Soccer: Spectre of debut season laid to rest in fine style

Knights 1 Adelaide 0

Malik Buari knew the moment he hit the 25m shot that won the New Zealand Knights their first home game that it was going in and he had already turned in triumph when it found the top right corner of the goal.

"You have that feeling when you hit something and you know it's going in," he said after the Knights had beaten Adelaide 1-0 at North Harbour Stadium on Saturday.

He saw it as a reward for his team-mates, coach Paul Nevin, the fans, even the kit man, who have waited so long for success in the A-League.

But as a new recruit this year he could only guess at the relief for those who endured the debut season. The Knights won only once, almost a year ago at Central Coast on September 10. A total of 18 games and close to 1800 minutes of play passed without another victory.

Buari's 88th-minute strike has lifted the Knights to third place in the league behind Queensland Roar and Melbourne Victory, who beat Newcastle and Sydney respectively in the second round to keep their perfect records.

What was especially pleasing about the Knights' win was that they were clearly the better side. Adelaide coach John Kosmina was critical of the bumpy North Harbour surface, but he made no excuses for his team.

The Knights' defensive line of Darren Bazeley, Gregory Duruz, Che Bunce and Neil Emblen was rarely breached and goalkeeper Danny Milosevic smothered the only serious threat when Carl Veart broke free midway through the first half.

The home side dominated the midfield through Scot Gemmill and Jonas Salley and up front the much-maligned Sean Devine proved a strong target man. In the 19th and 36th minutes he had scoring chances but couldn't elude keeper Robert Bajic.

He seemed certain to break the deadlock in the 70th minute but Bajic dived at full stretch to tip the ball round his left-hand post. Jonti Richter and Buari also threatened before Buari's rocket lit up the leaden North Harbour sky.

Buari was the man of the moment but the man of the match was Salley, a dynamo in the midfield who is so strong on the ball that he regularly powers through two or three tacklers.

Alongside him Gemmill provides the direction that was lacking last season. Too old, the critics said when he was signed. But he is a remarkably fit 35-year-old with a surety of touch that feeds the speed and athleticism of Buari and Salley. One win doesn't make a season, but this is a very different Knights team.

Coach Nevin opted to bring some of the survivors of the 2005-06 season to his post-game press conference, acknowledging the significance of the first home win after so many traumas.

"I don't want to talk about last season again after today because everything is gone from last season," he said. "That was the final hurdle to get over."

Skipper Bazeley was enjoying the moment: "It has been a long time coming, but we have worked hard for it and we deserve it," he said.

"It is not something that we tried to dwell on, but it was always there in the back of our mind that we had never won a home game. We've gone and done that against a good team that won the league last year by a long way."

And with a home game against Melbourne next Sunday, Neil Emblen spoke for all the fans: "The last ghost has gone, so onwards and upwards."