Bentleigh Greens won through to the Dockerty Cup final in a clash that left the Melbourne Knights livid due to a disallowed goal late into the contest.
Trailing 1-2 at Jack Edwards Reserve with the 90 minutes almost completed, a header by Stipo Andrijesevic was cleared off the line with the last effort of the game, but play was called on despite the Knights’ adamance it was a goal.
The result sees the Greens into their first Dockerty Cup final and denies the Knights the opportunity to emulate their 2014 cup-winning efforts, with Knights coach Andrew Marth livid at later admissions the ball had likely crossed the line.
“It was beyond the line. When a goalkeeper comes to you after the game and apologises and says, ‘Sorry Stabba that was definitely a goal,’ then I question the people involved in making those decisions,” Marth said in the aftermath.
“I said [to the officials], ‘Everyone lives and dies by the decisions they make and I thought the decisions you made today weren’t acceptable.’
“If these guys are aspiring to go to the next level… me going in there by speaking to them, hopefully they’ve learnt something.”
[PICS] The defining moment of last night's fixture…
Match report to come this morning. #MKFC #DockertyCup pic.twitter.com/1Zjj8ogjob
— Melbourne Knights FC (@MelbKnights) July 13, 2016
Earlier in the contest, the Greens got off to the perfect start when just 90 seconds into the contest a Lambros Honos free kick was tucked in by Luke Pilkington at the far post.
The Knights withstood the rest of the early pressure and equalised just before half time.
A foul on Julius Davies by Pilkington led to a yellow card and a set piece to Jason Hicks, with his delivery met by the tall figure of Andrijasevic, who flicked his header past the onrushing Ryan Scott before half time.
Yet once again early in the second half the Knights were their own worst enemy when a ball across the face by Tyson Holmes wasn’t dealt with by the Knights defence, which saw Nick Glavan smashing a clearance into Nikola Jurkovic, with the ball ricocheting into the net.
The Greens had chances that weren’t capitalised on throughout the 90 minutes, with Fraser Chalmers making a number of important saves, allowing his side to remain in the contest and push for another equaliser.
Should Andrijasevic’s late goal have stood, the Knights would have had another 30 minutes via extra time to mount a late challenge for a winner or progress via penalties, but Marth was nonetheless pleased with his side’s showing against the league leaders regardless of the final score.
“With a depleted team… our boys did exceptionally well against the marquee players of the NPL,” he said.
With his young side still earning credible results throughout the season in the league and cup without the likes of experienced heads Milan Batur and Ben Surey, Marth’s side now turns its attention to first trying to qualify for finals football in the NPL, and then the FFA Cup Round of 32 tie against Cockburn City.
“We train Friday and play Bentleigh again on Sunday which should be interesting, then Frank and I are going across to Perth to check out Cockburn the following week,” he said.
“That’s our priority now, definitely, the FFA Cup. Hopefully we get a good result against them and reach the last 16.”
Image: Matt Johnson