Leon Buhic scored the only goal of the Melbourne derby for the Knights after an error by veteran South Melbourne defender Mehmet Durakovic midway through the second half in a tight and passionate game at Knights Stadium on Sunday evening.
Knights deserved its victory over its local rivals, themselves seemingly unable to climb out of a poor spell of results in recent weeks in which just four points have been earnt out of the last six games - three of them in an unconvincing win mid-week - scarcely form to enter the Finals with.
Knights' newly-appointed Director of Football Mirko Basic provided the Knights' view at the post-match media conference. "We played very well, and had a couple of chances. But that is soccer - to score a goal after a big mistake."
Basic has written off Knights' chances of making the Finals even though the maths have not. "No - it's impossible," he said. "We are finished. But we will still try for seventh position, or eighth."
Knights had the majority of possession in the derby, by far a greater shot-count - almost triple South's tally, and four times as many shots on target.
"We lacked discipline," said South coach Danny Wright after the game. "It was frustration, I suppose. We couldn't get our passing game going. The Knights pressed us and were going at a hundred miles an hour."
There had been some by-play between the coaches in the preceding week which added to the hot-house derby atmosphere. Wright claimed Bazic had slighted his side, calling South "an average team" with players who are "good, but nothing special" only a short time after his return to Australia following a seven-year absence.
Knights' General Manager John Ovarcic attempted to soothe hurt feelings in his column in the match-day program, putting an alternative spin on Basic's comments.
But the passion and commitment on the park was unabated.
Knights sprang from the blocks and Henry Fa'arodo won the first of his battles with Patrick Kisnorbo as early as the eighth minute, leaving Kisnorbo in his wake, but shooting over with Buhic in space to his left.
Just after the first-half's mid-point, Nick Sabljak teased Nick Tolios on the left wing before sending in a cross which Buhic met with a header, only for the ball to flash by the far post.
Referee Eddie Lennie was required to caution four South players in as many minutes shortly after. Fa'arodo had been serially crunched by Kisnorbo and Durakovic, either side of bad tackles on Buhic and Bill Natsioulas by Tolios and Vaughan Coveny respectively. It seemed likely then that the passion would spill over, and that Lennie would be compelled to produce a red card, but the bad-tempered period passed and the first half ended without his further intervention.
There were interesting duels across the park. Fa'arodo and Kisnorbo were well matched, and Kisnorbo's early booking made him more circumspect in his attentions, and a better player for it.
Andrew Marth, making his 250th appearance for Knights, and Coveny spent much of the game in each others' shadows. It was an engaging contest between these two national league stalwarts. Marth's historic game ended just after the hour when he was replaced by Steve Horvat in a direct exchange.
"In a lot of respects, it was a typical derby game," said Wright. "But we started in second-gear, and it was hard to get out of (it). We didn't compete at all in the first half."
"That forty-five minutes was our worst performance of the season, it was absolutely atrocious."
Knights' second half's pressure did not lessen. Within a minute of the re-start, Ante Pelikan had a shot which Eugene Galekovic did well to save. Shortly afterwards Pelikan had combined in a flowing move with Fa'arodo and Buhic but took overly-long to shoot and the South defence swarmed the ball clear.
It was an error by Durakovic which gifted Buhic the opening goal with twenty minutes to go. South played the ball along its back-line and Durakovic's attempt to flick it back to Galekovic, as Buhic pressed, was weakly struck. Buhic ran unchallenged towards goal as Galekovic came out to narrow the angle. Buhic side-stepped to open it again, and shot home from 12 metres.
"When we conceded that goal, we were as much in the game as we were all game," said a disappointed Wright. "It was an incredible mistake. It came out of the blue."
"At that point, a few of the (Knights) players were walking, and we'd looked like we had a bit of a go-along. But (after) the mistake, it lifted them - the crowd got behind them, and they got strong from that point on."
Poutakidis managed a clearance off the line from a sharp Fa'arodo shot just minutes later as Knights strove for a goal that would end the contest. The ball rebounded to the Solomon Islander but his follow-up shot hit the side-netting.
Wright sent on Michael Baird as a forward for Vince Lia in an effort to chase at least a point, and left his defence bare in the process.
Several times in the remaining minutes, cooler Knights' play might have brought a second, but Fa'arodo, Buhic, and Pelikan separately and collectively managed to squander a hat-full of opportunities in the last five minutes.
"We took risks in the end," said Wright. "It's all about results, so we threw three up front. Full credit to Knights, they defended very well."