Melbourne Knights coach Andrew Marth is expecting a “tough encounter” ahead of his side’s semi-final Dockerty Cup show down against Bentleigh Greens on the 16th July.
The Knights will enter the match on the back of their resounding 2-0 victory over traditional rivals South Melbourne at Lakeside Stadium on Wednesday night, teeing up a showdown with Bentleigh who defeated Richmond 3-1 a week earlier.
Knight’s however fell to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Bentleigh only a few weeks ago in the league, with that match decided by a goal in the dying stages of the match.
“Its going to be a tough encounter,” Marth said.
“Obviously they are sitting fourth on the ladder and we are sitting fourth bottom. We played them a couple of weeks ago and we didn’t embarrass ourselves.
“We conceded a goal in the last five minutes due to a mistake from one of our players but we are getting players back and we are looking forward to it.”
With any chance of success in the league all but beyond Knights after a dismal and injury affected first half to the season, playing on two fronts seems to have benefited the side out of Sunshine, with the ability to now shift their attention towards the cup competition.
“Hugely [rewarding],” Marth said after keeping their season alive via the Dockerty Cup.
“But credit goes to the boys. They’ve come in, we’ve bled a lot of young players this year – probably about 10 or 1 from the 18s or youth team – and our seniors have stepped up again so credit has got to go to those guys and not so much to me.”
The victory over South also marks the Knights’ qualification into the FFA Cup, ensuring a return to the national stage for the two time National Soccer League champions.
Melbourne will travel to Brisbane on 29 July 2014 as they line up against NPL Queensland side Olympic FC at Goodwin Park.
“It’s huge,” Marth said on his side’s return to the national stage.
“Melbourne Knights have got a huge tradition being NSL champions and Dockety Cup champions and it’s a great concept by FFA in regards to this cup.
“It’s virtually like a David and Goliath kind of scenario and hopefully we can do well up in Brisbane and get a Melbourne City or Melbourne Victory at Knights Stadium would be out of this world for the club.”
Knights captain Ben Surey echoed his coaches’ sentiments on their progression into the Dockerty Cup semi’s and FFA Cup.
“Huge win for the club and for the team,” Surey said.
“Obviously we’ve had our cup run to bring ourselves closer together and give ourselves something to play for after our run of whatever it was without winning in the league and a run of injuries.
“We’ve sort of been hanging onto the cup run and we’ve been pleased every game but Wednesday night was as big as it’s been so far.”