Melbourne Victory claimed its first win of the NPL2 West season, beating Brunswick City 4-1 at Epping Stadium on Sunday.
Summary
Nicholas Sette put Victory ahead in the first half, but its lead lasted until the 59th minute, when Baggio Yousif struck for Brunswick from the penalty spot.
However, Victory finished strongly as Nuh Sehavdic restored its advantage before late goals from Yazid Said and Josh Hope.
Victory started well and it took a deserved lead after 15 minutes.
Joshua Kelic surged into the area down the left before cutting back to Sette, who placed a nice finish into the corner from inside the box.
Victory looked in control throughout the first half, although it was unable to add to its opener.
While the host continued to look the more likely, Brunswick levelled just prior to the hour-mark.
Sehavdic was ruled to have committed a foul in the area from a set-piece and Yousif stepped up to place his penalty into the bottom corner.
But Sehavdic, 17, would restore Victory’s lead in the 66th minute.
Kelic, shifted to left-back, played in substitute Said, whose cutback found Sehavdic and the forward put away a finish into the bottom corner.
As the visitor pushed for a way back into the encounter, Victory sealed its win in additional time.
Said tapped in a cutback from Hope, who then got on the scoresheet after finishing clinically from inside the area following a Kelic pass.
Head coach Gareth Naven
“Up to 1-0, I thought our intensity in the first half was good. We came out in the second half, I thought we were a little bit slow. When we slow the game down, whether it’s on purpose or not on purpose, it just gives the teams we’re playing against an even chance, I think a better opportunity to hurt us and they did, from a penalty from a set-piece.
“As soon as they scored, our players had more urgency, greater intensity, started doing things quicker, early, picked the pace of the game up. I think that’s a lesson that the sooner our boys realise a high intensity game of football is really important for us to get success. I think especially towards the end where we banged two in in two or three minutes, if we can do more of that, less of the slowing down part, I think we can improve every week.
“But maybe try not to foul people inside our half of the pitch because it’s quite obvious what the NPL2 teams do. They’ll just put it into the penalty box and get a contest and try and score a goal. We’ve got to be smarter when we’re tackling and look to achieve it more in their half of the pitch than our half of the pitch or our back third because we just put ourselves under pressure.”
Under-20s
Victory’s under-20s claimed their first win of the season, beating Brunswick City 5-1.
NPL2 West 2018 Round 2
Melbourne Victory 4 (Nicholas Sette 15′, Nuh Sehavdic 66′, Yazid Said 90+2′, Josh Hope 90+4′)
Brunswick City 1 (Baggio Yousif 57′ pen)
Melbourne Victory: Matthew Sutton; Andrew Visciglio, Benjamin Carrigan, Cameron McGilp, Jonathan Vakirtzis (c) (Yazid Said); Nicholas Hatzigeorgiou (Thierry Iradukunda), Josh Hope; Nicholas Sette, Birkan Kirdar (Maker Maker), Joshua Kelic; Nuh Sehavdic.
Next week
Victory makes the trip to Altona in Round 3, taking on the Magic at Paisley Park on Saturday, March 3.
