Melbourne win the "war" | Thebigtip

The Melbourne Victory’s unbeaten run sans Kevin Muscat continued on Sunday evening thanks to a Danny Allsopp brace against fellow top four aspirants Gold Coast United at AAMI Park.

Gold Coast came into the match wanting to take all three points and with Melbourne Victory breathing down their necks for fourth spot; it was a game in which both sides desperately wanted to win in order to solidify their premiership aspirations.

Melbourne coach Ernie Merrick made three changes to the squad that beat North Queensland earlier on in the week, with Petar Franjic, Mate Dugandzic and Diogo Ferreira all featuring in the starting line-up.

With the mercury hitting 40 degrees in Melbourne it wasn’t long until things got heated on the pitch, and the physical tone was set early on when a sloppy challenge from Grant Brebner resulted in Gold Coast United defender Bas van den Brink subsequently being subbed off. 

After some stop and start football the deadlock was broken in the 25^th minute when goal-scoring machine Danny Allsopp scored a superb goal. After being invited to run at the defence, the striker unleashed a thunderous low driven strike from outside the box that beat GCU keeper Glenn Moss into the bottom corner.

Melbourne’s domination continued into the second half when man of the match Danny Allsopp scored another brilliant solo goal after controlling a looping ball from Brebner in the midfield. Allsopp calmly held the ball up with his back to goal before turning on his left foot and curling the ball into the top corner of the GCU goal. 2-0 and GAME OVER……

The Navy Blue’s defence was 5-star on Sunday and Captain Adrian Leijer was continuously proving why he is a worthy successor to the throne of “Emperor of Melbourne”.  His deputy Rodrigo Vargas was courageous in the win and Vargas’s lockdown of GCU striker Bruce Djite was a catalyst for Melbourne keeping a clean sheet for the second time in as many weeks.

The ‘Muscat Domino’ continued to roll well after the game, with outspoken GCU coach Miron Bleiberg describing the first half as being a “war” and describing Victory’s tactics as being “intimidating,” but perhaps Mr. Bleiberg, and other detractors, would have been better suited to have checked the foul count at the end of the game, with that being one of the only statistic in which his side managed to beat the Navy Blues; 15-9.

Melbourne’s win will provide them with much needed confidence going forward ,and considering it was against a side they may face in the finals, it will provide the team with a mental edge over a side which is quickly becoming one of their more spiteful rivals.

The match was somewhat soured with Carlos Hernandez being forced of the pitch in the 46^th minute with what looked to be a groin injury that could see him sidelined for some time, but with the way in which the side is playing at the moment, and the imminent return of Robbie Kruse and Archie Thompson, his presence may not be missed.