KEY POINTS:
Knights 1 Queensland 0
The New Zealand Knights took a huge step towards shrugging off the easy-beats tag at North Harbour Stadium yesterday.
In holding on to a 1-0 lead for 83 minutes for a deserved win over highly fancied Queensland Roar, they gave the faithful a
glimmer of hope.
This was a victory for guts and determination.
It might not have always been pretty and, yes, it was an own goal that gave them the lead and, yes, the Knights did drop plenty of players behind the ball in holding on grimly, but in the end not one of the 2675 fans cared.
The win snapped an eight-game losing streak and led deflated Queensland coach Miron Bleiberg to admit he would have employed exactly the same tactics.
Knights coach Paul Nevin rang the changes - some forced, some by choice - and was rewarded with some of the more enterprising football his charges have managed this season.
From the outset, recalled young central defender Sime Kovacevic was up for everything and fully justified his opportunity to play alongside Che Bunce in a more than useful pairing.
Behind them goalkeeper Mark Paston, promoted for his first start, was outstanding.
Australian Dustin Wells, cleared late to join the Knights, added pace and width in the midfield while up front Adam Casey provided the spark to complement the work done wide by Noah Hickey and Jonti Richter.
That new-found determination, and the pressure it created, led to the only goal.
Wells broke deep and outside Richter, got to the line and played the ball towards the near post. Back in cover, centre-back Sasa Ognenovski launched himself but succeeded only in spearing the ball high into his own goal and away from goalkeeper Liam Reddy's despairing attempt to gather.
After 6m 50s, the Knights were ahead but with the finishing post a long, long way away.
The visitors regrouped, forced a handful of corners and as many half-chances but this was a determined Knights outfit.
They chased and harried, made miracle tackles and even created a few chances of their own.
But it was on defence that they covered themselves in glory.
Confronted by a strike force spearheaded by Yuning Zhang (and later Spase Dileski), Matt McKay and Reinaldo - a combination that has helped the Queensland side to roar along in second place or better for much of the season - Bunce, Kovacevic and Paston never flinched.
They tackled as though there was no tomorrow and showed that given a chance, they might now have the grit and determination to cash in.
"We talked about not giving New Zealand a sniff [of victory]," said Bleiberg. "That got it and it provided the spark for them to hang on. We were not good enough [to get the points] today.
"They have deserved more in other games than they have got. I predict the Knights will finish with 12-15 points. The pity is we have given them some of those.
"From the time they got that goal, it was a disaster in the making."
Nevin, delighted with the result, admitted later it was not pretty, then just as quickly added, "But it was what I wanted - a disciplined performance, one of grit and determination."
Knights captain Darren Bazeley summed it up simply: "Today was a great day. The work-rate was fantastic."
