Melbourne Victory outclassed an error-riddled Perth Glory to win four-nil at Docklands Stadium on Saturday evening in front of a disappointingly low attendance by Melbourne standards. Just over 18,000 saw Melbourne return to the form which had taken it to the top of the league after last week's stumble against Queensland.
Grant Brebner got Victory off to a good start after 25 minutes, carefully placing his shot wide of Glory goalkeeper Frank Juric after Jeff Bright had ineffectively cleared a cross from Archie Thompson.
Danny Allsopp doubled the lead five minutes before the break, but needed two attempts to do so after Juric had blocked his first.
Central defender Rody Vargas made it three when he bundled the ball over the line in combination with defensive partner Kevin Muscat two minutes after the interval from Evan Berger's free-kick.
Allsopp got the fourth and final goal midway through the half after he'd burst through a square back line on Tom Pondeljak's pass to face Juric, yet again badly exposed.
Melbourne was hardly stretched in the win, despite the magnitude of the margin. There is as deep a level of confidence within the Victory squad as there is a lack of self-belief in the Glory one.
"It was our brand of football - it was very attacking," said Victory coach Ernie Merrick after the game. "There (were) quality runs and interpassing up front, and great finishes."
"I couldn't ask any more of the players (than) that," he said.
In contrast, Glory coach David Mitchell could scarcely find anything positive to comment upon. "We've got to pick ourselves up, look at the situation, and get some confidence back in the team," he said.
"We always start games well, and create one or two chances, (but) we don't capitalise on them," he said. "And then (the opposition) end up scoring, and the confidence seems to suck out of us."
"I thought the first thirty minutes (we were) good. Melbourne with their tails up, at home, are a very good side."
"The players are hurting," said long-time Glory defender Jamie Harnwell. "There's no doubt about that. Every player has to take a good long hard look at themselves. We've got to take (the) responsibility."
Victory is now clear at the top after the completion of the games of the first third of the season, all teams now having played each other once.
Pondeljak, Thompson, and Billy Celeski had been combining well during the first half. One such exchange led to the ball arriving at Thompson's feet inside the penalty-area. Whether Thompson had in mind to shoot or cross will only be known to the Socceroo himself, but if a cross, there was no team-mate in a position to convert.
Defender Bright could not be certain that this was indeed the case, so sought to clear the ball. He succeeded only in playing it to the edge of the penalty-area where Brebner lurked. The Scotsman had the full width of the goal to aim at and shot beyond Juric's reach.
"We've signed a lot of good players," said Brebner. "You have to do things that keep you in the team, and as everybody knows, scoring goals can hopefully keep you in the team."
Glory would be entitled to be aggrieved at being behind. Eugene Dadi and Naum Sekulovski both had created and been at the end of good opportunities before and after Brebner's goal, and Bright himself watched his header from a Dadi nod-back, go only narrowly the wrong side of the post.
But Victory always looked dangerous in possession, and again Celeski and Pondeljak combined in a race towards the Glory goal. As the threadbare Glory defence scrambled to cover, Pondeljak played the ball to Allsopp, completely unmarked, in the inside-right position. Juric was able to block Allsopp's first attempt, but the ball fell kindly to the Victory striker who now had an easy job to put away the rebound.
"When (Victory) scored the second goal," said Mitchell. "That was the killer for us."
And as the half ended, Thompson had a double-block preventing his goalbound shots from crossing the line after Juric had mishandled. The first was by Glory's Bright, but the second was by Pondeljak who, unfortunately for his team-mate, was unable to get out of the way.
Victory's fans didn't have long to wait for the third, which came shortly after the players had resumed hostilities. Berger floated in a free-kick from the right into space behind the Glory back-line, which had set up on the forward edge of the penalty-area. Muscat and Vargas both leapt for it, making contact on the six-yard line, untroubled by any attempt by Juric to claim. Muscat got his head to it, directing it downwards where it hit Vargas on the thigh and then over the line.
Both players wheeled away in a friendly competition to see who would gather the majority of team-mates' acclaim as the Glory defence considered another costly error.
"Rody and Kevin are arguing over who got the goal," said Merrick with a smile. Referee Strebre Delovski was in no doubt as the official record credits it to Vargas.
Central Coast had proved the previous night that a three-nil scoreline does not guarantee a win, but it was hard to see a team as lacking in confidence as Perth managing such a fightback.
What faint hopes still fluttered in western hearts must surely have been extinguished with still twenty minutes of play remaining. Allsopp burst through the Glory defensive line on Pondeljak's pass after Matthew Kemp had won the ball, to convert his second, and Victory's fourth of the evening.
"Tommy Pondeljak had a great game," said Merrick. "We didn't have a bad player on the park. It was high quality football all round."
Surprisingly, Glory had two chances to get back into the game, both requiring quick reactions from the otherwise under-engaged Victory goalkeeper Mitchell Langerak. The better of the two came immediately after Victory's fourth, when Glory substitute Nikita Rukavytsya ran by Vargas and into the penalty-area. His shot struck Pondeljak on its way, requiring Langerak to adjust his dive to direct the ball over the bar.
While Victory stand two points clear at the top, Glory are bottom with the meagre haul of four.