Melbourne Victory extended its winning run to three matches in the Hyundai A-League, beating Sydney FC 2-1 on Sunday.
Summary
Ola Toivonen marked his first Victory start with a goal, although his effort was cancelled out by Adam Le Fondre at Jubilee Stadium.
But Keisuke Honda delivered a winner for Victory, earning and converting a 71st-minute penalty.
The win saw Victory rise into second on the table after its third consecutive success.
Victory threatened first through Kosta Barbarouses, whose strike from distance was pushed away by Sydney goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne.
After a cagey opening by both teams, Victory took the lead through Toivonen midway through the first half.
James Troisi’s pass found its way through to Toivonen, who calmly put away his first goal for the club with a deflected strike.
Sydney found an equaliser with 10 minutes remaining in the first half, awarded a penalty after Terry Antonis and Paulo Retre came together in the area.
Victory goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas saved Le Fondre’s spot-kick, but the forward tapped in the rebound.
Thomas pushed away a Rhyan Grant header early in the second half as Sydney enjoyed more of the possession.
But Victory earned a penalty with 20 minutes remaining when Honda was brought down by Jop van der Linden after a nice pass from substitute Leigh Broxham.
The Japanese star stepped up and sent Redmayne the wrong way for his third goal of the season.
That proved to be enough for Victory, which closed out the closing stages relatively comfortably to claim three points.
Player in focus
Key moment
What they said – Honda
on the win…
“As you know, this is a very important game for us and also for them. I think they also deserved to get three points, but finally, luckily, we got a penalty and I could score so I am satisfied about the team. I’m proud of the team-mates and this victory I want to credit to the supporters.”
Result
Hyundai A-League 2018/19 Round 5
Sydney FC 1 (Adam Le Fondre 35′)
Melbourne Victory 2 (Ola Toivonen 23′, Keisuke Honda 71′ pen)
Sydney FC: Redmayne (gk); Grant, Wilkinson, Van der Linden, Zullo; Brillante (Calver 88′), O’Neill; Retre (De Silva 79′), Ninkovic, Brosque (c) (Lokolingoy 79′); Le Fondre.
Melbourne Victory: Thomas (gk); Roux, Deng, Niedermeier (Ansell 90+4′), Brown; Valeri (c); Honda, Troisi, Antonis (Baena 61′); Barbarouses, Toivonen (Broxham 68′).
Yellow cards: Troisi 62′, Van der Linden 70′, Grant 74′, Honda 84′
Red cards: Nil
Attendance: 19,081
Venue: Jubilee Stadium
Next up
Victory is back at home in Round 6, hosting the Western Sydney Wanderers at Marvel Stadium on Saturday, December 1.
