I don’t think I was the only one that had high hopes for the 2014 season. After an impressive run and somewhat unfortunate end against rivals South Melbourne in front of over 4,500 fans in October of last year, together with a good number of players staying on board and some exciting new signings, things were looking good for Knights fans at the beginning of the year. But after a one shonky match official, five knees and three shoulders, that all changed.
After taking over in early-mid 2012 from Paul Magdic, Andrew Marth had his first full year at the helm in 2013 and did an exceptional job finishing in second place. With most players staying on board and the addition of four new ‘old’ players (Antun Kovacic, Daniel Visevic, Rodrigo Covarubbias and Michael O’Farrell) there was a good vibe around the club and an expectation that we would match or even exceed last year’s achievements. After winning the first two matches and looking likely to win the third being 1-0 up against Werribee, we were well on track to having a good year, well atleast until Bruno decided to spoil the party. After waving play on to Shayan Alinejad being kicked in the head well inside the box and only a couple of metres in front of him, he went on to award a very late Werribee penalty after former player Ryan Filipovic went down outside the box, allowing him to slot home a penalty for an unlikely 1-2 win. And it only got worse from there. Along with the loss came the first serious and season ending injury after Jacob Colosimo went down clutching his knee in an awkward tackle, it was to be the first of many knee injuries in the injury plague of 2014. The midseason transfer window couldn’t come soon enough, with one of the worst losing streaks in the clubs history (7), and by that stage the injury plague at close to full affect with seven players already having succumbed to injury (Jacob Colosimo knee, Rordigo Covarubbias knee, James McGarry knee, Anthony Colosimo knee, Marijan Cvitkovic foot, Sam Torrens shoulders, Chris Talajic shoulder), five of them being for the remainder of the season. Not an ideal situation to be in at the best of times let alone when NPL only allows you a squad of maximum 20 players.
But it wasn’t all doom and gloom. Despite all the setbacks we were still in the Dockerty Cup with a chance for silverware and the possibility of qualifying for and participating in the first ever FFA Cup. I was confident we could make the semi-finals and indeed qualify for the FFA Cup, provided we played anyone but South Melbourne. Too many times they had the wood over us in important fixtures. With our injury plague and their unbelievable start to the season undefeated and sitting pretty in first, why would I think anything different? And then it happened, we drew South Melbourne. The last bloody hurdle to this damn FFA Cup and it had to be them. With who knows how many players out injured, and the match scheduled to be played before the transfer window, the odds weren’t in our favour. Thankfully though, common sense prevailed. Although South were adamant we should be playing 3 games in 5 or 6 days with little to no rest before playing them, the persistence of one or two Knights officials ensured that playing the match on the initial date was not an option. The match was rescheduled to two weeks later, after the transfer window and with plenty of time for both teams to recover before or after any league fixtures. Found it quite funny though that South Melbourne didn’t want to play the week prior because they wouldn’t have had enough rest between matches. Quite ironic don’t you think? Slippery gypsies.
With the extra time before the cup fixture came the transfer window and the long awaited chance to sign a couple of players and replenish the squad. Adelaide Croatia (Raiders) were kind enough to loan out their captain Michael Doyle who became a great asset to the squad in right back, whilst former Dandenong City and Melbourne Heart Youth striker Stipo Andrijasevic joined the squad from Goulburn Valley Suns. And it was Andrijasevic that proved the difference in the cup game against South Melbourne, assisting both goals in a historic 0-2 win. Not only did the Knights prove me wrong, but they proved most of Australia wrong. There was nothing that was going to stop us from winning that game, not an injury plague, not a federation determined on giving us one day rest before the game and definitely not the first placed South Melbourne. If the match was played 10 times over it would have had the same outcome, because we were hungrier, we wanted it more and we left every last bit of energy on that pitch.
With us now back in the limelight, things were much more positive around the club. Not only had we qualified for the FFA Cup but we were in with a good chance of finally winning some silverware after 18 long years. But it seemed luck still wasn’t on our side. After a great display by Olympic FC in the first half of the FFA Cup match and some less than average officiating, we found ourselves out of the cup after 90 minutes and without our first keeper for the rest of the year. Despite the blow we were able to pick ourselves back up, however not without another knee injury with Antun Kovacic going down only days before we headed to Lakeside Stadium to lift our first piece of major silverware in 18 years. In a match that didn’t bare many chances, and left me saying to the people beside me ‘this is such a shit match, if we win it on penalties it’s not even going to feel good, I won’t feel like celebrating’, I was once again proven wrong. As he had done in the quarter finals, Tomislav Uskok hit the back of the same net only this time in the 120th minute to send Knights fans into the biggest and wildest celebration that Lakeside Stadium ever had, and still has seen. It felt more than good, and I was definitely in the mood of celebrating.
So despite losing more than 10 players through injury throughout the year, and recording one of the worst losing streaks in the clubs history, I don’t think we had too bad a year, I would even go as far as calling it a success. A trophy after 18 years, and reaching the national stage after 10 years, whilst denying our rivals of that same opportunity are big things for me. But perhaps the biggest and most important thing to come out of the Knights this year was not football related. Perhaps it was something that happened off the field and behind the scenes for a short period of time. For the first time since the inception of the A-league, an Australian club had stood up to the FFA and not backed down, whilst at the same time gaining much support from the general public. For those that may not be aware, this isn’t the first time the club has stood up to a football body. The Knights were the first club to say no to the initial proposal of the NPL in Victoria, and we all know how that ended.
The Knights wrap up the season this Friday night with a home against Bentleigh Greens. Our last chance to see the boys in action before they head to Wollongong early next month, to defend their title and try their hand at a record 5th Croatian Tournament win in a row.
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