The legendary tales of kings, knights, court jesters, battles and displays of courageous endeavour and derring-do of days gone by have long been consigned to the annals of time, the deeds of the likes of King Henry and the Knights of the Round Table having dominated those days of yore.      On February 2, 2003, at Knights Stadium, Melbourne, the National Soccer League encounter between the Melbourne Knights and the Football Kingz was something of a footballing tribute to those conflicts of yesteryear, as the teams produced a ninety-minute duel to the death in a ding-dong go witnessed at first-hand by 3554 natives, the vast majority of whom were stunned into silence come the final whistle.      For the Kingz, who were put to the sword on numerous occasions in this match, kept fighting back when all hope seemed lost, and ultimately overcame the Knights 2-1 in a fiercely contested battle royal to keep their slim play-off hopes alive.      Fittingly, it was the man whom Kingz fans label "The King of the Kingz" who struck the blow which sealed the Knights' fate on this occasion, on what was his one hundredth appearance for the New Zealand side, the first player in the club's history to achieve the feat.      You could have heard a pin drop at Knights Stadium when Harry Ngata headed home the winner eight minutes from time, but while his was the glory - and, given his personal milestone, rightly so - it was the display from the Kingz resident Court Jester which stole the show, and epitomised the courageous of the visitors' come-from-behind victory.      It's often said of goalkeepers that "You don't need to be mad, but it helps". So when Michael Utting slammed his head against the post while producing an ultimately match-winning save, you feared for the goalkeeper's well-being.      A mere sixty seconds later, you were left shaking your head in disbelief as this one-time student (at South Africa's SuperSport United) of the undisputed Clown Prince of Goalkeepers, former Liverpool custodian Bruce Grobbelaar, shook his head, got up and smiled broadly, giving the impression it was a huge joke, the blood flowing from a cut near his ear - which ultimately required bandaging - notwithstanding.      He's faced bigger challenges than that, however, has Utting. He is well on the way to overcoming his biggest challenge of all - the bottle. But in this match, he was ultimately the difference between the teams, as his saves helped bring to an end the Kingz six-match winless streak, in which they had scored just once.      They were responsible for all three goals in this encounter, but before the first of them was scored, the Knights had set out their stall - they were intent on extinguishing the Kingz play-off hopes, while enhancing their own, given that a victory would have lifted the Knights to within two points of the much-coveted top-six placings.      A rasping Daniel Rocco drive had Utting scrambling across his goal in the fourth minute, while Solomon Islands striker Henry Fa'arodo rattled the post six minutes later, after Isyan Erdogan pursued a Lubo Lapsansky through ball and caught Jonathan Perry napping.      Moments later, Lapsansky fired a twenty-yard free-kick straight at Utting, who was rendered helpless in the fourteenth minute by a bizarre own goal. Debutant midfielder Bill Natsioulas pounced on a loose ball in midfield and played it forward to Fa'arodo, who slipped free-scoring striker Gustavo Biscayzacu through in what was his last appearance for the Knights.      He whipped in a low cross which Perry inexplicably steered into the bottom right-hand corner of Utting's net - 1-0 to the Knights, and neither the goalscorer, his team-mates nor coach Ken Dugdale could believe it!      Perry made amends to some extent moments later, thwarting Fa'arodo at the near post as he homed in on a Lapsansky cross. But the goalscorer, and team-mate Darren Young, were soon to depart the fray, both having been stricken by a stomach virus which prompted their premature departures from the fray inside the first half-hour of the match.      While the Kingz readjusted following the arrivals of Hiroshi Miyazawa and Mark Beldham, the Knights continued to press, the unmarked Ante Kovacic hitting the angle of post and crossbar with a header upon being picked out by a Lapsansky corner, seconds before the Knights' set-piece specialist unleashed a thunderous free-kick past both the defensive wall and Utting, but which cannoned to safety off an upright.      The Knights had, by and large, been all over the Kingz in this first half-hour, the visitors having just a seventh minute Patricio Almendra drive - tipped round the post by Martin John - and a golden one-on-one chance for Andy Vlahos - which John saved comfortably, given the shot was directed straight at him - to show for their efforts in this time.      But the succumbing to injury of former Knights player-coach Andrew Marth in the 34th minute proved to be a turning point in the match. Often an individual nemesis to the Kingz in past clashes, the visitors found a few holes in the home team's rearguard following his departure, and weren't slow to exploit them.      Almendra - back from suspension - weaved his way through two challenges on the right in the 37th minute before steering the ball into Ngata's feet.

The striker turned and let fly from the edge of the penalty area, his deflected effort cannoning to safety off the face of John. Fortune favoured the goalkeeper on that occasion, but not so on the stroke of half-time, as the Kingz drew level. Five minutes after an unchallenged run from Lapsansky had seen the midfielder drag his shot wide of the target, Almendra let fly with a thirty-yard free-kick which John tipped onto the post. Sadly for the 'keeper, the rebound landed right in the path of the incoming Vlahos, who swept home the equaliser which set up a storming second half. It began with the Kingz resuming their strong finish to the first half, with Ngata and defender Con Anthopoulos - a swashbuckling run right through the Knights defence which was only curtailed by Roddy Vargas' last-ditch challenge - both going close to giving the Kiwi team an unlikely lead. Almendra and Ngata had further chances to alter the scoreboard, but the Knights soon regained the ascendancy, and proceeded to pound away at the Kingz defences, much as they had done for the bulk of the opening thirty minutes. This time, Biscayzacu led the charge, twice going close before the home team were denied strong claims for a penalty by referee Craig Zetter - his was a performance which mixed wonderful with weird in equal measure! - who adjudged that the ball had struck Beldham's hand in the area. On this occasion, his judgment was correct, but some of his other calls saw eyebrows heading heavenwards!! It appeared to be a question of when - not if - the Kingz defence would breach, but in the 68th minute, a rasping twenty yard drive from captain Chris Jackson brought the best out of John, who was relieved to see the resulting Vlahos corner headed over the crossbar by the unmarked Miyazawa. Cue Utting's heroics. His aforementioned collision with the post came about in the 72nd minute, as he fell to earth after producing a quite breath-taking save to deny Biscayzacu's free-kick as it homed in on the goalkeeper's top right-hand corner. He was to produce another vital, though far more comfortable, save soon afterwards, Fa'arodo shooting tamely at the goalkeeper after Vargas and Xhezair Sulemani had teamed up to good effect down the right ten minutes from time. Two minutes later, the Knights were well and truly staring down the barrel of defeat. Jackson retained possession in midfield before releasing Pritchett on the right. He dwelt on the ball for a few seconds, engineering the angle he required to whip in a cross to the far post. A couple of defenders, plus John, were on hand to avert the threat, but this one had teeth. Through the crowd came Ngata, who stooped to head the ball down past John and into the left-hand corner of the net just eight minutes from time, crowning his one hundredth Kingz appearance with the goal which sees him return to the top of the club's goalscorers.. Finding themselves 2-1 behind with such little time remaining roused the natives to even greater heights, but standing in their way was Utting. Fa'arodo twice went close in the remaining minutes, first through the creativity of Erdogan, then, in the 89th minute, by a full-stretch save from the Kingz goalkeeper. Sulemani was running the Kingz ragged down the right, and another such escapade resulted in a low cross for Biscayzacu. He steered his shot seemingly wide of the advancing Utting, who flung himself low to his left and just got his fingertips to the ball to prevent it from arrowing towards the far corner of the net. Following in on the rebound, Fa'arodo looked a near-certainty to tie up the scores at the death. But he couldn't get enough contact on the ball to steer it inside the post, his effort clipping the outside of the upright and ricocheting to safety. The relief of Utting and company was tempered by the injury time dismissal of captain Jackson for his second bookable offence, meaning the Knights would have an extra man for the three minutes of stoppage time remaining. They came close on one occasion - a rasping Nick Sabljak effort which Utting turned over the crossbar in spectacular fashion. Then came the final whistle, and for the first time in the club's four-year history, the Kingz had finally conquered the Knights. Their reward is to leap from twelfth to eighth place on the league table, ahead of the Knights on goal difference, and some five points off the play-off places. And while many of the plaudits will go the way of the Court Jester, Michael Utting, for his antics in this, one of the Kiwi team's most invigorating triumphs, one should not overlook, on this special occasion for him personally, the match-winning contribution made by the Football Kingz first centurion, Harry Ngata - the stuff of legend! Knights:     John; Vargas, Marth (Buljubasic, 34), Kovacic (booked, 22); Natsioulas (Sulemani, 65), Sabljak, Lapsansky, Rocco, Erdogan; Biscayzacu, Fa'arodo Kingz:          Utting; Perry (Miyazawa, 26 (booked, 72)), Anthopoulos, Donoso; Pritchett (booked, 29), de Gregorio (booked, 72), Jackson (booked, 32, 90 - sent-off), Young (Beldham, 27); Almendra, Ngata, Vlahos Referee:     Craig Zetter