MELBOURNE Knights and Sunshine George Cross played out a highly entertaining 2-2 derby at Knights Stadium on Sunday night, with the Knights wasting several point-blank chances to claim all three points in the dying stages.

Kevin Townson hit the woodwork from close range in injury time, one of many huge misses for the Knights that ultimately cost them their first win of the season.

Knights coach Ivan Duzel was not impressed with some refereeing decisions, but ultimately said his side needed to find the back of the net more often.

“I think we played an excellent game tonight, unfortunately a couple of fouls, one over there (far side of Mansion Stadium), it was last man and not even a yellow card.

“I don’t want to go into the referee (decisions) too much but we have to score more goals all the time, we have to score two, three, four goals to complete the game, because this is a new team, new spirit, new character.

“What I can say is we have a good bunch of boys, they’re going to go hard into the future, to make sure we start winning games.”

It was a last-minute lapse that cost the Knights a seemingly certain three points against Heidelberg in round two, and on Sunday, they should have taken the points in the dying stages, according to Duzel.

“We played around 70 minutes, we dropped about five to 10 minutes, then we came back in the last 10 minutes creating three to four good chances to finish the game off. Unfortunately we didn’t, but the boys can lift it up when they need.”

Duzel said he believed the guest stay of Knight Danny Tiatto was over, and Tiatto suggested as much upon leaving the field to the locals’ appreciation.

Sunshine coach Andy O’Dell was blunt in his assessment of his side, admitting the Georgies got out of jail.

“(We were) hammered. Very impressive, Melbourne Croatia. From start to finish, we got hammered. They were far better at passing, they’re a good side,” he said.

O’Dell said it was an up-and-down second half for his side, saved by some brilliant finishing by Joryeff.

“We got one-nil up, but we’re not mentally strong, we’re not.

“We switch off in vital times in the first half, we concede a silly goal, our defenders had a chance to clear it. The second goal, the boy’s got a free header in the six-yard box, so you get what you deserve. It showed a bit of character to get back in the game 2-2.”

O’Dell said his mantra of staying in the Premier League had not changed, and he did not get carried away by his side’s spot in the top five early in the season.

George Cross’s Kyle Joryeff opened the scoring against the run of play with a brilliant goal from outside the penalty area in the 33rd minute, which sparked the Knights into goalscoring action.

Goals to Townson and Jean-Charles Dubois in the following eight minutes quickly turned a Knights deficit into a deserved lead.

But Joryeff had other ideas and was put through on goal courtesy of some brilliant forward pressure from Fidell Richards, and the Sunshine No. 28 fired his second to level it up in the 43rd minute, making for four goals in the space of 10 minutes.

The Knights started the second half with Josip Magdic ripping in a cross for Townson, only for the George Cross defence to put it behind for a corner.

Magdic had his own crack at scoring, first from the edge of the box in the 55th minute, forcing another John save, and again two minutes later, when the former Perth Glory star blasted high and wide at the back post from a cross.

Green Gully let slip a chance for points when hosting Oakleigh Cannons on Saturday at Green Gully Reserve, with the Cannons running out 2-1 winners.

Steve Burton cancelled out Bill Damianos’ opener for the Cannons, making it 1-1 after 61 minutes.

But the Cavaliers were quickly behind again courtesy of Michael Curcija, and the Cannons never looked back.

Green Gully is sixth on the Premier League ladder with three points, while Altona sits ninth with two points and the Georgies are fourth with five points after round three.