Melbourne Victory have jumped back into the winners list in round six of the Isuzu UTE A-league after a convincing 3-1 win over Western United.
Playing away at their home stadium AAMI Park, Victory were in control of the game from the opening minute with exciting, attacking football.
An unchanged line-up named by Head Coach Patrick Kisnorbo, Victory were quick to silence the home crowd with a low shot finding the back of the net from Zinédine Machach, assisted by Daniel Arzani, in the 8th minute.
Despite the shaky start, Western United were not going to allow Victory to run away with the match early, tightening up their defence.
Managing to sneak one through and level the score just 10 minutes later, Noah Botić got Western United on the scoreboard.
Victory were unlucky with a few missed chances throughout the first half, but strong defence and the in form Jack Duncan kept Western United at bay.
With just 34.3% of the possession from the 30th minute to half time, Kisnorbo’s side held their nerve, and the closely fought contest went into the main break at 1-1.
Despite the score at half time, Kisnorbo was pleased with the team’s performance.
“We responded really well from last week,” Kisnorbo said post-match.
“Last week we created a lot of chances but didn’t get the outcome that we wanted. Today was a bit similar, but we scored some goals which is good,”
“We need to improve in our final third finishing aspect because we are getting into some good positions, it’s great that the players are doing that, but we need to capitalise.”
“That comes down to consistency, we need to get better at doing that.”
Kicking off the second half with increased intensity, Victory didn’t wait long before some magic from Nikos Vergos put the team back in front at just the 48th minute, his second goal of the season.
Chances were harder to come by in the second half, with Kisnorbo turning to his bench to generate new opportunities.
With Reno Piscopo and Bruno Fornaroli subbed into the match at the 67th minute to replace Nikos Vergos and Daniel Azarni, both came into the game and made an immediate impact.
Just two minutes later, Fornaroli scored his first goal of the season to put Victory up 3-1.
Despite their best efforts, the hosts Western United were unable to claw back the deficit and Victory came away with the win.
With consistency and the ability to rise to the occasion always front of mind, Kisnorbo was confident in his team’s form moving forward and had plenty of positives from the depth and talent in his extended squad.
“Everyone gets an opportunity. It’s up to the players to take that chance when called upon,” he said.
“They have, which is great. But we need to keep pushing, we need to keep working hard, because there are a lot of good players that are ready to come in.
“It’s about mentality. If you don’t punish your opponent, they will get half a chance and that was shown at half time with the score 1-1.
“But the character and mentality shown by the players today was great. We kept regrouping and we continue that mentality at training tomorrow.”
Next Match
Kids Round
Melbourne Victory v Perth Glory
Date: Sun 8 December
Time: 5:00pm
Location: AAMI Park, Melbourne
Tickets: Onsale now via Ticketek
