Melbourne Victory put an end to its recent run of losses with an entertaining but scoreless draw against Newcastle Jets in the drizzle at Olympic Park on Remembrance Day evening.
Ricky Diaco caused the back of the Jets' net to bulge after a shot with thirteen minutes remaining, much to the early sustained delight of the healthy and vociferous attendance, only for it to wonder in bemusement why it was disallowed. It caused the television director some difficulty as well, seeking to find an offside which clearly wasn't there, only to have the mystery resolved when another camera angle showed the ball had come in contact with the back of the net from behind after the ball had struck the net support and rebounded.
"We dominated the game again," said Victory coach Ernie Merrick in the after-match media conference. "We got a point. (We were) unlucky not to get three"
"(It) was an outstanding football performance. They worked very hard and they played very good technical football as well," he said.
"That's five unbeaten," said Jets Manager Richard Money. "We're proving to be very good on the road," he said, unhappy with a newspaper report that day which claimed Jets are poor travellers. "We are very happy with our away form."
"Although we missed a really good chance at the end to win, we are happy to come away with a point, because we didn't deserve much more than that," he said. "We had too many players tonight who were not on their game. You can't expect to play fluently when you give the ball away as cheaply as we did at times."
Victory had the better of the game, despite the significant changes in its line-up from last week with the absence on international duty of Archie Thompson, and through suspension of experienced defenders Kevin Muscat and Geoffrey Claeys. Daniel Piorkowski and Vince Lia came in to deputise and took their opportunities to shine.
Merrick decided to stick with Eugene Galekovic in goals despite Victory's recent run of losses. Galekovic had a steady game and didn't let his coach down.
"The average age of the defence was twenty," said Merrick. "All four of them were outstanding. But we knew that as coaches, because they've been working well together in training."
Merrick was especially pleased at the new pairing of Piorkowski and Adrian Leijer as centre-backs. "They were very terrific against two very good strikers."
The conditions made for a slick passing surface suiting both teams' skills. Although game did not reprise the high action end-to-end entertainment of Victory's previous week's encounter against Queensland Roar, it was a game which provided the enthusiast with much to enjoy.
The wet surface meant shooting from distance could produce dividends. Michael Ferrante took two long-range efforts early in the game, the first flew slightly over the bar, the second needed alertness from Jets keeper Liam Reddy.
Reddy's next involvement was less convincing, delaying clearing a back-pass until Daniel Allsopp was upon him and finding his belated clearance charged down and goalwards, but wide.
Daniel Allsopp had another good opportunity after being released by Richard Kitzbichler who had won the ball on the half-way line. Kitzbichler's pass fell neatly for Allsopp and it needed a desperate block from Allan Picken to beat away his shot.
The second half was a repeat ¬‚ chances falling mostly Victory's way, but failing to get the decisive touch to present the loud Olympic Park support with the goal it so clearly desired.
Money had made a tactical change at the interval, brining on defensive midfielder Steve Eagleton for forward Labinot Haliti who had been anonymous up front.
"I thought at half-time that we would keep it tight in the middle," he said. "(But) I was mindful that we were probably going to need him at some stage in the next couple of weeks and he's got to get some game-time under his belt."
Money's prescience was well founded, as late in the game Picken brought up the caution that means he will miss Jets' next match.
But before then Kitzbichler again sent goalwards a stinging shot which needed Jade North to clear, the ball fell shortly after to Andy Vlahos whose cross was only centimetres out of reach of Allsopp's head directly in front.
Vlahos again combined with Allsopp minutes later. Vlahos' cross was met by Allsopp's powerful header which was wide when the full face of the goal was presented. Then Ferrante took advantage of a free-kick from 20 metres after a foul by Ned Zelic, but saw his shot go a metre side.
Merrick brought on Kristian Sarkies to the acclaim of the Victory faithful, and Ricky Diaco shortly after that. Both were to be involved in the action within minutes of their introduction.
Kitzbichler had left his marker trailing in his wake in a run up the right. His cross flashed across the face of goal with Allsopp and Diaco failing to make contact despite being at full stretch. Then came Diaco's shot from the edge of the penalty-area which fooled the vast majority of the attendance into believing a goal had been scored. It took a number of replays for the support to believe that the ball had passed by the post, crashing off a net support behind the goal and spinning back into the outside of the back of the net.
Sarkies went on a mazy run past a number of flummoxed Jets, before being stopped at the edge of the penalty area in the act of shooting. Sarkies set up another from a free-kick on the right after a foul on Allsopp by Mateo Corbo who had a solid game at the back. Sarkies' free was to the head of Mark Byrnes but went over.
But it wasn't all running Victory's way. The experience of Ante Milicic was always dangerous. Just before the hour he had gone on a storming run from inside his own half as Victory pressed. Byrnes missed a tackle as Milicic continued into a crossing position. Steve Pantelidis was relieved to concede the corner by heading over as Jets' reinforcements arrived.
Stuart Musialik had a late shot from 25 metres which was arrowing into goal but for a diving deflection by Galekovic which sent the ball over the bar.
And the final action could have meant Jets had stolen all points on offer deep into added time from a Nick Carle corner which was reached by Pickin's head, but carried the bar.