[Napoleon Solo]

New Zealand Knights v Melbourne Victory
(0130 Kickoff)


The first game of the season looked to be much of the same for the Knights, a disappointing performance at home to the Newcastle Jets, but their second game was far more promising. The Knights dominated the home game against this seasons minor cup champions Adelaide. They created by far the most chances, only a bout of poor finishing stopped the stop being more emphatic, and restricted Adelaide to pot-shots from long range.

New Zealand continue to miss influential trio Noah Hickey, Dani Rodriguez and Matt Carbon, but they've so far coped well without them having not yet conceded a goal. New signing Franco Parisi will not yet be drafted into the squad as coach Paul Nevin looks to keep some consistency in his side, something that was lacking under previous manager John Adshead. This means Sean Devine is likely to start upfront again, with Jonti Richter playing just behind him.



After Melbourne got their season off to a great start over perenial bogey-team Adelaide, they then faced another tough game in last seasons champions, Sydney. In what was a closely fought game, Melbourne started the brighter taking an early two-goal lead, before Sydney were reduced to ten men. However, Sydney put up a spirited fight, reduced the deficit and were perhaps unlucky not to equalise. However, a mistake from the Sydney defence allowed Melbourne to extend their lead and, despite a late second for Sydney, they came away with all three points.

Ernie Merrick will continue with much of the same side that have performed so well in the first two games. Allesandro keeps his place in the squad, despite having limped out of the last game and having not trained all week. However, another Brazilian import, striker Fred, will miss out having been found guilty of misconduct during the week and hence suspended.


Another no bet here, the second of the weekend! Melbourne should win this, truth be told, but I'm yet to be entirley convinced about how far the Knights have progressed under manager Paul Nevin. They certainly looked quite sharp in their last game and could cause Melbourne some problems. Their attacking options are far from ideal though, I really don't rate Shaun Devine, though I would have been delighted to have taken NZ Knights to win this had Rodriquez and Hickey been available and fit. Under 2.5 @ 1.83 could be a decent bet, but I'm personally not a big officionado of such bets so I'm going to leave it. No bet for me!