Soccer: Knights end barren streak but two goals not enough

The New Zealand Knights scored twice for the first time this season but still came up empty, going down 4-2 to Adelaide United in the last of the four ninth-round A-League matches on Sunday night.

Outclassed in front of the 11,600 fans at Hindmarsh Stadium in the first half as they fell 2-0 behind, and still showing little as Bobby Petta increased that to 3-0 11 minutes into the second spell, the Knights rallied.

Sparked by the introduction of Noah Hickey on for injured midfielder Richard Johnson in the 61st minute, the visitors lifted their game and got one back when Hickey pounced on a throw in and scored. It was his first goal for the Knights.

Heartened by their first goal since Malik Buari scored in round two, also against Adelaide, the Knights pressed on and six minutes later had a second when Adam van Dommele, under some pressure from Hickey, deflected the ball from a Buari corner kick into his own goal.

It was the first time the Knights had scored more than one goal in a match since round 16 last season when they drew 2-2 with Sydney FC. It is only the fourth time in 30 Hyundai A-League matches the Knights have scored more than a goal. They have never scored more than two.

But the home side had the last say with Travis Dodd racing away to score in the 84th minute to make certain of the points which took the South Australians into second place ahead of Queensland Roar who were upset 1-0 by the Newcastle Jets at Suncorp Stadium, Vaughan Coveny's 35th minute goal enough to earn the Jets their second win of the season.

While pleased with at least scoring a goal and then a second, Knights coach Paul Nevin still has plenty to ponder. After scrambling defensively and at times keeping the scoreline respectable, the frailties at the back were exposed in the opening 45 minutes with the pace of the home side proving a handful for Darren Bazeley, Neil Emblen and Che Bunce.

"I think our defending in the first half let us down," said Nevin. "We can't give away three goals against a side as good as Adelaide, it's a mountain to climb."

He was encouraged by the mini-fightback but again rued the poor finishing.

"It gets to 3-2 and we have three or four decent chances. We've got to take them. If we had it could have finished in a completely different way."

There will be little respite for the Knights. They have a short turnaround before facing runaway leaders Melbourne Victory at North Harbour Stadium on Friday night.

After losing to Adelaide in round eight, their only dropped points of the season, the Victory bounced back to come from a goal down to beat Sydney FC 2-1 away.

Steve Corica, one of seven players booked in the Aussie Stadium battle (crowd 20,881), gave Sydney their 10th-minute lead. A double strike from Archie Thompson, in the 50th and 73rd minutes, got the visitors home and a handy eight point lead.

Central Coast scored first and last, Tom Pondeljak goals in the 3rd and 88th minutes against Perth Glory 2-1, for their third win of the season.