Francesco Margiotta scored a 93rd-minute winner as Melbourne Victory broke a Club record with a 2-1 success over the Newcastle Jets on Saturday night.
Summary
Margiotta came off the bench to head in the dramatic late winner at McDonald Jones Stadium in the Isuzu UTE A-League.
Earlier, Nick D’Agostino’s opener had been cancelled out by Savvas Siatravanis.
Victory extended its unbeaten run in the league to 11 matches, breaking the Club record.
Victory needed just six minutes to open the scoring through D’Agostino’s eighth of the league campaign.
Chris Ikonomidis released the forward in behind and D’Agostino produced a clinical and composed finish into the bottom corner in a one-on-one with Jets goalkeeper Jack Duncan.
Marco Rojas was the next to threaten midway through the first half, shooting wide from 20 yards after cutting inside following a Josh Brillante pass.
Matt Spiranovic almost doubled Victory’s lead six minutes prior to the break, guiding a header from Jason Davidson’s corner across the face of goal.
Incredibly, the crossbar was hit four times in the opening six minutes of the second half.
Kosta Grozos put a Beka Mikeltadze cutback onto the woodwork in the 46th minute, with Daniel Penha’s follow up also hitting the crossbar.
Then it was Victory’s turn as D’Agostino put two headers from Davidson deliveries onto the crossbar.
Rojas then went close approaching the hour-mark, firing just wide from the edge of the area.
But Newcastle levelled in the 65th minute through Siatravanis, who finished past Victory goalkeeper Ivan Kelava after a pass from Penha.
Victory pushed for a late winner – Margiotta went close in the 84th minute and Rojas also threatened – but the goal would come in stoppage time.
Lleyton Brooks was released down the right and his cross found Margiotta, whose brilliant header secured all three points for Victory.
Key moment
What they said – D’Agostino
on the game…
“We knew it was going to be tough coming here. Obviously they had a lot to play for, obviously we want to finish on the top so both teams had a lot to play for. Coming away to Newcastle is never an easy game, we knew it was going to be tough, crowd was going to be against us, but we dug deep, that’s what you’ve got to do in away fixtures. It was nice to go ahead early, but we got a little bit sloppy conceding one there, but Francesco, we knew he was capable of it and he just tucked it away nicely there.”
on unbeaten run…
“We should be more undefeated that’s for sure. We had a few unfortunate results earlier on, but we’re stringing performances together nicely now. It’s the perfect time of the season for it. It’s crunch time and we’re feeling great.”
Player in focus
Margiotta delivered off the bench when his team needed him most. The Italian’s goal was his fourth of the league season.
Implications
Victory broke a Club record, but also kept the pressure on City and Western United. Victory (38 points) is behind City (46) and Western (41), having played two fewer games than the former.
Result
Isuzu UTE A-League 2021/22 Round 24
Newcastle Jets 1 (Savvas Siatravanis 65′)
Melbourne Victory 2 (Nick D’Agostino 6′, Francesco Margiotta 90+3′)
Newcastle Jets: Duncan (gk); Ingham, Warland, Elsey, Hoffman (Murnane 86′); Grozos (Arques 79′), Wilson (O’Doherty 79′); Siatravanis (Goodwin 86′), Penha, Boumal (Yuel 71′); Mikeltadze.
Melbourne Victory: Kelava (gk); Geria, Spiranovic (Hamill 75′), Roderick, Davidson; Marchan (Broxham 82′), Brillante (c); Rojas (Brooks 89′), Ikonomidis, Folami (Velupillay 75′); D’Agostino (Margiotta 82′).
Yellow cards: Elsey 41′, Folami 58′
Red cards: Nil
Attendance: TBA
Venue: McDonald Jones Stadium
Next up
Victory will look to continue its run of form when it visits Macarthur on Friday, April 22.
