Melbourne Victory emphatically reclaimed the Big Blue bragging rights on Monday evening with a 4-0 win over Sydney FC.
Arthur Diles’ men struck four times in the second half at AAMI Park, as the hosts ran riot in the Isuzu UTE A-League Round 14 fixture.
Santos bagged himself a brace, with two sharp finishes, before Keegan Jelacic came off the bench to make it three.
The scoring was rounded off when Lachlan Jackson headed in his first goal for the Club late on.
Victory had seen two goals called offside early on, with both Santos and Jason Davidson denied during the first half. The stand-in skipper saw another one chalked off following the interval when the game was still scoreless.
Team News
There were three changes for Victory from the late loss at Adelaide United. Davidson replaced the absent Adama Traore at left-back, Joshua Rawlins, fresh from his adventures at the U23 Asian Cup, was on the other side of the defence, and Matt Grimaldi started in the place of Nishan Velupillay.
Another Young Socceroo, Jordi Valadon, along with goalkeeper Jack Duncan, returned to the match-day squad.
Match Action
Victory started like a train in the sizzling sunshine and had two goals ruled out inside a full-throttle opening 17 minutes. Santos went too early to beat the offside trap, and no sooner was the ball rippling the net than the assistant referee’s flag was being raised.
But the decision to disallow what would have been Davidson’s first goal of his second spell at the Club took several minutes, with it determined that he had gone fractions early to nod in Sebastian Esposito’s flick on to a Juan Mata corner.
Soon after Santos was denied by Harrison Devenish-Meares from a Rawlins cross before the Brazilian stroked a low attempt inches wide of the post, as his pace continued to cause the Sky Blues’ backline serious issues.
The home side’s other notable first-half chances fell to two of their cultured midfielders, however, neither Denis Genreau nor Juan Mata could keep sweeping left-footed efforts on target.
Sydney’s brightest moment came when Piero Quispe threaded through Pat Wood, but the striker, unable to produce a shot or a touch around Jack Warshawsky, was smothered by the goalkeeper.
Half-time: Melbourne Victory 0-0 Sydney FC
Sydney started the second 45 with fresh intentions, and Rhyan Grant neatly used his head to tee up Tiago Quintal, only for the attacking midfielder to flash his effort wide.
Then, in a re-run of the first half, Davidson, rising highest at a corner, thought he had broken the deadlock. His towering leap above Paul Okon-Engstler was, though, deemed to have been illegal, and the score remained at 0-0.
The visitor’s latest reprieve would, thankfully, be a short-lived one, and when Devenish-Meares was beaten for a fourth time, it finally counted. Mata released Santos on the left and, still with work to do, he progressed intelligently, choosing to dip his shoulder and edge infield at the opportune moment, stylishly picking out the far corner as the airborne ‘keeper grabbed at thin air.
Somehow, the advantage was not doubled minutes later as Devenish-Meares remarkably covered his goal to stop Vergos tapping in Rawlins’ smart delivery from point-blank range.
In contrast, Santos could not be kept quiet. This time, bolting into the clear from the halfway line, to receive a Vergos ball around the corner, he galloped forward and kept his composure to grab a second.
It appeared this lead would be halved when VÃctor Campuzano bundled the ball in from a corner, but the eagle-eyed officials had spotted that the set-piece taker, Quispe, had touched the ball twice before crossing.
Three points were sealed inside the final quarter of an hour, with Jelacic making his mark off the bench. Invited to shoot by Mata’s lay-off, the substitute’s left-footed curler rivalled Santos’ opener for the goal of the game.
On an occasion to remember, a fourth was added in the closing stages, as Jackson got in on the act. He rose superbly to head home Mata’s searching corner, the Spaniard’s third assist of the match, with Jackson celebrating wildly in front of the joyous home supporters.
Match Details
Melbourne Victory 4 (SANTOS 53′, 64, JELACIC 79′, JACKSON 82′).
Sydney FC 0
Melbourne Victory starting XI: 40. Jack WARSHAWSKY (GK), 22. Joshua RAWLINS, 4. Lachlan JACKSON, 15. Sebastian ESPOSITO (16. Joshua INSERRA 90+1′), 2. Jason DAVIDSON (C), 10. Denis GENREAU (8. Jordi VALADON 68′), 27. Louis D’ARRIGO, 64. Juan MATA (7. Reno PISCOPO 84′), 11. Clerismario SANTOS RODRIGUES (23. Keegan JELACIC 76′), Matthew GRIMALDI (17. Nishan VELUPILLAY 68′), 9. Nikolaos VERGOS (19. Jing REEC 83′).
Substitutes not used: 25. Jack DUNCAN, (GK).
Booking: GENREAU 39′, VERGOS 45+2, SANTOS 54, DAVIDSON 57′.
Sydney FC starting XI: 12. Harrison DEVENISH-MEARES (GK), 5. Alex GRANT (4. Jordan COURTNEY-PERKINS 50′), 6. Corey HOLLMAN, 7. Piero QUISPE, 9. Victor CAMPUZANO (26. Nickolas ALFARO 89′), 13. Patrick WOOD (22. Mathias MACALLISTER 56′), 16. Joel KING, 20. Tiago QUINTAL (44. Akol AKON 89′), 23. Rhyan GRANT (C), 24. Paul OKON-ENGSTLER (Wataru KAMIJO 56′), 32. Marcel TISSERAND (41. Alexandar POPOVIC 56′).
Substitutes not used: 30. Alexander ZAVERDINOS (GK).
Booking: KING 31, TISSERAND 32′, KAMIJO 70′.
Coming soon
Victory face back-to-back road trips at the start of February, visiting Central Coast Mariners and Wellington Phoenix in the space of six days. The A-League Men’s team are back at AAMI Park in the middle of the month, hosting Brisbane Roar.
