Joe Tricarico gave Melbourne Knights an early lead before Marconi Stallions stormed back with the next three to win an entertaining game at a cold Knights Stadium on Friday evening.
"This has been a graveyard for me," said Stallions' coach Lee Sterry after the game. "It's pleasing that the boys gutsted it out. You come to Melbourne Knights, you've got to fight and work hard for one another. We showed some character tonight, and I was pretty happy with it."
So too were the changing Marconi players, whose post-match celebrations rendered much of the media conference inaudible.
"I've not heard Marconi's dressing room sing as long as that, that's for sure," said Sterry.
Knights' coach Andrew Marth was unable to attend the media scrum, and assistant coach Luciano Trani deputised. "It was very disappointing," said Trani over the rambunctious Stallions' celebration in the next room. "Marconi's performance in midfield had the better of us, and we couldn't cope with their speed."
The game had hardly begun when Daniel Vasilevski wriggled clear after a short run at the point of the penalty-area before sending in a low cross to the far post where Tricarico bustled it into the net.
"It looked a hand-ball from everybody at the ground bar the bloke in the middle," said Sterry. "It looked like he punched it into the net. I'd have to look at the tape."
Within fifteen minutes however, Marconi had fought its way back into the game when Royce Brownlie was sent clear after Norm Tome's clever diagonal through ball gave him hectares of space. Brownlie drew Knights exposed goalkeeper Martin John before slipping a low shot into the goal at the far post.
Joel Porter seemingly had a golden opportunity to retake the lead for the Knights just before the half-hour when a surprisingly static Marconi defence and a mis-placed defensive pass allowed him to run through to face only Michael Turnbull, and with the full face of the goal as his target. To the unconstrained disappointment of the gathered Knights' fans, Porter somehow shot wide.
"I was very happy when (Porter) missed that one," said a relieved Sterry. "Goals change games. If he scored that, we go in at 1-2 at half-time, there's a different mentality in the shed. If you're away from home and you're 1-1, players have got a real belief in themselves."
Turnbull made a more critical intervention to prevent Ivan Jolic after Jolic took advantage of a defensive misjudgement and found time to shoot from the edge of the area. Turnbull's diving finger-tip save deflected the ball over the bar.
Despite these clear chances falling Knights' way, it was Brownlie for Marconi - immediately after the interval - who was next to score. Once again he was sent free and galloped past a square Knights' defence to face Johns. Johns came out to meet him, and at least forced Brownlie wide, but the angle, and Rod Vargas' despairing attempt at the goal-line, were insufficient to prevent the ball rolling gently into the net.
Grant Last increased the lead on the hour after a period of sustained Stallions pressure to take the game out of Knights' grasp. James Afkos had made a storming run down the right wing and crossed for Brownlie looking for his hat-trick. The ball stuck under Brownlie's feet, but fell handily for Last who blasted home from 12 metres.
Marconi was now breaching the threadbare Knights defence which was patently missing the influence of Steve Horvat. Marth had pushed up in his attempts to rally his team and battle back into the contest.
"When you're behind, you've got to take those few risks," said Trani, explaining the gaps in defence. "Are we just going to sit (back), and let the game go?"
Porter brought out another high-class save from Turnbull towards the end of the game when he'd latched onto a nod-on from a long pass out of defence by Andy Vargas. Xhezair Sulemani also had two late chances after coming on midway through the half, but by this stage, the game was well in Marconi's control.