th minute and substitute Gungourdu two minutes later blew the game wide open.

Knox’s miserable second half was further compounded when Giannopoulos could only turn a through ball past Jorgensen into his own goal to complete the scoring.

Knox Reserves beat Waverley Wanderers 4-1 in the opening match.

Waverley Wanderers: P. Kourketzelos, J. Nezos, P. Kapetanas, P. Liapis (Red Card – 24th), R. Navarro, V. Daglis (C. Antonopoulos – 85th), F. Alfa, S. Zarokostas (P. Papadopoulos – 89th), A. Strapelioas, P. Madondo, P. Pantelidis. Subs not used: P.Tsiotas, L. Christou.

Knox City: M. Jorgensen, G. Dos Santos (Red Card – 61st), P. Veljovic, D. Perazic, A. Edgar, N. Giannopoulos, J. Hingert, L. Grubic (H. Swami – 63rd), A. Saunders (D. Veljovic – 73rd), N. Veljovic, K.Suat (M. Coates – 73rd). Sub not used – K. McEvoy.