It wasn't their most commanding display of the season by any means, but finally getting their hands on the Hyundai A-League premiership crown was ample compensation for Melbourne Victory on December 17, as they overcame a dogged New Zealand Knights combination to score a 4-0 win in the final game they will play at Olympic Park. 15,563 fans piled in to cheer on their local heroes, but they didn't have it all their own way by any means to begin with, as the visitors concluded their week from hell with a spirited display in the face of adversity on and off the park. Football Federation Australia revoked the club's licence on Thursday evening, citing serious breaches of their agreement, after the club had made public the fact they had yet to receive payment of a month-old grant, and the current owners had privately disclosed to the competition's governing body that they could not sustain their involvement beyond the end of this season. The FFA will fund the Knights' operations for the remainder of the campaign, while entrusting the running of the operation for the duration to New Zealand Soccer, who will also endeavour to secure new owners for the Knights' licence before the end of January. Stuck in the middle, of course, are the players, whose contracts will be honoured by the FFA through to the end of the season. As the club is no longer a going concern, however, short-term contracts reflecting the change of circumstances have had to be arranged to tide things over. Some of the players have raised concerns over these new deals with the Australian Professsional Footballers Association, and have deferred signing the new arrangements until that body has had the chance to ratify matters. Hence it was a genuine rag-tag combination which fronted for the Knights in this seventeenth round affair, a mix of regulars and ring-ins who answered the call made by the team's third coach this season. The interim appointment, All Whites coach Ricki Herbert, and his charges were literally meeting each other for the first time, in some cases, the night before the match, and managed to squeeze in one training session prior to taking the field against the premiership winners-elect. For the first half-hour or so, the visitors battled well, and Melbourne were struggling to break them down during much of this period. Indeed, when the game's first chance materialised, in the twentieth minute, it fell the Knights' way, Dustin Wells rattling the advertising hoardings after the progress of Jonas Salley and Alen Marcina had been curtailed by Adrian Leijer and Roddy Vargas. Two minutes later, a Marcina snapshot on the run from the edge of the penalty area fizzed narrowly over Michael Theoklitos' crossbar, Salley having pounced on a wayward Leijer clearance. Melbourne's mentor, Ernie Merrick, was clearly displeased with his charges' efforts, despite Vargas heading over from an Adrian Caceres corner and Danny Allsopp being denied by one of the Knights' new boys, Steven O'Dor, before the half-hour mark. But after Mark Paston had been forced to race out to the edge of his penalty area to punch clear a wayward Noah Hickey header before Allsopp could make the visitors' captain pay, all the Knights' good work was undone by a concentration lapse ten minutes before half-time. Richard Johnson conceded a free-kick just outside the penalty area, and while the visitors were organising their defensive wall, Kevin Muscat's quickly taken set-piece found Caceres lurking on the left. His low cross into the goalmouth was swept home by Allsopp, and the Melbourne fans' party could commence. The goalscorer was thwarted by Paston seconds later, but the 'keeper was fishing the ball out of his net for a second time in the 39th minute, after a devastating finish from Caceres. Receiving a pass from Vargas in space, he turned and took on two Knights defenders before lashing a shot high inside Paston's near post from the edge of the penalty area. If there was any doubt about the outcome of the game after these efforts, such doubts were

emphatically swept aside in stoppage time, when Melbourne struck twice more to put the Knights to the sword. After Steve Pantelidis and Archie Thompson had set up Caceres for a 43rd minute chance which he volleyed over the crossbar from eight yards while in between defenders, Thompson commandeered possession on the right flank, a circumstance which immediately had Allsopp taking off into space through the inside right channel. His run wasn't picked up, and when his team-mate's pass arrived, Allsopp was in full flight, with just Wells standing between him and a shot at goal. The midfielder was always going to be second-best in this situation, and once again Paston was left floundering as he was beaten all ends up at his near post. Seconds later, another free-kick was awarded the home team just outside the penalty area. Muscat took charge once more, and deftly lobbed the ball over the wall in another training ground move. Thompson was anticipating it, and gleefully steered the ball home via the post to cap off a stunning finale to the half for the new premiership champions. The second spell was largely one of damage limitation as far as the Knights were concerned, whereas for Melbourne it was a case of endeavouring to add to the already emphatic scoreline. Paston was called upon three times in eleven minutes around the hour mark to deny twenty-yard efforts from Caceres and, on two occasions, the hat-trick hunting Allsopp, while John Tambouras' timely tackle during this period curtailed Muscat's progress as Thompson played him in in the penalty area. It wasn't all one-way traffic, however, with Gao Leilei giving Melbourne cause for concern on a few occasions. In the 57th minute, for instance, he led a three-on-three counter-attack which saw Salley steaming up on his right in acres of space. But the Chinese player opted to go it alone - not the best option with Pantelidis around to pick your pocket of possession! Gao featured in another Knights raid, in the 66th minute, which culminated in the overlapping Hickey's cross picking out the head of Marcina. Theoklitos tipped the ball over the bar, the only occasion when he was called into action, although he would have been beaten by Salley's header from Fernando de Moraes' resulting corner had Fred not been perfectly positioned by the post to clear off the line. After Hickey had headed past his own upright in a desperate attempt to avert the danger posed by the presence of Allsopp and Thompson lurking behind him as they looked to make the most of a Fred-inspired raid, Melbourne were denied a penalty in the 71st minute when Allsopp went down in the area under O'Dor's challenge. Seven minutes later, the massed ranks of the Knights' defence thwarted Allsopp as the home team poured forward in search of another goal, only to find themselves on the back foot four minutes later as the visitors sought one of their own. Marcina and Salley combined to set up substitute Michael White, who drilled his shot across the face of goal. From the resulting goal-kick, Fred sent substitute Kristian Sarkies through on goal with a delightfully weighted pass, but Paston raced off his line to save at the substitute's feet. The Knights' goalkeeper denied another substitute, James Robinson, in stoppage time, before Angelo Nardi's final whistle signalled the start of what is sure to be a lively party in Melbourne, with Victory fans set to paint the town blue as they celebrate their team's triumphant charge to the Hyundai A-League's premiership crown. Melbourne:     Theoklitos; Storey (Alessandro, 72 (booked, 76)), Leijer, Vargas, Pantelidis; Fred, Brebner, Muscat, Caceres (Sarkies, 63); Thompson, Allsopp (Robinson, 85) Knights:     Paston; Fleming, Tambouras, O'Dor, Hickey; Richter (booked, 16) (White, 46), Salley (Yan, 82), White (de Moraes, 63), Johnson, Gao; Marcina (booked, 45) Referee:     Angelo Nardi