Image: Mark Avellino
It will go down a bizarre footballing moment: a goalkeeper scoring past an outfielder in goals.
But that’s exactly what happened when Hume City’s Michael Weier netted past Nikola Jurkovic of all people in goals – following a red card to Fraser Chalmers after all three substitutions were used – to seal a last-gasp 2-2 draw for Hume City against Melbourne Knights.
A set piece late on was delivered by the ever-reliable Nick Hegarty, who for many years now has been setting up and scoring goals with his pinpoint delivery.
For Weier, however, this makes the ideal first impression for him at Hume City and his debut will go down in NPL folklore (and trivia) for years to come.
Of course, there were 95 or so minutes of football preceding all that, and it were the Knights who led for long periods of the contest.
The opening goal came in the 24th minute when Adelaide local Elvis Kamsoba had the hosts … all shook up … after linking with Jason Hicks to open the Knights’ account for 2017.
Fraser Chalmers was massive thereafter as he denied Wayne Wallace and Kristian Trajceski in quick succession to preserve the lead.
That buoyed the Knights and they came out strong in the second half, Jake Barker-Daish forcing a strong save from Weier.
The lead was doubled just after an hour and it once again involved Kamsoba and Hicks – the former bursting into the box and winning the spot kick, which the latter converted.
Hume didn’t lie down and kept pushing. One goal was pegged back by Theo Markelis from a volley.
The clock kept ticking down and the hosts were getting desperate. Approaching full time and it were the Knights who made their final change – the ever-dangerous Kamsoba off for defender Tomislav Fadljevic, a move to further bolster the rearguard.
But it was to no avail as a brain snap from Chalmers led to a red card for dissent, in a Tim Cahill moment, minus the fact he wasn’t an unused substitute when handed the red.
Then it was Weier with his Oscarine Masuluke moment (the South African goalkeeper who scored with a bicycle kick) minus the bicycle kick, and Jurkovic with his Harry Kane moment – minus the spilling the ball into the net from a direct free kick.
Anyway…
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Elsewhere…
There were two separate games both separated by one goal, but on paper it could have seemed liked one game as the scoresheets read Sheppard 34′ and Athiu 37′.
Both once former Heidelberg teammates, but now Sheppard turns out for Avondale.
And it was his header from Nick Symeoy’s cross that proved to be the winner against St Albans Saints, beating Chris May, who seemingly just can’t get away from Somers Street after stints at Melbourne Knights and Avondale FC (who currently use the ground for their home games).
St Albans would have been buoyed to see fellow promoted sides Kingston and North Geelong fight back to earn draws this opening weekend, but they weren’t to follow that trend as Avondale held out for the clean sheet, despite the introduction of former A-League men Jean Carlos Solorzano and Hernan Espindola in the 63rd minute.
Meanwhile, Athiu joined a list of NPL marskmen to get their tallies off the mark for 2017. His 37th minute strike was a highlight in a contest that Heidelberg could have killed off earlier if not for the profligacy of the hosts and the good work of Brendan White in goals.
Some new faces previously not mentioned by TCF included Jamie Noggler, a former Bulleen Lions youth, described by coach Dom Barba to the Herald Sun as “raw as anything, he takes on senior opposition with a cavalier approach. I brought him with me from Bulleen and he’s played every practice match. He’s a fearless winger/forward who could be anything,” and Godfrey Okello, a former Bayswater (Western Australian NPL) youth.
As for Heidelberg, all 11 of their starting line-up featured for the club last season. And, in this case, the continuity seemed to pay off as the club banked all three points and a clean sheet.