Melbourne Knights parts ways with Ben Surey after loss to Oakleigh Cannons
Melbourne Knights has acted swiftly after a third straight defeat, dismissing former captain turned coach Ben Surey with the search for a replacement underway.
Local Sport
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Friday night’s 1-0 loss to Oakleigh was Ben Surey’s final game in charge of his beloved Melbourne Knights.
The club announced on Saturday it had parted ways with the former club captain, as well as assistant Craig Moore.
The loss at Knights Stadium was the Knights’ third in a row and third game without scoring a goal.
Considered a premiership contender in pre-season, Knights sits eighth on the NPL Victoria ladder with a 3-2-6 record and could slip as far as 10th depending on other Round 11 results.
The club is also out of the Australia Cup.
After reaching the Australia Cup semi-final last year, it’s campaign ended in the fourth round after a horror draw paired it with South Melbourne and suffer a 2-0 defeat.
Surey took the reins from Ben Cahn in the summer, stepping up to the top job after serving as assistant last season.
However, consecutive 1-0 losses to arch-rival Heidelberg United, struggler Altona Magic and Oakleigh brought his tenure to an end.
“The Melbourne Knights Football Club would like to announce that it has made the difficult decision to part ways with head coach Ben Surey and assistant coach Craig Moore effective immediately,” a club statement read.
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“After over a decade of service to the club, including as a senior men’s player and captain, junior’s technical director, assistant coach and more recently head coach, we sincerely thank Ben for his service and dedication to our club over the years and wish him all the best in his future endeavours.”
Knights will look to bounce back when it travels to Dandenong Thunder on Friday night before returning to Knights Stadium in Round 13 to host Green Gully.
Cahn is the second NPL coach to lose his job this season following Hume City’s decision to replace Cam Watson with David Chick.
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