Ola Toivonen revelled in a “delightful Christmas” for Melbourne Victory after a 2-1 Derby win over City on Saturday.
The Swedish star scored a brace to lead Victory to a deserved win at AAMI Park, where Harrison Delbridge pulled a goal back for City in the second half.
It was a much-needed win for Victory, which created numerous other chances.
Victory captain Toivonen was pleased to deliver for the club’s fans just four days before Christmas.
“I said it Perth game I think we’ve been down, we’ve been struggling, injuries, bad results,” he told Fox Sports.
“But we really showed up and gave ourselves and gave our members and supporters to enjoy and I think everyone is having a delightful Christmas after this game.”
Tim Hoogland made his first start for Victory and produced a fine performance in the centre of defence.
Toivonen praised the German defender and Victory as a whole for its display.
“We really showed up and I think it was an outstanding performance,” he said.
“You can see Tim is coming in and doing his first start and is really leading the team from behind there and it was a completely outstanding performance.”
Toivonen came off in the second half after scoring twice before picking up his fifth booking of the season.
“I had some problem 10 days now with my hip, and it wasn’t good today so now I get some rest and fix the problem,” he said.
