In front … Melbourne Knights’ Adam Zilic evades a South Melbourne opponent’s challenge. 66477 Picture: SARAH MATRAY
By Dejan Kalinic
MELBOURNE Knights moved closer to Victorian Premier League (VPL) safety with a 1-0 win against old foe South Melbourne on Sunday.
A cracking first-half strike from midfielder Craig Sweeney gave the Knights their third win in four outings and first against South since April 2008.
The home victory put the Knights nine points clear of the relegation zone as local rivals, the St Albans Saints, suffered a 2-0 loss against the Bentleigh Greens.
Coach Paul Magdic said he was happy with how his team responded after a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of the Greens last week.
“The last two home games (have) definitely (been big wins). Against Springvale, it was basically a relegation battle, so we’ve confirmed that we shouldn’t be there,” he said.
“(The South win) was to get a bit of respectability back after our poor result last week – two great wins for the club at home.”
Magdic’s record as head coach has seen him record three wins, four draws and two losses since taking over from Ivan Duzel in April.
His side made a bright start and defender Ryan Filipovic had an early chance, forcing South goalkeeper Zaim Zeneli into a low save after three minutes.
In-form forward Jacob Colosimo should have found the back of the net to capitalise on his side’s early dominance, but he mistimed his header and put it wide after a cross from Sweeney.
South had been outplayed early on but went closest to opening the scoring in the first 15 minutes as winger Kyle Joryeff smashed his shot off the post from inside the area.
But the Knights got their reward in the 31st minute when South failed to clear a set-piece and Sweeney smashed his deflected shot from the edge of the area into the top corner.
Colosimo almost gave the Knights their second seven minutes later, only for his left-foot shot to fly inches wide.
The visitors had the better of the second half and went close to equalising in the 56th minute after a probing run from midfielder Daniel Vasilevski, but his cut back was cleared and forward Steven Weir blazed wide.
The Knights held out for just their fourth clean sheet of the season, remaining untroubled in the last quarter of an hour for a vital win.
Magdic said his team was finally collecting the points their performances deserved.
“I feel the team has been performing quite well. Unfortunately, we just haven’t take our chances in the past games that we’ve played,” he said.
“Whilst I’ve taken over – we’ve picked up a lot of draws, which should have actually been converted to wins. It’s just the hard work, a little bit more organisation within the squad and the team and I think it’s sort of paying dividends now.”
