Melbourne On Top After Victory

The Age

Saturday January 3, 2009

By MICHAEL LYNCH

MELBOURNE Victory soared to the top of the A-League table and ended Queensland Roar's season-long unbeaten away record with a 2-1 victory at Telstra Dome last night.

The bumpy, uneven surface, left in an unsatisfactory condition after the New Year's Eve party at the ground less than 48 hours earlier, made things difficult for the players. But both sides, which can expect to be involved in the finals, produced an entertaining contest for the crowd of 23,477.

A close-range shot from Danny Allsopp, his ninth goal of the season, and a header from defender Rody Vargas from a set piece were enough to ensure Victory took the three points, although Craig Moore's 75th-minute header meant a nervous last 15 minutes for Ernie Merrick's team.

Victory's marquee player Archie Thompson could have made things a lot easier for his side but the forward, who otherwise had an impressive evening, was unable to convert a number of good chances he had in the last 10 minutes.

Melbourne has now strung together two wins after its three successive defeats towards the end of 2008. The side appears to have turned the corner and will look to consolidate top spot when it takes on Adelaide in three days' time.

"I thought we took over in the second half. When they committed numbers when we were two-up, on another day Archie would have scored three ... It could have been a 4-1 scoreline, maybe five," Merrick said.

Both teams could have got on the scoresheet within the opening quarter hour of a lively game in which the pace and industry of the Queensland midfield prevented the hosts from imposing themselves on their visitors.

In fact it was Queensland which should have gone in front in the ninth minute after a beautifully crafted move down the left instigated by hard running midfielder Matt McKay, but Sergio van Dijk's header went over the bar.

Four minutes later, Thompson found himself at the end of a cross, alone and right in front of goal some five metres out. But the Socceroo striker got his angles all wrong and headed well wide.

Merrick went to his bench early, taking off Evan Berger in the 33rd minute and replacing him with Nick Ward, the goalscoring hero of six days earlier. Merrick rolled the dice again at the start of the second half when he replaced Michael Thwaite with Matthew Kemp.

Victory then was enjoying its best spell of the match and broke the deadlock in the 55th minute with a sweeping goal.

Tom Pondeljak ended a Roar attack on the edge of the Victory penalty area when he robbed McKay and played a pass to Carlos Hernandez.

He carried the ball forward before feeding Thompson wide on the right, and it was his cross to the near post which found Allsopp, who was able to beat Roar keeper Liam Reddy from close range.

Van Dijk again missed with a 63rd minute header from a McKay free kick and it was an error that was to prove costly. Five minutes later Ward was upended by Andy Packer and, from Billy Celeski's free kick, Vargas timed his run to perfection to flick home a back header past Reddy.

© 2009 The Age

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