From 0 – 100 in Only Three Weeks

Pretty safe to say that all Knights fans have had a nice kick up the ass at work all week thanks to the boys heroic efforts during the away game at Bentleigh last Friday.

I know for me, it’s just given me that little bounce in my step, knowing that at the end of the day, the team can rip out a solid 90 minute masterclass against league favourites and come out of it feeling pretty untouchable.

It’s not to say that we’re out of the woods yet in terms of stagnating plays, but jebiga, I’m gunna enjoy this one and stay hopeful that Stabba and the squad do the exact same business that they did last week; for the rest of the season, or at least most of it.

Last Friday Night: Feelin’ Good

It was a decent drive from my friends place out to Kingston Heath Soccer Complex, when I got there after work – we were both starving and jumped straight in the car. 

Jacket – check, keys – check, trip to the ATM – check. 

We arrived and lunged straight into the all-to-famous Bentleigh gyros, at $12 a pop for an over-filled pita pocket of goodness, we weren’t complaining – although I did wonder if George Calombaris had been there earlier in the day adding the finishing touches to achieve the price-tag.

The game kicked-off, and we found refuge from the relentless hurricane of insects on the hill-side of the park, my beer got necked and it was time to focus on some serious action.

Both sides running their guts out for the first 10 minutes, earning as many chances forward as they could, and a succession of about 246 Bentleigh corners; it definitely wasn’t a slow start – but in the 12^thminute of play, I let out an all-to-familiar “for fucks sake, man” .. a soft pass being stolen and placed clear of the helpless stretch of Harry. I just hoped that it hadn’t smashed his confidence, or the teams .. and then what happened next was what you always dream of after going a goal down.

The boys hit the go-baby-go button and the rest of the half was filled with chances for Dixon, Hicks, Harris and eventually Tom Cahill got up and bashed one in with his head at the half-hour mark to equalise. It must be mentioned that both keepers were outstanding for the entire 90 minutes, some of the saves I saw were just plain outrageous.

Half-time came and I didn’t know how to feel, happy that we were playing the best I’ve seen in a long time, or worried that we wouldn’t capitalise on the chances in the second half and fall short. I distracted myself, passing the time with a cigarette and some non-football conversation with my mates. It worked, just.

Second-Half After-Marth

The ref had made a few bad calls and had been justifiably abused just the right amount, as was the linesman. Everything seemed to be in place, and I felt strangely calm for a knights fan at an away game against arguably the league’s best performers.

Elvis came out all-guns-blazing in the second half, clearly chasing to get on the score-sheet a third week in a row, it actually amazes me the situations this guy can get himself out of. At one point I remember seeing three green shirts around him, and he just ducked and slipped through and kept running down the line with the ball still at his feet. Skills, man, skills.

Timmy Purcell was copping it from Stabba on the sideline, and seemingly trying to defy the coaches every request, instead of what would have been a golden through-ball opportunity along the line, he decided to run straight into the box, in the firing line of two greens – he knew exactly what he was doing. Penalty received after a frustrated and tired tackle left him face-planted at the top of the box. We went up 2-1 after Hicks did what he does; and smashed it in, low and to the right.

The last goal was the one I was the happiest about though – Caleb Mikulić, another one of our clubs youth products, delivering possibly the most devastating goal that Bentleigh have copped at home in a while – a low flying belter from outside the box; what a feeling for him, the team and the fans.
Off the bench, I like Miku as a player, I think he’s quick, has got good technical skill and I always like when he gets a run because the kid will run his guts out for the badge, every single time.

Relive our first win of the season, and this stunner from #MKFC youngster Caleb Mikulic!

FULL HIGHLIGHTS: https://t.co/H6OOAc8GM9 pic.twitter.com/JUMezVTYXO

— Melbourne Knights FC (@MelbKnights) February 25, 2017

This Friday Night: Feelin' Good

In two days’ time we’re back at home to face NPL newbies Kingston City, who I don’t know too much about. All I’m hoping is that we can back up last week’s performance and lock-down another convincing win. One would think that as they’re newly promoted they can’t be too much of a threat, as opposed to last week’s opponents. 

But, if there is one thing that following this league has taught me, it’s that on any day, any team can beat another. Constant form is hard to come by, and most clubs can have a bad day, or a really good day – some days this is frustrating, other days it’s magical.

It will be exciting if the squad can lock down the way they played against Hume and Bentleigh, and harness it and create a dominant form of play as the week-in, week-out regular style; cause I tell you now, it is the most joyous thing in the world when your football team plays well.

This will be our second home fixture for the season, I’m hoping that a lot more people turn up as the season goes on. The crowd against Pascoe Vale wasn’t pathetic, but for the first home game it was certainly a little disappointing.

The Friday night 8.30pm games I think will be a success, the general vibe around Knights Stadium is better when there’s music and kids running around kicking a ball. It’s a happier place when there’s drinks, food and laughs flowing – rather than on rainy winter Sunday’s – so we’ll see how numbers add up at this years AGM.

We’ll be enjoying dinner again this week, I think I’ll call ahead and make sure there’s a pržene lignje there for me this time, still pissed about missing out 2 weeks ago!

Hope to see you all there, Živjela Croacija.

“Aaaaand we’re off! ….. or not. – Either way, either way is fine.”

It’s been an interesting start to the season, to say the most. It’s been pretty tame from a Knight’s fans perspective.. are we going to see another year of the standard issues? I hope not..

Only 2 games into the season proper, and it’s clear to see that there is some spark on the pitch, a bit of energy, a flickering flame – but who’s got the spray can? We need some homemade flame thrower action out there! 2 games in and we’ve seen one really good performance, and one that I’d rather just forget about. With the game against Bentleigh tonight, I’m interested to see which team rocks up.

Those crazy refs huh?

I can’t put much on the officials for last week’s game against Paco, we more so let that game go ourselves. But I would have enjoyed having the +9 minutes extra time that Hume had the week prior to try and get one back. That would’ve been nice.

I feel for all players when a shit call is made by a ref, whether it’s on one of ours (that’s when the ‘jebemti pas mater’s’ start getting hurled) or when it’s against an opposition player (the ones where you crack a cheeky smirk cause you know it was bullshit but you love it anyway). 

It’s a hard pill to swallow for players and for fans, we expect the officials to be of a minimum standard, and to at least be consistent throughout the league. It’s the most frustrating thing to watch, or be a part of – so who is at fault? 

My personal opinion – is both. Players and refs.

Bite your tongue, like a pro.

It’s one thing for a ref to make a horrendous call, or allow a game to go on 3 days into extra time – but to lose your shit at the guy, obviously doesn’t work – of a lifetime I have watched football, I can’t ever remember a refs call being changed straight after being called a fucking cunt. Just doesn’t work that way.

Ego is a massive factor, I can understand feeling hard-done-by, especially after 96 and a half minutes of pressing football – but we should remember – the officials have egos too, and they’re not about to kiss the boots of someone who just hurled abuse for a good 2 minutes.

It’d be nice to see some professionalism, some guys in the NPL have it, some don’t, but it can be learnt, it’s not a hard thing. I’m not saying the refs calls aren’t cactus, but it’s give and take, and if that’s what the FFV are gunna give us, then we should learn to deal with it, to get the best out of each game.

Locked & loaded.

The squad is looking solid, I think that given the mass-exit of some key players last season, the club has done a good job of damage control and acquired some boys that are capable of creating magic. As mentioned, there’s been some small sparks .. but we’re often late out of the gates, the next 3 or 4 games will be a good indication of how our season will go.

I’m not going to go into each player and what I think about them, it’s too early to see how our existing players have grown from last season, and how our new boys will perform this season. But from first impressions of the first two games, it’s plain to see that Elvis is a man to watch. Scores a goal, does a flip – twice in two games, let’s hope it continues. Also want to mention young bloods Nikola Jurkovic and Harry Cakarun. 

Nikola has been nothing short of impressive in the back line, and his improvement on discipline has done wonders for him. He’s taking charge, chasing down the ball when lost and he’s doing it in a smarter way, hopefully that means less yellows! He may have started out as a warrior, but he’s been polished – he’s a Knight now.

Harry has had to step in for Chalmers, and he definitely stepped in and stepped up. It’s always shaky as a fan watching a second keeper come in out of necessity, but to be honest, watching the kid out there was natural, didn’t even have to spark up a cigarette when Paco got a corner or anything. The two goals he copped could not be helped from a keepers perspective, I hope that the added game time will only give him more confidence – it’s what you want to see for a club who is big on promoting youth.

Season is underway, I love that shit.

It’s back, and no matter what, it’s all good. Naturally, in the NPL; a league that is only semi-pro, things happen slowly – look at the A-League for fucks sake, that shit is professional and it is moving at only glacial speeds.

So we can’t expect things to transform season to season – it takes what football is built on to achieve it, hard work. So I’ll sit back, be a little bit more patient, and in my almost depressing amount of optimism – hope that we can get the club back to performing at a solid and consistent level of quality. It’s what keeps me going to games every week, my curiosity to see how the boys will perform against a wide array of opponents.

Tonight: Is it flares? Is it ethnic violence? Nah it's just the smoke from the gyros at Kingston Heath for our third NPL fixture against table-toppers Bentleigh, who have 2 wins from 2. I’m looking forward to two things in particular; seeing how they use Stipo and a cold pivo to end this week. It’s almost as if the weather knows that NPL is back, and the last two weekends have been cold – but I don’t mind it. Jacket on, beer in hand – Friday night football, there’s nothing better.