Chelsea v Knox City

Chelsea 0 Knox City 0

Who said scoreless draws aren’t entertaining. This was an engrossing match between two well matched sides with plenty of goal-scoring opportunities, but in the end neither side could break the deadlock. Throughout the game both teams played attacking football as the game swung from end to end.

The best move of the game came as early as the 4th minute. Nick Veljovic played an exquisite cross field ball that allowed Hingert to run at the Chelsea defence down the right flank. His cross was inch perfect and was met by an excellent volley by Suat but Josip Klarica made a brilliant reflex save to push the ball over the bar.

Neither side could gain the ascendancy but Knox was a trifle lucky when Jorgensen came out of his goal to gather a long ball but in doing so took the ball out of the penalty area. A free kick and yellow card resulted and the defensive wall was able to deflect the free kick for a corner.

Klarica made another good save at the foot of the post to deny Nick Veljovic from a well taken free kick.

The second half saw Knox gaining the upper hand early on but Chelsea came back to exert their period of pressure as both sides strove for the first goal that was always likely to be decisive.

Jorgensen made a great save to tip over a Josip Rahjer free kick before Klarica in the other goal made another excellent save to deny Saunders’ shot on the turn after a long throw in had been flicked on his feet.

The 68th minute almost saw the break through. Suat chased down a ball back to Klarica and he managed to half block the keeper’s clearance which fell to substitute Peter Veljovic on the edge of the area. He lobbed the retreating Klarica and the ball looked goal bound until it faded at the last moment and just missed the far upright.

Ivica Klarica received his second yellow card in the 87th minute and Chelsea was forced to see out the last few minutes with ten men. Their effort nearly failed in stoppage time when a quick free kick released Hingert into the box. As Josip Klarica raced from his goal, Hingert lofted the ball over the keeper only to see it hit the cross bar and bounce to safety.

Knox City Reserves beat Chelsea 1-0 in the opener and moved five points clear at the top of the ladder with only three games to go. Daniel Veljovic scored the decisive goal in the first half.

Chelsea: J. Klarica, I. Klarica (Red Card – 87th), S. Mayic, D. Rahjer, J. Rahjer, D. Radosevic, T. Grskovic, I. Gelemanovic, L. Palinic, Z. Tudor (I. Radic – 82nd), J. Pertuzalek. Subs not used – T. Bosnjak, M. Kristo, R. Jakovjlevic.

Knox City: M. Jorgensen, G. Dos Santos (H. Swami  - 82nd), D. Perazic, A. Edgar, M. Coates, N. Giannopoulos, J. Hingert, L. Grubic (P. Veljovic – 63rd), A. Saunders, N. Veljovic, K.Suat. Subs not used – A. Christou, K. McEvoy.