Knox City v Diamond Valley

Knox City 0 Diamond Valley 1 (Half-time 0-0)

Diamond Valley edged out Knox City in a highly competitive encounter at Egan Lee Reserve. In doing so, the Valley kept their promotion chances alive and everything rests on their final match next week as the top four sides all won.

A flukey goal within a minute of the start of the second half was enough to decide this match. Knox were probably unfortunate not to take a point as their young side battled hard all day and fully redeemed themselves after last week’s poor display at South Springvale.

As early as the 6th minute, the home side could have taken the lead when Grubic released Peter Veljovic down the left flank. His cross was met by a firm downwards header by Edgar but Tepe got down well at the near post to keep the ball out.

The Simsek brothers were both prominent for Diamond Valley . Ernire made a good run through the heart of the defence but his shot was straight at Jorgensen and then Kamer was disposed by Perazic just as he was about to pull the trigger.

Knox suffered its first injury in the 35th minute when Coates was forced from the ground with a hamstring injury. Immediately after, Peter Veljovic stepped inside his defender and unleashed a fierce shot from 25 metres but it whistked just past the post with Tepe struggling at full stretch.

At the other end, Perazic came to the rescue again after Kamer Simsek had made an excellent run from the half way line.

It took less than 60 seconds after the break for Valley to take the lead. A free kick was partially cleared by the Knox defence but the ball ran loose and Kermanidis stuck out a foot and the ball cannoned into the net.

Know was further depleted when Edagr had to leave the field after sustaining a nasty cut on the forehead that required 10 stitches. Despite a further reshuffle, the Knox side threw everything in to attack. Tepe twice did well to first tip over a Peter Veljovic free kick and then to punch clear a dangerous cross from Hingert.

Knox’s best chance came in the 82nd minute when Saunders played a delightful ball over the top for Nick Veljovic to volley goalwards only for a defender’s despairing dive to divert the shot for a corner.

As Knox pushed more men forward, Valley found themselves in space more often. To their credit they kept going for goal and never tried to waste time by taking the ball into the corners. Kamer Simek almost doubled the lead in the 87th minute when his header cannoned off the crossbar.

Diamond Valley remains one point behind leaders Clifton Hill with one game to go.

Knox City Reserves also lost 1-0 to Diamond Valley but their reward came when news filtered through that Chelsea had lost at Doncaster Rovers and the Championship was theirs.

Knox City would like to thank the Diamond Valley players and supporters for staying for their fund raising event after the game. Their support was welcome and typical of their club.

Knox City: M. Jorgensen, Dos Santos, M. Coates (Swami – 35th), A. Edgar (Hoogendyk – 60th), D. Perazic, J. Hingert, N. Giannopoulos A. Saunders, N. Veljovic, L. Grubic, P. Veljovic. Sub not used –K. McEvoy.

Diamond Valley: Tepe, Love (DeSantis – 85th), Montagnese, Kara, Raynes, Kermanidis (Wilhelm – 88th), Kam Simsek, Guiliano, Unwin, Ernie Simsek, Muratbegovic (McClure – 82nd). Subs not used – S. Pace, S. Laing.