Melbourne Victory held on to a half-time lead to defeat a hard-working but ultimately ineffective Perth Glory 2-1 at Docklands Stadium on a hot and sticky Melbourne Sunday afternoon, ending a week of controversy for the home side, and condemning Perth to yet another winless week.
After striker Archie Thompson and defender Ljubo Milicevic were suspended for breaches of club discipline, and Thompson relieved of the acting captaincy in the absence of Kevin Muscat, Thompson put the matter behind him with a sparkling performance and an uncredited touch on the goal which eventually proved to be the winner.
Milicevic is still on the outer, and Victory coach Ernie Merrick declined to make any comment on prospects for the matter's resolution.
Under the new leadership of Melbourne striker Danny Allsopp - celebrating his 50th game for Victory - the home team had a highly productive fifteen minute period towards the end of the first half, and then set up a backs-to-the-wall defensive effort to protect the advantage. Glory launched wave after wave of attack in what proved to be an unsuccessful attempt to win its first game of the season.
Costa Rican Carlos Hernandez opened the scoring for Victory midway through the first half. Thompson deflected Rodrigo Vargas' header from a corner into goal eight minutes later. But Jamie Harnwell reduced the deficit with a fine header two minutes before the break.
The second half brought effort aplenty despite the oppressive conditions especially by Glory as it sought to get a foothold back in the game, but no further goals.
"We got the job done," said Merrick. "All skill in the first half. All effort in the second. In the second half (Glory) threw caution to the wind and huge numbers forward. (We had) to defend well and not give anything away."
"It was a very important game to win."
"I don't think there were too many chances for either side today," said Glory coach Ron Smith. "I thought (Melbourne) played well."
"In the first twenty minutes or so we didn't have the intensity I would have liked, but it's hard to put your finger on why these things happen," he said. "It's hard when you start a game like that (because) a lot of the damage has been done."
Thompson had a penalty claim denied just eleven minutes in after he sprawled to the turf after a challenge with Jamie Coyne. Thompson had been released to chase a through ball and his pace seemed to have given him the edge. Coyne's last-ditch intervention was adjudged to be within the laws of the game by referee Simon Przydacz who waved the claims away.
Merrick would not be drawn on an alternative view. "I never comment on referees," he said with a smile. "The referees are brilliant."
Midway through the half came a sweet move from Victory which should have produced the opener. Leigh Broxham had set Joe Keenan scampering free up the left. Keenan's cross was to Allsopp's feet barely ten yards out and with the whole width of goal gaping in front of him. Glory goalkeeper Tando Valaphi, who had performed so heroically when making his only previous appearance at this venue nine months ago when temporarily with Queensland Roar, carried that form to this encounter and was able to make the point-blank save.
But the hold-out lasted only a few minutes more. Thompson and Hernandez had exchanged passes up the right allowing Thompson to send in a ball behind the Glory back-line and onto which Fernandez sped, timing his run perfectly to remain onside. With players in supporting positions to his left, Hernandez decided to shoot, blasting the ball high into the net from an acute angle for his long-awaited debut goal.
Victory extended the lead within ten minutes. Keenan had made another rampaging run up the left earning a corner. Matthew Kemp aimed for the far post where central defender Vargas outjumped Nikolai Topor-Stanley, directing his downward header goalwards. Thompson instinctively stuck out a boot to deflect it artfully into the net. The official record credited the goal to Vargas but was later changed by FFA.
"Archie clearly got a touch to it," said Vargas afterwards. "But we don't really care who scored it. What matters is that we scored."
Immediately after, Glory spurned two good chances within as many minutes, showing the game was still in the balance despite the scoreline. Firstly Simon Colosimo's cross was met at the far post by Naum Sekulovski whose header required a fine save from Victory keeper Michael Theoklitos. Then Harnwell missed making a solid connection from inside the six-yard area, with Theoklitos helpless. Grant Brebner had failed to make a tackle on James Downey allowing Downey unimpeded access inside the penalty-area from wide right. Downey's shot was blocked by Theoklitos but fell to Harnwell four yards out. Harnwell attempted to back-heel the ball into goal but failed to make appropriate contact and the danger was cleared.
"There was an open goal there begging," said Smith. "Jamie's tried to hook it between his legs and hit his own leg. They are the margins sometimes."
"We haven't really had many breaks," he said. "That was one we could have done with today."
The signs were the Glory would convert eventually and two minutes before the half Harnwell deservedly put Perth on the scoreboard. Topor-Stanley had outmuscled Kemp up the left crossing to the unmarked Harnwell who headed home from seven yards.
After such a storming finish to the first half the early moments of the second were very quiet by comparison. It was apparent Victory sought to soak up Glory pressure and strike on the break. The conditions were oppressive at pitch-level, over 30 Celcius and with a high humidity.
"(Glory) certainly coped with the heat better than we did," said Merrick. "The boys were struggling. It was very very humid out there."
"I was just sitting, and I was perspiring quite a bit," said Smith. "(It makes) it hard to pressurise. And when you are chasing the game, as we were, it's even more difficult."
A group of around a hundred Victory fans stood in silence at the stadium's upper tier in protest at stadium demands that fans be seated. Docklands management is still coming to terms with the more active supporter involvement football brings, compared to other more anodyne sports hosted by the venue. This group pointedly remained behind after the players and most other spectators had departed the arena, only then breaking their silence and launching into song, before making an orderly departure themselves.