By Dejan Kalinic
ST Albans Saints remain winless after conceding a cruel late equaliser in a 1-1 draw against rivals Melbourne Knights in round nine of the Victorian Premier League on Sunday.
The Saints took an unlikely lead through Goran Jozeljic on the hour mark but Knights defender Ryan Filipovic scrambled home the leveller in the 93rd minute.
Both teams entered the clash with new coaches as the Saints handed Joe Kovacevic the full-time job and added Vinko Buljubasic as football manager.
Former Knights assistant coach Paul Magdic took the reigns from Ivan Duzel for the ninth-placed side.
Buljubasic was satisfied with the performance of the Saints, who were missing key duo Daniel Visevic and Stefan Piorkowski through injury.
“It was good fighting spirit by the boys,” Buljubasic said. “The players did exceptionally well considering we had a couple of players injured. The boys dug deep and I’m disappointed we conceded a late goal but hopefully they learn from that quickly and we move on.”
Magdic was similarly positive in his assessment and said he wanted to work on his team’s defensive structure. “I thought we had more of the possession (and) more of the play. The only thing I was disappointed about was actually conceding a goal. We’re trying to rectify a lot of things in our side and I thought we made an error that we shouldn’t have and we conceded that goal,” Magdic said. “All credit to my boys. I was very pleased they fought until the last minute and they got the equaliser.”
The Saints were almost ahead inside five minutes when Jozeljic found himself behind the Knights defence, but his shot was straight at goalkeeper Martin John.
Knights winger Daniel Dragicevic was twice denied by Saints shot-stopper Steven Pavlovic in the first half as the keeper produced two strong saves.
The visitors had the better of the exchanges early in the second half before the Saints opened the scoring against the run of play.
The Knights dominated the last 20 minutes and were rewarded for their pressure. Jean-Charles Dubois crossed from the left and the ball went uncleared as Filipovic popped up to scramble home a dramatic equaliser.
