Victory in Melbourne 

Well its the 1st of December, which means the end of Movember and the end of my moustache for this year. Thanks to all those that donated to this great cause. If you haven’ donated its not too late, just visit my mospace page.

It also looks like its the end of Michael Thwaite’s short stint at Melbourne Victory according to theworldgame.com.au, who are reporting that he will be on his way to Gold Coast United next season. Its disappointing news to say the least, considering the hard work by Gary Cole and co. to get him here in the first place. It also makes our defensive stocks very thin on the ground, with rumours abounding that Sebastian Ryall will look to head back to his home state of NSW and what you would think would be the imminent retirement of Kevin Muscat.

As for the performance on the weekend, there is not much I can say because yours truly forgot to check the actual time on the A-League website and just assumed it was on at 7:30pm Melbourne time. A disappointing result and our first ever lost to a New Zealand side. It was a number of strange results for the weekend but by all accounts we didn’t really deserve anything more than a loss.

Its always good to be on top of the league, even its only two weeks into the season. But what is far more pleasing is the style in which yesterday’s win was achieved in what was atrocious conditions. It was also good to see we tried to stick with our passing game (as did Wellington with theirs) on a pitch that had more water than most of our state’s dams and didn’t resort to the long ball that was prevalent throughout last season.

Standout player for the Victory was Danny Allsopp, who after a pretty poor game last week made two classy finishes (and could have almost had a third with a sublime chip that was cleared off the line - he must have been watching the Olympic mens final) and then turned provider for Ney Fabiano’s first goal in a Victory shirt. Nice to see him also get on the scoresheet after going so close last week.

After many weeks away from home it will be great to see the Victory back in Melbourne next Friday night against Newcastle, a team we have struggled against since Gary van Egmond took charge. The five day turnaround is not ideal, especially with injury concerns for Vargas. Also with the possible returns of Thompson and Ward, only strengthens our line-up. I can’t wait for Friday!

It was good to be back in somewhat familiar company in the pub watching the Melbourne Victory in action. It sure beats being one of a couple people with their faces glued to the television without sound as experienced in different surroundings during our ACL campaign. To be honest I was a little glad when I heard that there would be no extra time and that the game would be decided by penalties if the scores were deadlocked after full time. In a game that was dominated by both defences I don’t think I could have handled an extra thirty minutes of standing, especially after a reasonably long day at work.

Last night both myself and my fellow supporters finally got to see the Melbourne Victory play football the way we had wanted them to play all season. Well, expect for me couple of people who were sitting to my front and rear who find reason to criticise at every opportunity. Goals to Hernandez, Ward and Patafta saw the Victory record a 3-0 win over the Wellington Phoenix. For the first time since mid-October the Victory theme song rang out around the Telstra Dome. The win kept us in finals contention for at least another 24 hours until unfortunately the Jets beat the Mariners and ended our chances.

Last night I also got my wish from last week in seeing both Ward and Hernandez start on the pitch together, although Carlos was playing in a much more forward role due to the absences of Allsopp through a virus. The combination worked well and complimented each other effectively. This combination bodes well for our ACL campaign.

Special mention should go to Sebastian Ryall, who at only 18 years of age is making a name for himself in the Victory defence. Time and time again he made crucial tackles and never looked panicked. As the weeks go by he is looking more and more comfortable on the ball. Playing in a backline that has both Muscat and Vargas in it has probably helped his development.

Kaz Patafta has been one of my favourites for the year almost to the point of stalking and it looks like my fellow supporters are also becoming fans as a huge roar erupted around the stadium when he came on as substitute in the 75th minute. He responded in kind with his first goal for the club and our third for the night, a well taken goal from a tight angle after Thompson scuffed a shot. I don’t think I would get any disagreement by saying that he has been under utilised throughout the season and Merrick and his coaching staff have to take some blame for that. Its unlikely that he will stay beyond his loan period but I will probably maintain my “stalking” although from a much greater distance. It looks like our good run of form came to nothing and we only have ourselves to blame, our style of football for the majority of the season has been poor and we didn’t really deserve a position in the finals. I am off to Sydney next week for our final game of the season and my first away game where I sit/stand in the “away” end. I am looking forward to it even though there is nothing to play for. But I hope the boys put one last final effort and stop those boys in baby blue from taking out the minor premiership.

Bottom image “borrowed” from The Age.