Archie ready to chase Oaks Day Glory

Melbourne Victory striker Archie Thompson and David Hayes’ horse Miss Finland will both be looking to breakaway from the field this Thursday as the Socceroo wears the captain’s armband in the Oaks Day special against Perth Glory at Telstra Dome.

Miss Finland, one of the favourites in the Crown Oaks, will be looking to win the feature race at Flemington, before the attention turns to Telstra Dome where Victory will look to maintain its lead on top of the Hyundai A-League ladder.

Thompson will lead the side in the absence of Kevin Muscat, who received a red card along with Rodrigo Vargas against the Central Coast Mariners last Friday, while Mark Byrnes and Michael Ferrante have been named to replace the pair in coach Ernie Merrick’s 15-man squad.

“It’s a straight swap, centre back for centre back, midfielder for midfielder and I don’t think we’ll be changing too much,” Merrick said. “We’ll virtually be playing the same system with a similar line-up to the one we finished up with last match.

“Ron Smith has done very well with Perth Glory. They play a very attacking, open brand of football. They scored two goals, despite going down to 10-men against Adelaide, and United is not an easy team to score goals against, so he’s turned the team around.

“I think it will be a very entertaining end-to-end type match.”

Ferrante has been named in the Victory squad for the first time this season, after injury stunted his pre-season campaign. The 25-year-old played in every match for Melbourne throughout the inaugural A-League season and will be looking to make the most of his opportunity in the side, knowing that Muscat and Vargas will only serve one-week suspensions.

Another big crowd is expected at Telstra Dome for the match as the Spring Carnival festivities continue throughout the city this week. Victory will host its own ‘Fashions on the Field’ competition, with the five best-dressed finalists to be judged on the pitch at half-time.

“Melbourne comes to life during the Spring Carnival and there’s a magnificent buzz and atmosphere around town, so hopefully we’ll get not only our own football crowd, but a few of the people who go to the races will come to the after-party,” Merrick added.

Victory’s forward duo of Danny Allsopp and Thompson are currently clear leaders on the 2006/07 A-League the goal scorers chart with eight and six respectively. Muscat also has six goals to his name, while the next closest is Perth’s Stuart Young with five.

An Allsopp equaliser in the 86th minute secured a point for the nine-man Victory in front of 28,118 fans last Friday night, giving Melbourne a nine-point advantage over second-placed Adelaide on the A-League ladder, while Perth are currently sitting in seventh with three wins, two draws and six losses.

Last time these sides met was in Round 5 at Members Equity Stadium when Victory recorded its first win in A-League competition over the Western Australian side, courtesy of goals from Muscat and Adrian Caceres.

Melbourne Victory Squad: 1. Michael Theoklitos (gk), 3. Daniel Piorkowski, 4. Mark Byrnes, 6. Steve Pantelidis, 7. Michael Ferrante, 8. Fred, 9. Daniel Allsopp, 10. Archie Thompson (Captain), 13. Kristian Sarkies, 14. Adrian Caceres, 15. Adrian Leijer, 16. Simon Storey, 17. Grant Brebner, 18. Alessandro, 20. Eugene Galekovic (gk).

In: Michael Ferrante, Mark Byrnes (both promoted). Out: Kevin Muscat, Rodrigo Vargas (both suspended – 1 week).

Perth Glory Squad: 20. Aleks Vrteski (gk), 2. Ryan Townsend, 3. David Tarka, 5. Jamie Harnwell (Captain), 6. Jeremy Christie, 7. Mimi Saric, 8. David Micevski, 9. Luka Glavas, 12. Leo Bertos, 13. Ante Kovacevic, 14. Jamie Coyne, 16. Adrian Webster, 17. Stuart Young, 18. Josip Magdic, 19. Naum Sekulovski, 50. Tommi Tomich (gk). *one to be omitted

In: Ryan Townsend, Stuart Young (return from injury), Josip Magdic (promoted). Out: Bobby Despotovski (foot – TBA), Paul Pezos (suspended - 1 week).

A-League Round 12

Melbourne Victory vs Perth Glory
Thursday Night, November 9
Telstra Dome, Melbourne
Kick off: 8:00pm (local/AEDST), 5:00pm (WA).

Live Coverage on Fox Sports Three from 7:30pm (AEDST).

Radio: SEN 1116am (Melbourne) from 7pm AEDST, SportFM (Perth) 90.5FM; 990AM Information Radio (Perth) from 4:30pm (WA time).

Tickets for the match are currently from any Ticketmaster outlet, by calling 136 100 or by visiting ticketmaster.com.au.