A Diego Castro penalty extended Melbourne Victory’s winless run to five games, as they drew 1-1 with Perth Glory at AAMI Park in controversial fashion.
Coming-off the back of four staright losses, Melbourne were keen to make amends in front of their fans and started strongly. Halfway through the initial stanza they did take the lead, when Besart Berisha stormed into the box and appeared to be brought down by Ante Covic, but replays showed there appeared to be minimal contact. Nonetheless, the Albanian stepped up to the spot and converted to give the Victory the lead.
Perth struggled to stem the Victory’s midfield, as the boys in blue started to control the game. However, the visitors still had their chances and their best came through Chris Harold. The winger evaded two defenders in the box and found himself one-on-one with Danny Vukovic, but misfired from an accute angle.
As expected, the away side came out determined to find an equalizer, but they nearly found themselves another goal down early. Fortunately, Fahid Ben Khalfallah managed to balloon his shot over from three-yards out to keep Perth in the contest and they took advantage of it. Despite still looking dangerous on the break, Melbourne started to take their foot off the pedal and the visitors capitalized. Josh Risdon surged down the right wing and was bundled over in the box by Matthieu Delpierre, with referee Shaun Evans pointing to the spot. Castro stepped up to the plate and converted to make it 1-1.
The hosts threw men forward in a desperate attempt to arrest their slump, but to no avail. Perth’s defence held strong, Melbourne were unable to carve out any decent chances and both sides left with a point apiece.
The lack of Victory in Melbourne feels weird
Perth Glory manager Kenny Lowe noted before the game his opponents were in a “results slump”, rather than a form slump. It is hard to disagree with him. Now without a win in their last five games, it is true Melbourne could have won all of them. Even today, they were the better team for large parts, but could not convert their opportunities. While they are not the all-conquering team who swept away everything in their path last season, they are still a good team capable of beating anyone on their day. They took their foot off the pedal inthe second-half today when they could have run over Perth, and were punished for it. Despite another setback, fans should not be worried.
Melbourne have Deng Fever
For all their success over the last 12 months, there have been questions raised about Melbourne’s defence. While Delpierre is one of the best centre-backs in the league, he has never had a great partner at the heart of defence. Step forward, Thomas Deng. The young defender was chosen to start alongside the veteran Frenchman and did not disappoint. Easily accounting for anything Perth threw his way, the 18-year-old was man-of-the-match, displaying great strength at the back, cool distribution and not looking one bit out of place. Long-term, lookes a great prospect, not just for Melbourne Victory, but also Australian football.
Perth’s missing midfield finds itself
Despite missing Carl Valeri and Gui Finkler, the likes of Leigh Broxham, Oliver Bozanic and Jesse Makarounas were able to take control of the middle of the park. On the other hand, Perth’s midfield three were largely anonymous. Diogo Ferriera failed to make an impact in the first-half before coming off injured, while his replacement Mitch Oxborrow faired only slightly better. The skipper Rishard Garcia was his usual hard-working self, but was frequently unable to get himself involved. Gyorgy Sandor had probably his quietest game in a Glory shirt, unable to dictate possession and tempo as he has done so well this season. With the Hungarian out of the game, Perth looked a lot less dangerous in midfield. The second-half was a big improvement, as the likes of Sandor, Oxborrow and Castro got themselves more involved. They won more possession in midfield, broke up more attacks, and were able to relases their danger men quickly. As the Victory ran out of puff, Perth took advantage and were able to snatch a point. In spite of the stronger second-half perfoormance, they will be wanting to improve on this showing next week.
Deja Vu strikes when you least expect it.
Old wounds were reopened with added salt earlier today, as Berisha took another tumble in the box, again under what looked to be minimal contact. Although it would be dumb to pretend this penatly was anywhere near as important as “the other one”, many Perth fans still felt a sharp pain as the referee blew his whistle, and another one as the striker’s penalty hit the back of the net. It is always disappointing to see players diving, whether they are from your own team or your opponents. Unfortunately, as a result of Berisha’s dodgy penalty, Perth fans are now going to have to attempt to re-surpress an old memory. At least they got something out of this one.
Outside90 Player of the Year Votes
3- Thomas Deng
2- Michael Thwaite
1- Oliver Bozanic
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