Melbourne Victory are the 2014-15 A-League Champions after completely dismantling Sydney FC to clinch a 3-0 Grand Final triumph.
The Victory dominated for the entire 90 minutes against a lacklustre Sydney side that was well off the pace in a disappointing performance.
Melbourne Victory
Lawrence Thomas – 7: Did not have a great deal to do against the an impotent Sydney attack but did make one or two telling saves when his side was at 1-0.
Leigh Broxham – 8.5: Excellent at right-back, completely snuffing out Chris Naumoff in the first half and also went forward to get a late goal as a reward.
Matthieu Delpierre – 8.5: The Giant Frenchman was, well, giant in defence. Super performance.
Nick Ansell – 8.5: Accomplished and assured. A great finish to a maturing year for the youngster.
Daniel Georgievksi – 8.5: Marauding performance at right-back dealing with every Sydney attack. Also got forward well with some lung-busting runs.
Mark Milligan – 9.5: Man of the match after a standout performance from the Socceroo. His passing was crisp, his defending was resolute and his work ethic was flawless.
Carl Valeri – 7: A late red card took the gloss of a solid performance from Valeri who has been vastly underrated this season.
Gui Finkler – 7.5: Did not dominate but was involved in many Victory attacks making time and space for the players around him.
Kosta Barbarouses – 8.5: Toyed with Nikola Petkovic all evening and his goal was well deserved.
Besart Berisha – 9: He keeps making a habit of performing in grand finals and the Albanian was at it again with the opening goal to go with a tireless performance.
Ben Khalfallah – 8: The ‘Wizard’ was clever and really gave the Victory impetus in attack whenever he had the ball. Neither Seb Ryall or Rhyan Grant were able to deal with him without fouling him.
Substitutes
Jason Geria – 4: Came on late to sure up the defence.
Archie Thompson – N/A: The crowd favourite was a token substitute at the end of the match, much to the home faithful’s delight.
Rashid Mahazi – N/A: Another who was introduced late to sure things up.
Sydney FC
Vedran Janjetovic – 5.5: Did not have a great afternoon but was not helped by his defenders’ lapses and the Victory attack being too good.
Seb Ryall – 5: Poor performance by the former Victory man both at right-back and centre-back. Off the pace against a Victory attack that was lightening.
Matthew Jurman – 5: Had to deal with Berisha for much of the afternoon and was made to wear a few battle-scars after a coming together with his former teammate.
Jacques Faty – N/A: Went off injured very early on which was disastrous for the Sydney defence.
Nicola Petkovic – 4.5: Terrible performance by the Serbian. Outclassed, outpaced and believe it not, outmuscled by Kosta Barbarouses.
Milos Dimitrijevic – 5.5: Tried hard but was negated well by Milligan and Valeri.
Mikael Tavares – 5.5: Toiled away all afternoon trying to shield the Sydney back four but was ultimately run off his legs.
Bernie Ibini – 4: Anonymous performance.
Alex Brosque – 4.5: Very, very quiet apart from one sight at goal which was saved by Thomas.
Chris Naumoff – 4: Like Ibini, an anonymous performance.
Marc Janko – 4.5: Had one headed attempt at goal which was well saved. Had limited service to be fair.
Substitutes
Rhyan Grant – 5: Replaced Faty and had the difficult job of dealing with a fit and firing Khalfallah.
Shane Smeltz – 4: Hardly got near the ball. Not much of an influence as Arnie sought a change in formation.
Terry Antonis – 4: Replaced Tavares in an attacking move but could not get a handle of things in midfield.
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