Melbourne Victory secured the Premiers Plate with a convincing victory against the Central Coast Mariners at AAMI Park on Sunday.
Victory confirmed as Premiers
After Sydney FC was only able to win by a goal against the Phoenix earlier in the day, Kevin Muscat’s side could have forfeited against the Mariners and still secured top spot. The Victory did take the field against Tony Walmsley’s slide, with anything better than a seven-goal defeat needed to confirm themselves as Premiers.
Unsurprisingly, they succeeded. The Mariners were resolute in the first half-hour, pressing the Victory with vigour and attempting to spring forward through wingers Cernak and Fitzgerald. However, the Victory soon found themselves two goals in front after some poor defending from the visitors.
Daniel Georgievski did his best impression of Gui Finkler in the first instance, placing the ball into the top corner of the net from the edge of the box. It was a superb end to a flowing move upfield, but one of the four Central Coast Mariners watching Besart Berisha should have picked up the Macedonia international before he even received the ball. With the pressure valve released, the Victory quickly added a second when Archie Thompson flicked on Gui Finkler’s corner into the net.
The Mariners did pull one back before the end of the half, but Berisha scored minutes after the restart to put the game beyond reach. Indeed, the home side could have scored a few more with some better finishing.
In the end though, the Victory could not be denied a deserved Premiership, the club’s first in six years. The question now is whether Kevin Muscat can steer his side through a sudden-death finals series.
Rebuilding starts now for Mariners
The Mariners went into the break just a goal behind, but in reality they were inferior across all areas of the park. Lawrence Thomas and the Victory defence were rarely tested, further identifying the need for a proper striker in the off-season. Anthony Kalik is a precocious young talent, but he is a couple of years too young to play regularly at this level.
Anthony Caceres was a lone bright spot and Walmsley should be doing his utmost to keep him at the club and build a side around him, but Eddy Bosnar and Zac Anderson fail to inspire as central defenders. If the club wishes to move forward with an attacking philosophy, another ball-playing central defender alongside Jacob Poscoliero is a must.
AAMI Park is perfect for a grand final
The Victory supporters turned out in force for their final match of the regular season, providing a cacophony of noise to help spur their side to a win. Being a football-specific facility, the ground feels more intimate than Etihad Stadium and FFA was right to allow the Victory to host the grand final at the ground if they qualify. It is not hard to imagine a full house on May 17 providing a European-style atmosphere, packed out with die-hard supporters from both sets of fans.
Most balanced attack in A-League history
Archie Thompson scored his tenth goal of the season, his highest tally since the 2009-10 season despite playing a reduced number of minutes. Besart Berisha broke his AAMI Park scoring drought, but also made his ninth assists of the season, the same number he produced in three seasons at Brisbane Roar. Those two made the difference today, but add Fahid Ben Khalfallah, Gui Finkler and Kosta Barbarousses into the mix and it is little wonder that the Victory have outscored the rest of the competition.
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