South Melbourne upset the recent formbook, and a player deficit for more than half of the game, to stretch its NSL games head-to-head advantage against Melbourne Knights with a three-two victory at Knights Stadium on Sunday evening.
"I'm delighted with the character of my team," said South coach Eddie Krncevic after what had been a roller-coaster of a game. "It was an important win for us."
South had raced to a two-goal lead before ten minutes had elapsed as Con Boutsianis and Vaughan Coveny took advantage of defensive errors, but then seemed helpless to stem a Knights tide after captain Steve Panopoulos collected two yellow cards in about as many minutes just before the half-time interval.
Joel Porter brought Knights into the contest with a goal just before the break, and seemed to have laid the foundations for a late win when he equalised with seven minutes of regulation time still to be played.
But it was a last-minute goal from player-of-the-game Massimo Murdocca on a breakaway which won what many had assumed would be lost with Panopoulos' premature departure.
"After being two-nil up, and an ideal start, I thought we were cruising there, until (Panopoulos') send off," said South coach Eddie Krncevic after the game. "We were always going to be up against it with a man sent off. (And with) Knights scoring just before half-time, it was always going to be a hard game."
Boutsianis had stolen in at the far-post to head South's opening goal from a cross from Ray Sekulovski on the right with many patrons still to enter the ground, despite the delayed kick-off. Melbourne Knights' defence had stood still for a crucial second appealing for a hand-ball, but referee Eddie Lennie was unmoved.
An error of greater magnitude allowed South to stretch the lead before ten minutes had elapsed, stunning to silence a crowd which had expected a much different outcome. A hopeful through-ball looked to be a standard defensive clearance, but Roddy Vargas and goalkeeper Martin John had their wires crossed. Johns had come out, but Vargas rose for the backwards header stranding Johns, leaving a clear goal for Coveny to side foot home into.
With the momentum strongly in South's favour, South continued to press, rather than defend.
South were on cruise-control from then until Panopoulos managed to get himself booked twice within three minutes and so sent-off with half-time beckoning. The first was for a mid-pitch foul-tackle, the second for what referee Lennie adjudged to be a dive in the penalty-box when contact seemed to have occurred.
"I'd rather not comment," said Krncevic when asked his view of Lennie's decision. "At the end of the day, you can say whatever you want, it's not going to change the decision."
With Panopoulos off, Knights sensed that there might be an opportunity to scramble back into the contest with a goal before the break, and it was through Porter it came. Ivo De Jesus had taken advantage of the extra space now in midfield with Panopoulos gone, and made a diagonal run before slipping through a pass to Porter and behind the South defence. Porter's left foot thunderbolt was touched, but not able to be deviated by Michael Petkovic.
"At the beginning of the game, I was quite confident that we would get three points," said Knights player-coach Andrew Marth during the after-match media conference. "Going down (so early) I thought we were struggling, but I knew we had enough character in the team to come back."
Marth himself had a chance to equalise with a header from a free-kick shortly after the restart, but it was easily gathered by South goalkeeper Michael Petkovic.
And Marth was again directly involved in another move shortly after from which the equaliser seemed likely. Mehmet Durakovic had been robbed whilst making a forward foray by Daniel Debevc who in turn spread the ball wide to Marth on the right. Marth's low cross was the type which defenders dread as anyone's touch - from either team - is as likely to send the ball into the net as elsewhere. But it was a lunge from Steve Iosifidis which sent the ball over the bar from inside the six-yard box and safety.
Boutsianis had been substituted early in the second half for Paul Trimboli, but the more telling move was a switch engineered from the Knights' bench moving Porter from the left to the right side. Observing from the sidelines, Knights' assistant coach Luciano Trani had convinced Marth there was a tactical advantage in switching Porter. Porter is heavily reliant on his left foot, and when on the right needs to beat his man before sending over a cross, or else he plays the ball back if required to cut inside.
When on the left, Porter manages to get into a shooting position when he cuts inside, and it was with one such move he blasted home the equaliser.
The momentum was now strongly with Knights, and with its best attendance of the season braying its support from the terrace, the only issue that seemed to be able to prevent a win was that time would run out.
Petkovic made what proved to be a game-winning save just two minutes later. Porter had scored a hat-trick last week against Brisbane, and was now unbackable to do likewise here such was his form. Debevc played a ball through to Porter who had slipped past the South backline and was within six yards of the goal. As Porter shot, Petkovic managed to make a brave block low at his feet.
Knights continued to send resources forward in its search for the winner, leaving things a little thin at the back. It was to prove the Knights' downfall.
Iosifidis - himself dismissed during the meeting between these two sides earlier in the campaign - made up for that when he won possession deep in his own half as Knights again threatened to overwhelm the South defences, and sent a ball forward to Murdocca in the clear and wide on the right at the half-way line.
Murdocca ran straight into a shooting position. His shot from the edge of the penalty-area crashed high into the Knights' net as Lennie's watch showed the ninety minutes were nearly up.
After surviving an anxious four added minutes, South gained its first away win of the season, and Knights' poor home form, which threatens its bid for post-season Finals action, continued.