The history books will say that Melbourne Victory won their final game of the Hyundai A-League season 2-1 over the New Zealand Knights at Olympic Park on February 4. What they will not tell is how fortunate the visitors were to even score one goal, let alone concede just two. This will have to rank as one of the most one-sided 2-1 outcomes the fledgling competition is ever likely to see. With the exception of two players in this end-of-season encounter, the Knights should have been enjoying the sunshine at St. Kilda Beach, so abject were they. Melbourne were anything but, and but for the quite outstanding goalkeeping of Glen Moss and the defensive efforts of John Tambouras, the 10,078 locals on hand would have witnessed the A-League's record scoreline, set just a week ago, being well and truly shattered. The natives battered their guests' goal right from the outset, with Simon Storey unleashing a piledriver just ninety seconds into the match which prompted Moss to parry the ball away. It was scrambled for a corner, which Kristian Sarkies delivered with devilment right into the heart of the visitors' goal area. Unbelievably, the ball was allowed to bounce, and as Knights' defenders all gaped in astonishment at how this could be, Mark Byrnes stole in to head home the opening goal, with just two minutes on the clock. The visitors never recovered from this setback, and after Moss had flung himself to his left to deny Andy Vlahos' rising drive in the ninth minute, only some fine defending by Tambouras thwarted Daniel Allsopp sixty seconds later, after the striker had benefited from the combination play of Vlahos and the imperious Kevin Muscat. Melbourne's next raid, in the fourteenth minute, saw the lively Michael Ferrante and the overlapping Carl Recchia carve open the Knights' left flank. Had Frank Van Eijs not cut out the latter's cross, there were three blue shirts lined up behind the defender licking their lips in anticipation of a chance to score the home team's second goal. That chance materialised in the twentieth minute, from an unlikely source - referee Angelo Nardi. Allsopp and Tambouras got in a tangle as they disputed possession outside the penalty area, and the striker went down in the arc jut outside the eighteen-yard box. His upper body landed inside the penalty area, which prompted the official to point to the spot. John McEnroe's "You cannot be serious!" temper tantrum immediately sprang to mind at the sight of this decision. Had this match been played a week earlier, at the same time as the Australian Open tennis tournament was taking place, the man himself could have done an encore performance in response to what has to rank as one of the A-League's worst spot-kick calls yet awarded. What made his decision look even worse was the colour of the card he issued to Tambouras for committing the foul. He was the last defender, so if it was a penalty, it should have also been a sending-off. Instead, out came the yellow card … It's as well for Mr Nardi that this was the last game of the season. His performance betrayed how much he, too, is in need of a break, because Tambouras managed to avoid the yellow card twice more later in the match, infringements which might well have seen a more consistent official mete out the appropriate punishment. Muscat wasted little time in despatching the ball past Moss with some aplomb to leave the seventh-placed team firmly in the driving seat against the wooden-spooners with twenty minutes on the clock. Melbourne clearly weren't satisfied with two goals. Muscat released Allsopp down the right two minutes later, and he picked out Vlahos with a gem of a cross. The recipient got it all wrong, however, and was punished for his profligacy by being withdrawn at half-time. Before then, Melbourne had two more golden chances to increase their advantage. Nine minutes before the break, they were desperately unlucky not to do so. Sarkies picked out Recchia with a corner, and the defender sent his header crashing against the crossbar. The rebound fell into the path of the in-rushing Byrnes, off whom the ball ricocheted goalwards. The perfectly placed figure of Tambouras saved the Knights' bacon once more. Either side of half-time, Ferrante sent the ball flying past Moss' left-hand post, on the second occasion cheekily so, having chanced his arm from fifty yards upon spotting the 'keeper off his line. The midfielder was an integral performer in Melbourne's dominant display, however, and just before the hour mark, surged through once more before releasing Sarkies, who was cutting in from the left. But Moss had anticipated the danger, and blocked superbly at the midfielder's feet, before looking on with relief as Allsopp failed to gather the rebound. Seconds later, Moss foiled Sarkies once more, Allsopp the provider on this occasion. The Knights failed to adequately clear the danger, and when Ferrante curled in a delicious cross from the right, it

just needed a touch from either Allsopp or substitute Ricky Diaco to clinch Melbourne's third goal. Neither striker achieved their objective, however. Melbourne were queuing up to score now, with Muscat the next player to go close. Powering onto a Ferrante lay-off, he played a one-two with Diaco which took him into the heart of the Knights' penalty area. But once again, Moss proved unbeatable, blocking splendidly at the feet of the home team's captain. Three minutes later, Moss was producing the save of the game, an effort far superior to the run-of-the-mill stop Michael Theoklitos was forced to make in the 63rd minute to foil the visitors' lone shot on target to this point in the game, so tame was Sean Devine's shot on the turn. The shot Muscat manufactured was in stark contrast to that of the Knights' striker. Controlling the ball neatly after Moss had punched a Ferrante cross off the head of Diaco, the midfielder produced a textbook lob which, with the sun behind it, would have made it difficult for even a well-positioned goalkeeper to save, never mind one back-pedalling furiously. Moss defied the odds in style, launching himself backwards to turn the dropping ball over the bar in brilliant fashion - the technical excellence of this save should not be ignored. In the 68th minute, Melbourne finally found a way past Moss, but still they couldn't score. Recchia's early ball released Allsopp in behind the chasing Tambouras, and the striker lobbed the advancing goalkeeper and began to wheel away in celebration. It's as well he didn't start going overboard, because Tambouras put the good of the cause ahead of self-preservation in hurtling back to hook the ball off the line before ending up getting caught up in the netting. It's a pity the vast majority of Tambouras' team-mates haven't consistently shown the same degree of commitment to the cause when called upon to do so over the course of the season - their failure in this regard is one of the reasons why the NZ Knights have under-performed to the extent that their last-placed finish sees them some twenty points adrift of their nearest rivals. Assistant coach Tommy Mason is one who has paid the price for this failing, with Steve Fitzsimmons having preceded him out the door in recent weeks. Expect more movements, both in and out, in the days ahead, with the Knights set to announce their latest plans this coming Wednesday. One positive to come out of this match for the visitors was Moss, who defied Diaco once more in the 72nd minute. The 'keeper looked on five minutes later as Melbourne pressed again, Steve Pantelidis winning possession easily in midfield and threading the ball through for Diaco on the edge of the area. Tambouras produced a super tackle to thwart the danger this time round. Cue Moss again, four minutes from time. Sarkies picked out Allsopp with a corner to the near post, and the striker's diving header was pawed round the post by the goalkeeper, who made a fine reflex save to further frustrate Melbourne. Sarkies and Allsopp combined again from the resulting corner, but the striker was destined not to score, his header this time being hooked off the line by Zenon Caravella, one of two Knights' players to appear in all twenty-one of their games this season, the other, Darren Bazeley, having played every minute of every match. In the case of this match, it was a rare instance of neither ever-present performing to the standards expected of them. Like their team-mates, they were grateful to Moss for a grand display of goalkeeping, which concluded with saves from Sarkies and Diaco in the final minutes. Theoklitos, his opposite number, had hardly had a thing to do all game, so abject were the Knights as an attacking unit, but he was left to fish the ball out of his net in stoppage time, as the hitherto unsighted Jeremy Brockie ghosted through the inside-left channel onto a pass from substitute Kris Bright and fair leathered the ball into the top far corner of the net to end the visitors' miserable campaign on a goal. But for the efforts of Moss and Tambouras, however, Melbourne would have won by a far greater margin than the 2-1 victory which will appear in the record books. And when one considers that the winning goal was scored from a penalty which should never have been awarded, given the infringement took place outside the area, it's frightening to think that this decidedly one-sided affair, the last of the 2005-6 season for both sides, could have ended with honours even! Melbourne:     Theoklitos; Recchia, Byrnes, Piorkowski, Storey; Ferrante, Pantelidis, Muscat (Tavsancioglu, 90), Sarkies (Lia, 88); Allsopp, Vlahos (Diaco, 46) Knights:     Moss; Tambouras (booked, 20), Bazeley, Van Eijs; Brockie, Jasper, Tinkler (Zhang, 83), Caravella, Hickey (Maguire, 67); Emblen, Devine (Bright, 89) Referee:     Angelo Nardi