Melbourne Knights break Heidelberg United hearts with stunning late comeback
Melbourne Knights are the last suburban club standing in the Australia Cup after a stunning late comeback snatched victory from old rival Heidelberg United.
Local Sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Local Sport . Followed categories will be added to My News.
Steel couldn’t hold back the joy of the Melbourne Knights faithful.
The Knights’ wild injury-time comeback snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against old rival Heidelberg United on Thursday night.
Down 2-1 entering the 90th minute of their Australia Cup quarter-final, they produced a stunning late-show to triumph 3-2 and send a packed Knights Stadium into hysterics.
Swedish striker Lars Kinnander equalised in the 91st minute, left all alone inside the area to tap home Ivan Franjic’s cross.
Then with just seconds left on the clock Mitch Hore’s long-range shot somehow beat United keeper Pierce Clark, sparking wild scenes.
As fans on the terrace rushed to celebrate the fence collapsed under the weight of their jubilation.
The last National Premier League club left in the competition, the Knights will play a Cup semi-finals for the first time in club history.
Knights coach Ben Cahn was lost of words post-match.
“You can’t put words on it,” he said.
“It wasn’t our strongest performance tonight, we were a bit cagey, but Cup football is about finding a way.
“Somehow, I can’t quite explain right now, we managed to find what we needed to get us through.”
The night had started so brightly for Heidelberg United.
The Warriors took the lead in the 21st minute, a Ben Collins handball saw the visitors awarded a penalty, which captain Adrian Zahra converted.
Six minutes later it was two.
Zahra turned provided as his pin-point cross found star striker Kaine Sheppard unmarked and he headed home.
Just two minutes later Knights were back in the game as Gian Albano ran onto a Hore pass to poke home and give his team hope.
In an extraordinary few minutes, Albano came agonisingly close to a second a minute later only to be denied by Clarke’s finger-tip save and Heidelberg very nearly had three but for a world-class save by Chris Oldfield to deny Sean Ellis.
Cahn said getting a goal back before half-time was critical.
“Probably the words aren’t appropriate but, of course, it was very disappointing (to go 2-0 down).
“We started the game quite well but a couple of errors and lapses in concentration – that we’d been really good at avoiding recently – and against a team like Heidelberg you find yourself down quickly.
“It’s a difficult place to be but we never lost belief.
“(Albano’s goal) was huge, that was the one, we had to score before half-time.
“That goal gave us a chance and the later it went on the more worried you become but … it happened.”
A red card to Heidelberg midfielder Anthony Lesiotis with 10 minutes remaining proved critical.
“Obviously, them going down to 10 men changed the complexion of the game, it reduced their threat on the counter-attack,” Cahn said.
“It meant we could commit numbers forward and go for it and we made some changes to be as attacking as we could and in the end we found a breakthrough.”
Celebrating its 70th anniversary, it’s certainly been a Cup run to remember for Melbourne Knights.
The former NSL power has claimed wins over Queensland club Lions 4-1 and South Australia’s Campbelltown City 2-0 and now its Victorian rival Heidelberg United.
It is guaranteed to host a semi-final against an A-League club after Melbourne City knocked out the only other state club MetroStars.
“It’s a huge achievement for the club, a huge achievement for this group of players,” Cahn said.
“It’s been a long season, we started pre-season last November, so it’s a long time and we’ve played a lot of games of football.
NPL: BOLAND’S DREAM FAREWELL AFTER LEGENDARY CAREER
LEADER: GET YOUR LOCAL SPORT NEWS HERE
NPL: DOUBLE DELIGHT AS AVONDALE CROWNED CHAMPIONS
“It will be nice to go into one with the pressure off us, the A-League team – whoever we come up against – will be expected to win but we’ll go in with full belief.
“If there’s a year to do it, it’s this one.”
Melbourne City also produced a late comeback to defeat NPL SA premier MetroStars 2-1 with Tolgay Arslan scoring a 95th minute winner, cleaning up the rebound after his penalty had been saved initially.
Brisbane Roar hosts Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday and Sydney FC tackles Western United on Sunday.
Australia’s biggest junior football club audited
A forensic accountant investigating claims of fraud within the financials of Mt Eliza Junior Football Club has revealed its findings. Here’s what we know.
Hawks AFLW fly north to claim Cazalys fortress
Hawthorn’s AFLW side fly into Cairns looking to make their Northern Nest a fortress beginning with Thursday night’s blockbuster against Melbourne to kick off Indigenous Round.