Melbourne’s victorious opening

Melbourne has shaken off its Adelaide United hoodoo with a 2-0 win at Olympic Park to open the A-League’s second season on a high tonight.

The win will be a relief for Victory’s coach Ernie Merrick and the players, as they had never scored a goal in seven previous clashes with Adelaide United, let alone had a win.

That changed when Victory skipper Kevin Muscat opened the scoring in the 28th minute with a penalty earned when Brazilian import Alessandro took on and beat Richie Alagich on the left side, before the United full back brought him down from behind.

Another Brazilian – Claudinho – put the result beyond doubt in the 77th minute with a goal on the rebound following Danny Allsopp’s run down the left which left United hardman Angelo Costanzo holding his face and standing still while Allsopp continued his run. His shot saved by Adelaide United keeper Robert Baljic, before Claudinho slotted the shot home while the visitors protested with the referee.

Adelaide seemed to control the ball more than the hosts at the start of the contest, but lacked the cutting edge up front, while Melbourne seemed helter skelter but the more likely to score.

After five minutes Allsopp won Melbourne a free kick on the edge of the area after being man-handled, but the Victory took two touches before Grant Brebner’s shot went straight into the wall.

A carbon copy incident occured three minutes later when Allsopp appeared to be dragged down in the area, but the referee waved play on.

The hosts had another opportunity from a free kick within range when Archie Thompson had a mazy run ended by a very late Michael Valkanis tackle which earned the Australian defender a yellow card. Luckily for United, Fred’s free kick didn’t make it past the wall and the visitors cleared.

Victory’s best chance came when Valkanis almost put Thompson’s cross into his own net, with the deflection cannoning off the overhead and the ball was cleared from the United defence.

But Melbourne finally hit the front with Muscat’s penalty which he put into the bottom left corner, sending Baljic the wrong way and the home crowd into raptures.

Thompson almost doubled the advantage in the 37th minute only to have Robert Cornthwaite clear off the line.

Adelaide’s best chance came four minutes before half-time when Aaron Goulding crossed in from the left, only for Ross Aloisi’s volley to be tipped away by Michael Theoklitos into Travis Dodd’s path, who blasted wide when an open goal beckoned.

After the half-time whistle there was an incident between Muscat and Alessandro that saw some pushing and shoving between the teammates. Alessandro stormed off the pitch in a huff, brushing off the attention of the Victory support staff. He didn’t return after the break, either on the field nor on the bench.

New Melbourne recruit Adrian Caceres replaced him, and he had a good chance three minutes after the restart to double the hosts’ lead but his shot fizzed wide of Baljic’s left post.

Both sides made several changes during the half, with Melbourne’s Claudinho coming on for compatriot Fred and Aloisi replaced by Costanzo for the visitors.

Both substitutes played a role in the Victory’s second goal, with Claudinho making the job hard for United when he put a rebound in after 77 minutes.

Costanzo thought he heard a whistle and stopped after a collision with Allsopp, but the Melbourne striker trudged on and his shot rebounded to the Brazilian attacker who capitalised with a goal on his debut.

Adelaide piled the pressure on thereafter, but Nathan Burns spurned the visitors’ best chance of the second half when he failed to put the ball past an advancing Theoklitos from an angle.

Claudinho and Allsopp also wasted chances in the closing minutes of the game, but it mattered little as the Victory celebrated their win that gives the worst Australian team from last season a spark heading into their big clash with Sydney FC at Telstra Dome next Saturday night.

Adelaide travels to Auckland next Saturday to take on New Zealand.

Team Line-Ups

Melbourne Victory:
Michael Theoklitos (gk), Kevin Muscat (capt), Daniel Piorkowski, Fred (Claudinho 58), Daniel Allsopp, Archie Thompson (Steve Pantelidis 81), Rodrigo Vargas, Adrian Leijer, Simon Storey, Grant Brebner, Alessandro (Caceres 46) - Subs not used; Eugene Galekovic (gk). Yellow Cards: Keven Muscat ’53.

Adelaide United:
Richie Alagich (Nathan Burns 83), Michael Valkanis, Ross Aloisi (capt) (Angelo Costanzo 63), Carl Veart, Greg Owens, Travis Dodd, Aaron Goulding, Robert Cornthwaite, Shengqing Qu, Robert Bajic (gk), Jason Spagnuolo (Fernando 67) - Subs not used; Daniel Beltrame (gk). Yellow Cards: Michael Valkanis ’14, Shengqing Qu ’21.

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