Melbourne Knights’ Australia Cup campaign ends at the hands of Brisbane Roar
Melbourne Knights’ memorable 70th season is over after falling to Brisbane Roar in the Australia Cup semi-final at a jam-packed Knights Stadium.
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Melbourne Knights’ memorable 70th season is over.
The historic Australian football club’s remarkable run to the Australia Cup semi-finals came to an end on Sunday night in a 1-0 loss to A-League club Brisbane Roar.
While there was no silverware in its platinum jubilee, the Knights finished fourth in the league and reached the semi-final in all three competitions – NPL finals, Dockerty Cup and Australia Cup.
However, the history-making Australia Cup campaign will arguably be best remembered.
The Knights took out Queensland club Lions FC, South Australia’s Campbelltown City and NPL Victoria rival Heidelberg United and pushed Brisbane to the very end.
More than 5000 supporters packed into Knights Stadium for the clash.
Tom Waddingham’s 18th minute strike proved enough for the visiting Roar, poking home a rebound after a strong Jay O’Shea run and shot.
Knights more than held their own, only losing the possession battle 52 to 48 per cent, but weren’t able to create enough chances in front of goal, failing to register a shot on target.
Despite defeat, coach Ben Cahn was in awe of his playing group.
“We started pre-season in the first week of November last year, so the boys are very fatigued, and you have to remember they don’t get paid for Cup games and finals,” he said.
“It’s been six weeks since they last had a paycheck, so these guys are doing this for the love of it, they’ve given everything and I couldn’t be prouder.
“When we took this project on, the biggest thing we wanted was to try and fill this place up and bring the Melbourne Knights fans back through the gate.
“To see the place full today, it was outstanding, I just wish we could have given them a bit more to celebrate.”
Knights captain and two-time Brisbane Roar premiership player Ivan Franjic had the crowd on its feet early with an audacious long-range effort that was deflected just wide.
Roar hit the lead shortly after as O’Shea nicked the ball from Mitch Hore and dribbled through the Knights defence.
The Irishman’s deflected shot fell to an unmarked Waddingham and the 18-year-old snuck it past a diving Chris Oldfield.
Knights had the first chance of the second half as Gian Albano got in behind his defender but couldn’t keep his effort down trying to control the bouncing ball.
Oldfield then came to the rescue to stop a three-on-one Roar breakaway but Cam Parsons’ touch was heavy and the opportunity wasted.
Familiar foe Jonas Markovski, making his Brisbane debut, forced another top-class save from the Knights custodian as keep the home team’s hopes alive.
The final chance of the game fell to Corey Sewell, making his return from a long-term knee injury, but his effort was blocked by a desperate Roar defence.
Cahn lamented a lack of opportunities after the match.
“It was a disappointing goal to concede, I haven’t watched it back but I think there might have been a foul in there,” he said.
“Regardless, we didn’t create enough, they defended very well, but we’re very proud we pushed them as far as we did.
“You’re talking about full-time professional athletes deep into their preparations and we more than matched them.
“We had some moments but lacked a bit of quality in the front third, they defended very, very well.
“It’s a credit to the players that we had them pinned back at times and they had to defend deep, so it was disappointing we couldn’t take it to extra-time.”
Cahn, who flew back and forth from Melbourne to Brisbane during the week for the birth of his son, reflected on a memorable season.
While the coach will weigh up his future, he’s confident the club is well placed to contend again in 2024.
“It’s been a great year, three semi-finals,” he said.
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“I think the competitors in all of us given anything to have taken one of those competitions a step further but three semi-finals in the first year of trying is a big achievement.
“I’m on the first flight back to Brisbane to spend some time with my family, my son was born on Monday and I’ve hardly seen him.
“My first priority will be to get back and be a father and husband and I’ll spend the next couple of days making a decision on what the future holds.”
Brisbane Roar will play Sydney FC in the Australia Cup final after the Sky Blues defeated Melbourne City 2-1.
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