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Jan 31, 2011   |  12:12AM AET

Danny’s double fires Victory

Danny’s double fires Victory

A stunning double from prodigal son Danny Allsopp has earned Melbourne Victory an important 2-0 triumph over Gold Coast United at AAMI Park on Sunday.

A stunning double from prodigal son Danny Allsopp has earned Melbourne Victory an important 2-0 triumph over Gold Coast United at AAMI Park on Sunday.

Allsopp took his tally to five goals in four appearances in his second spell at the Victory thanks to a pigeon pair of top-draw strikes either side of half-time.

The win virtually seals Victory a place in the Hyundai A-League finals series, moving the club to 40 points from 28 matches.

Victory sits in fifth spot, five points clear of sixth-placed Wellington Phoenix, but more importantly seven clear of crosstown rivals Melbourne Heart, who dropped to seventh following Phoenix-s 1-0 win over Newcastle Jets earlier in the day.

But back to Allsopp, who again proved why coach Ernie Merrick brought him back to the club last month following stints in Qatar and the MLS in the United States.

The 32-year-old striker broke the deadlock on 28 minutes when he parted the Gold Coast defence with a surging solo run before launching a bullet-like drive past United goalkeeper Glen Moss.

And Moss was left clutching at air by an even better second from the former Manchester City, Hull City and Notts County man in the 56th minute.

Having trapped a long ball from Diogo Ferreira, Allsopp turned former Manchester United man John Curtis inside out before unleashing a lovely left-foot shot that curled beautifully past Moss and into the top corner.

Allsopp searched hard for what would have been his first Hyundai A-League hat-trick, but was denied twice by Moss.

Even so, the Victory cruised to their second win in four days over Queensland opposition following the 3-0 midweek victory over North Queensland in Townsville.

With star striker Shane Smeltz absent, Gold Coast rarely posed a threat to the Victory defence apart from a couple of late chances from Joel Porter.

His 88th-minute effort drew a super save from Melbourne custodian Michael Petkovic before a stoppage-time shot was cleared off the line by Grant Brebner.

Bruce Djite worked his socks off in the hot conditions, but without his strike partner, was often left isolated against a rock-solid Victory back three of Adrian Leijer, Rodrigo Vargas and Petar Franjic.

Teenager Franjic looked assured in his second league game, while Vargas, who broke Kevin Muscat-s record for most Victory games against the Gold Coast, and Leijer, were their usual dependable selves.

Mate Dugandzic impressed after being handed a starting berth and Brebner proved as industrious as ever.