By Peter Stephenson
A gloomy Egan Lee boded ill for the Barkers, who were desperate to get back on the winning trail after two defeats sent them nearer to the drop zone than the promotion hunt.
It was derby day as Barkers faced Knox City in round 14 of State 2SE.
Knox were flying and Barkers were missing Paul McEvoy and Steve Nittoli, so it wasn’t only the weather that gave Barkers cause for concern.
Those concerns were justified just four minutes in.
A bright start by Barkers produced no clear chances, then Knox won a corner on the right.
Keeper Mark Naumowicz parried the ball out and Ray Markley pounced from close range to score, but the goal was credited as an own goal.
Then it began to rain heavily, as Knox put Barkers under siege on a slippery pitch that produced some fine unintentional ballet moves.
On 23 minutes, Christian Porcaro sent a ball in from the left that eluded everyone before running to Favor Jentzen, who did Barkers a favour by putting his shot into the stratosphere.
The tackles were now flying in, and three minutes later, a midfield turnover saw Jantzen win the ball and have a shot saved by Naumowicz.
The rebound, however, fell to Markley, who stuck the ball home to make it 2-0 to Knox.
Then the sun came out, but there was no change in the balance of play.
On the half hour, Knox sliced through the Barkers defence and Jentzen’s shot was saved, and ran out to Daniel Aye, who hit the post.
Two minutes later, Naumowicz had to make a double save from Markley and Sean Brimmer. Brimmer then robbed a defender and had a shot blocked.
This was turning into a training exercise for Knox and on 35 minutes they got to practise a free kick. Aye stepped up and hit a ripper into the corner of the net for 3-0.
Then it was almost 4-0 as Sean Perrin headed into his own net, but it was disallowed for a foul.
A horrible half for Barkers ended Knox 3-0 Mooroolbark, and it could have been much worse.
Talk about a game of two halves.
Two minutes into the second half, Barkers’ Eddie Clark won a 50-50 tackle, stumbled and shot.
In a remarkable turnaround, the game was almost entirely played in the Knox half as it was Barkers’ turn to put Knox under siege.
Indeed, the first interesting thing to be seen in Barkers’ half was on 66 minutes, when a lovely double rainbow was sighted.
On 72 minutes, Clark hit a cross-shot which the keeper tipped wide.
Barkers then had five corners in a row, but Knox pulled their entire team back inside the penalty spot, and Barkers couldn’t penetrate the massed blue ranks.
Ten minutes later there were a couple more Barkers corners and we had the ball in the net, but the linesman had somehow spotted an infringement among the almost two dozen players in the Knox penalty area.
Consolation finally arrived – inevitably in the shape of the lethal Marcus Watson.
He robbed a defender and sent the ball soaring into the net with a couple of minutes to go.
Full time: Knox City 3-1 Mooroolbark.
The damage was obviously done in the first half.
In the second half, Barkers absolutely worked their socks off, but were frustrated by a blanket defence that barely allowed the keeper to be tested.
Instead of looking towards the top of the ladder, Barkers are now looking over their shoulders to see what’s behind them.
Next up is Brandon Park at the Kennel.
Earlier, Barkers’ reserves showed character to come from 0-2 down to draw 2-2, with goals from Jared Mangnall and James Barber.
The Men’s Thirds lost 1-10 to Rowville Eagles, and the Men’s Over 35s lost 1-2 at Chelsea.
Junior winners were Boys’ Under 15 (2-1 v Whitehorse United) and Girls’ Under 15 (2-1 v Rosebud).
Next week, the men host Brandon Park (Esther Park, Saturday 1pm and 3pm) while the women have a week off for catchup round.
See you down the Kennel!
