Five Star Melbourne shoot down 10-man Jets

: Views: 387

Do you like this article? Share it with your friends.

thebigtip award: up to $200 for best article – Read more

Five Star Melbourne shoot down 10-man Jets

By Daniel Iaconis on Wed, 02/02.2011

The Melbourne Victory all but cemented a place in the finals, and did their chances of a birth in the top 4 no harm, with a character building 2-0 win against a 10-man Newcastle Jets at Etihad Stadium last night.

In a week that saw Melbourneâ€™s on-field reputation questioned, the Victory responded in the only way it knows best; the scoreboard, and so after copping flack the Navy Blues achieved their own moral victory by conceding only 3 fouls for the game, compared to Newcastleâ€™s 15 and a red card for good measure.

For the first time since arriving back to the Olympic Boulevard, in form striker Danny Allsopp did not trouble the scorers, instead Melbourne relied on goals from Tommy Pondeljak and the returning Robbie Kruse to achieve the win.

Although it took 57 minutes for the first goal to be scored, it has to be said that the result was never really in question, with the Navy Blues dominating the play from kick-off.

What made last nightâ€™s win so special was the fact that Melbourne was missing its main playmaker in Carlos Hernandez, and so Marvin Angulo was given the chance to stamp his authority on the team and it paid dividends.

Anguloâ€™s control of the ball and his pace made for entertaining football, and it was good to see a young creative player given free reign over a team that for the most part of the year seemed to lack the sort of pace with, which Angulo can inject, throughout the midfield.

Speaking of pace, Mate Dugandzic had a standout game for the Navy Blues, and in the absence of Hernandez the diminutive winger took over the corner duties, and to say his corners were anything less than superb would be an understatement.

Melbourneâ€™s goals last night were great team goals. The first in the 57th minute was an unbelievable goal, if not the luckiest goal of the year. Tommy Pondeljak pulled the rabbit out of the hat when he scored from outside the box with the outside of his foot after being played in by Dugandzic.

The second goal came in the 69th minute, after Kruse was put through on goal by a superb ball from Angulo, the returning Socceroo finished truly and put the match beyond reach for the Jets, who by that time were down to 10 men.

Adrian Leijer, Roddy Vargas and Michael Petkovic were instrumental in Melbourne keeping a clean sheet for the third time in as many games, and youngster Petar Franjic again impressed in only his third game. The 18-year-old defender has a confidence about him that you could only attribute to someone who has played for decades longer and his presence continues to grow in defence.

It has to be said that the atmosphere in which the game was played at Etihad Stadium was cold to say the least, and for the first time at a Melbourne home game it was possible to hear the players on the pitch.

With stadium bans on banners, Melbourneâ€™s infamous vocal supporters chose to boycott the match as a sign of protest, and rightly so. In a league where clubs are claimed to be â€˜fan madeâ€™, and for a club whose reputation has been built on the back of loyal support, censoring the fans and revoking their rights to express their support for their club smacks of everything the football public have come to loathe about the corporates who have bastardised this game.

With the weekend off, Melbourne must now regroup and look to erase the bitter memories of last months 4-1 capitulation to Adelaide United when they face the Reds in the last game of the A-League season next Friday.

Melbourne should have a fit Archie Thompson and Carlos Hernandez by then, but Merrick will have a welcomed dilemma come match time when figuring out who to play in the side.