It was a rollercoaster all night for the Melbourne Knights during a 2-2 draw with Bentleigh Greens in the National Premier League at Knights Stadium on Friday night.
Take the result in isolation and you would not be too discontented sharing the points with a Greens side that is 17 points above the Knights on the ladder and a clear-cut title contender.
However, Knights captain Marijan Cvitkovic is leaning towards viewing the game as one that slipped through their fingers.
Twice the Knights held leads and agonisingly twice they coughed them up.
“You don’t get to score a lot of goals or get a lot of opportunities against Bentleigh, so it was disappointing that we couldn’t hold on to the leads,” Cvitkovic said.
“We conceded pretty softly twice if I’m honest.”
Even when the Melbourne Knights had seen their leads wiped, they had one more chance from the penalty spot to take the win, but Tomislav Uskok thumped his shot into the post.
An upset was not meant to be for the Knights on this occasion, but they showed they can match it with any team in the competition.
That was evident particularly in the last 20 minutes of the game when the Knights went down to 10 men due to injuries.
The Knights had to make a third and final substitution after Andjelo Svalina injured a hamstring, but unfortunately the subtitute who came on, Nicholas Jurcic, injured a hamstring as well and had to return to the bench.
It topped off a hellish night of injuries for the Knights after Ben Surey had earlier limped off with a calf issue.
While going down to 10 men scuppered any chance the Knights had of winning, it gave coach Aljosa Asanovic and the supporters a chance to see the fighting spirit of their side.
“The boys showed great character,” Cvitkovic said.
“We were actually playing decent football and you probably couldn’t tell that we had a man less with the way we were playing.
“It was a good performance overall, but still disappointing we couldn’t hold on to the leads.”
Nate Foster Bowen put Melbourne Knights ahead after 35 minutes, but his goal was cancelled out four minutes later by Matthew Thurtell.
Cvitkovic restored the lead for the Knights after half time in the 53rd minute, but Thurtell got his double from the spot 10 minutes later.
Injuries will force the sixth-placed Knights to make changes to their starting line up for the clash with traditional rivals South Melbourne at Lakeside Stadium on Sunday.
With South struggling this season, Cvitkovic made no secret of his team’s desire to rub further salt into their wounds.
“We’ll go into the South game showing them as much respect as possible, but knowing we can put another nail in their coffin, which is fantastic motivation,” he said.
“The boys are already talking about it, they’re excited, so that would be great to get a win.”
Meanwhile, Green Gully claimed a crucial 1-0 win over Oakleigh Cannons on Friday night.
Kieran Dover scored from the penalty spot in the 86th minute to move Gully up to fifth.
In NPL 2 west, Sunshine George Cross celebrated a 2-1 win over Eastern Lions, while St Albans Saints were beaten 2-1 by Dandenong City.
