Melbourne Victory produced a fine performance to record a 4-0 win over Perth Glory in the Hyundai A-League on Saturday.
Summary
Marco Rojas scored a brace either side of Andrew Nabbout’s 60th-minute penalty at Jubilee Stadium before Elvis Kamsoba scored his first Hyundai A-League goal.
The win marked the first for interim head coach Grant Brebner as Victory ended a five-game losing run.
Victory, which welcomed Nabbout and Aaron Anderson back into its starting XI, made a decent start and threatened in the 14th minute.
Nabbout had a shot blocked after Storm Roux’s header back inside from Adama Traore’s cross, before Luis Lawrie-Lattanzio scuffed an effort wide.
Just three minutes later and Nabbout had another strike blocked after a pass from Birkan Kirdar as Victory continued to push.
At the other end, James Meredith fired over the crossbar for Perth midway through the first half.
Victory took the lead just before the half-hour mark thanks to a tremendous goal from Rojas.
Rojas received a pass from Lawrie-Lattanzio before taking a touch and unleashing a stunning strike into the top corner from the edge of the area for his third goal in two games.
Victory almost doubled its lead prior to the break, Nabbout dispossessing Juande before running into the area and shooting wide.
Matt Acton made a comfortable save at his near post from Neil Kilkenny’s low effort eight minutes into the second half.
Kirdar almost played Rojas through in the 56th minute before Victory was awarded a penalty, Nabbout brought down by Tarek Elrich after bursting clear down the right.
Nabbout stepped up to convert the spot-kick for his seventh Hyundai A-League goal of the season.
Victory almost struck again four minutes later, Kirdar shooting straight at Glory goalkeeper Liam Reddy after a cutback from Roux.
Lleyton Brooks came off the bench for his Victory debut before Rojas made it 3-0.
After receiving a pass from Kirdar, Rojas took a touch before finding the corner to complete his brace.
Kirdar and Nabbout tested Reddy before Kamsoba came off the bench to seal the win, smashing an effort past the Glory goalkeeper after a pass from Brooks.
Player in focus
Key moment
What they said – Kamsoba
on his goal…
“I don’t know how to feel right now. It’s been so long since I scored so I’ve got to thank the team, they’ve been pushing me, they’ve been telling me, ‘Just keep going, I know it’s hard for you right now but just keep going.’ I’m very happy myself and also happy for the team for the win.”
after his brother Pacifique Niyongabire scored for Adelaide…
“He actually told me today when you come on you’re going to score and it happened so I have to thank him as well for that.”
on the performance…
“Yesterday we actually had a good training session, we worked hard as a team, we just told ourselves we have nothing to lose, we’re just going to go out there and perform, give it our best, that’s what we did, we worked hard, we got our chances and we took them.”
Result
Hyundai A-League 2019/20
Perth Glory 0
Melbourne Victory 4 (Marco Rojas 29’/69′, Andrew Nabbout 60′ pen, Elvis Kamsoba 90+2′)
Perth Glory: Reddy (gk); Elrich, Mrcela, Malik, Meredith (Ingham 54′); Chianese (Tratt 71′), Kilkenny (c) (Lia 71′), Juande, Brimmer (Armiento 59′); Popovic, Fornaroli (D’Agostino 54′).
Melbourne Victory: Acton (gk); Roux, Anderson, Donachie, Traore (Nishikawa 81′); Barnett (Basha 89′), Broxham (c); Rojas (Kamsoba 89′), Kirdar, Lawrie-Lattanzio (Brooks 69′); Nabbout.
Yellow cards: Rojas 26′, Kirdar 44′, Fornaroli 51′, Elrich 59′, Lia 90′
Red cards: Nil
Venue: Jubilee Stadium
Next up
Victory finishes its Hyundai A-League campaign against the Western Sydney Wanderers at Bankwest Stadium on Wednesday.
