Chaos reigned in the dying stages of Melbourne Knights’ 2-2 draw with Hume City in their PS4 NPL Victoria season-opener at ABD Stadium on Saturday evening.
The Knights seemed to be coasting for all three points when a dominant performance in the first 80 minutes was rewarded with a two-goal advantage, but no one could have foreseen what was to come over the following 10 minutes plus stoppage time.
Theo Markelis gave Hume City a glimmer of hope with a goal in the 80th minute, but it was thought to be nothing more than a consolation.
The fourth official then ushered in second-half stoppage time, putting three minutes up on the board – but it didn’t end up being three minutes. The extra time on top of the allotted three minutes would end up costing the Knights severely.
“When a referee puts up three minutes extra time and we’ve played 98 minutes, five minutes extra, I think it’s ludicrous – it’s cost us the game,” Knights’ coach Andrew Marth said.
“To play an extra five minutes of extra time, I thought it was a bit strange, to be honest.”
It all went haywire for the Knights when goalkeeper Fraser Chalmers had a chance to relieve pressure from a free kick.
Chalmers asked the referee about an opposing player encroaching inside the 10 yards from the ball, but his request was denied.
Chalmers did not let it drop, voicing his disapproval to the referee – and the man in charge handed him a straight red card.
Marth admits there was a lot of verbal exchanges in the game by both sets of players, which left him surprised when Chalmers was sent off without warning.
“I would’ve thought it would’ve been a warning first, from personal opinion,” Marth said. “We had a free kick and a guy was standing on the ball about five yards away.
“Fraser asked the referee to move him back and the referee goes ‘no’, and he swore at the referee, so he sent him off.
“During the course of the game, he was getting sworn at by a lot of players, not just our players, and nothing came of it.”
It would prove a vital moment in the game.
Having used all three subs, the Knights were forced to put an outfield player in goal, so defender Nikola Jurkovic had to don the goalkeepers’ gloves.
Hume City not only took advantage of Jurkovic’s inexperience in goal, but made the numerical advantage count.
At a free kick, City instructed their own goalkeeper, Michael Weier, to go forward and contest the aerial ball in an already crowded box.
Weier managed to get a sweet connection on the cross, rising above the pack to header the ball past Jurkovic and into the back of the net to equalise with just seconds remaining.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for Marth and the Knights.
A game that saw Elvis Kamsoba and Jason Hicks score goals, and Kamsoba and Danny Dixon totally dominate, amounted to just one point when they probably deserved all three.
“I thought we totally dominated for about 80 or 85 minutes,” Marth said.
“One mistake cost us the first goal.
“And bad decisions probably cost us the win,” he said.
“We lost two points for nothing.”
It will likely get worse for the Knights with Chalmers to learn of the length of his suspension this week.
But the Knights have no time to dwell on this, with a blockbuster against Pascoe Vale coming up at Knights Stadium on Friday night.
