A brave attacking move by coach Andrew Marth handed Melbourne Knights to a 3-2 opening round win over Northcote City in a National Premier League thriller at Knights Stadium on Friday night.
The Knights could easily have put the game into the too-hard basket and settled for a share of the points after plucky City. last season’s Victorian Premier League champions, twice came from behind to restore parity with nine minutes to go.
Marth was a hard-nosed defender in his playing days but is more liberal as a coach and he refused to let his side walk away with anything less than three points.
He made a bold, match-winning move, replacing two-goal debutant Rodrigo Covarrubias with last season’s Gold Medal winner, Marijan Cvitkovic, who scored the decisive goal seven minutes from time.
Knights team manager Anthony Burin made no secret of the side’s desire to play a brand of soccer that is pleasing on the eye.
“We could’ve gone into our shell when it was 2-2 and played out a draw,” he said.
“We’re about playing attacking football because that’s what this squad likes doing and that’s what we showed last year.
“We dictated what we were going to do and it worked, and when Marijan scored we were buzzing.”
It was a big week for Cvitkovic, who got engaged, returned from an overseas trip and was straight into the action.
Subbed into the game midway through the second half, Cvitkovic offered much-needed bite to a tiring front end and score the clinching goal.
“He made the difference. That’s what makes him a good player,” Burin said.
But Covarubbias was the talk of Somers Street . . . the 20-year-old former Knights junior slotted two goals and had a massive impact on the outcome.
“It was a top performance,” Burin said. “He holds the ball up really well.”
The only blot in Covarrubias’ copybook was a missed penalty – the second in a week.
“He missed the penalty and the hat-trick,” Burin said. “We said to him after the game he might want to leave the penalties to Jacob [Colosimo] from now on.”
The Knights other new boys, Daniel Visevic and Antun Kovacic – both returnees to the club – made strong impressions.
The NPL will step aside this weekend for the Dockerty Cup, in which the Knights will face the winner of East Brighton United and Whittlesea Ranges in the fourth round.
There is so much more to play for in the cup competition with the top four sides advancing to the newly formed FFA Cup.
“It’s one of our priorities and we’ll be playing at full strength,” Burin said.
“This competition for us is about winning now and we’re not going to be taking any short cuts.”
