Victory skipper Kevin Muscat said he always believed his side had the firepower to overwhelm Sydney despite going 2-0 down within the first four minutes.
Victory skipper Kevin Muscat said he always believed his side had the firepower to overwhelm Sydney despite going 2-0 down within the first four minutes.
On an inspirational night at Telstra Dome for the Melbourne side, the Victory were staring down the barrel of their fourth loss in a row after Shannon Cole and Brendan Gan gave Sydney a two goal advantage before half the home crowd had even taken their seats.
But they say 2-0 up is the worst scoreline of them all, and so it proved for the sky blues as Archie Thompson brilliantly pulled one back in the 14th minute, latching onto a lofted free kick from the fit-again Carlos Hernandez before turning and shooting in one seamless movement.
And Victory coach Ernie Merrick, despite suffering a migraine that kept him from the post-match press conference, should buy himself several Tatts tickets as his substitutions worked brilliantly. Nick Ward equalised with his second touch, before Ney Fabiano prodded the winner home with 11 minutes remaining in a 3-2 result that takes the Victory back into second on the table.
“You get them games sometimes, where I could just tell we were going to get back into the game,” Muscat said.
“The noise that I could hear, the belief that was going around the place (were all there).”
“I heard Rody Vargas, there was a great shout and I’m pretty sure a lot of people heard him, his shout was ‘it’s the worst thing that could have happened to them’ after they scored their second goal.”
“And, for a split second I didn’t know what he was talking about but in reality that’s exactly what happened, because after that we attacked and attacked and we were brave I thought,” he said.
Muscat said that three away losses in a row had taken their toll but the team drew inspiration from within.
“Our confidence can’t be too great if you’ve lost the last three,” Muscat admitted.
“But what we tried to do is draw confidence just by looking around the change room, you look around the change room and the quality that’s in there, sooner or later something’s going to happen.”
“On a day like today, when we go 2-0 down, they’re playing in front of their biggest crowd of the season and it was a great win for us, a great result, one of the best probably.”
Muscat himself was brilliant in central midfield too. After a season-and-a half at centre back, the skipper was brought back into the middle at half-time last week, inspiring his side to score twice in the second half at Newcastle.
Despite a shaky opening to this game, Muscat proved his class, laying off numerous through balls to threaten the Sydney goal in the first half before lofting the ball to Danny Allsopp in the 79th minute, with the forward’s diving header prodded in by Fabiano.
And, in an ominous warning to the rest of the competition, Muscat looks like he’s there to stay for the last four rounds of the season and into another finals campaign.
“I think there’s a fair chance that could happen,” Victory assistant coach Aaron Healey said.
“I think it’s up to him but I think there’s a fair chance that he may be there and again it depends on the opposition you play against and we’ll have a look at that against Queensland.”
The Victory take on the Roar in a blockbuster clash at Telstra Dome next Friday that could decide the minor premiership.
