By ADEM SARICAOGLU
MELBOURNE Knights handed Northcote City its first loss of the year in the Victorian Premier League on Sunday.
Northcote City has been the runaway leader of the VPL so far this season and up until Sunday had enjoyed a 13-game undefeated run, sitting on top of the table with 10 wins and three losses.
The Knights came into the clash fourth on the table with six wins and four draws from 13 starts – themselves on a three-game unbeaten streak.
After what was a relatively uneventful opening half at Knights Stadium on Sunday both clubs were deadlocked at 0-0 at the interval.
A half-hour had then ticked by in the second half before Melbourne’s Andrew Barisic finally broke through, scoring the only goal of the match to hand City its first loss of the year that also provided a more than handy three points for his Knights.
Coach Andrew Marth gave credit to his players for handling the wet and dreary conditions with class throughout the 90 minutes.
“The boys played extremely well under trying conditions and we probably missed a couple of opportunities in the first half,” Marth said.
“I thought in the end it was a thoroughly deserved three points for us.”
Marth then told Star the squad was not instructed to greatly alter its normal style to suit the wet pitch at Knights Stadium.
“We, basically, still continued to play football, and I stressed to the boys (to) play attractive football and create opportunities,” Marth explained.
“We probably created about four or five opportunities during the course of the game and it was one clinical finish by Andrew Barisic in the second half that did the job.”
Marth was also keen to point out he did not believe it was his side’s best showing of the season, but did express his satisfaction with the form line that has put his Knights well and truly on track for a finals berth.
That said, though, with another eight matches to come in the VPL season and a short turnaround coming up to face the Port Melbourne Sharks this Friday night, Marth wants to ensure no level of complacency sneaks into the Knights’ camp.
“We drew against them at home earlier in the year (0-0 in April) and we thoroughly deserved to have all three points that day – so we’re looking forward to Friday night,” he said.
“It’s a must-win situation for us.”
Kick off will be at 8.30pm at Port Melbourne’s Murphy Reserve.
