Wellington: Melbourne Victory received a real confidence boost ahead of Wednesday’s AFC Champions League trip to Suwon Bluewings after romping to a 4-1 win over Wellington Phoenix in the A-League.
Victory opened the scoring at the Wellington Regional Stadium after eight minutes when Besart Berisha sent a clever back-flick past Glen Moss, before Oliver Bozanic made it 2-0 in the 19th minute with a neat finish into the bottom corner after good work down the left by Scott Galloway.
But Berisha then undid all his good work five minutes after the half-hour mark when he was shown a straight red for violent conduct for kicking out at Andrew Durante, although the hosts’ numerical advantage lasted until the 54th minute; Albert Riera also getting sent off for a second bookable offence.
Just two minutes later, Victory struck again as Kosta Barbarouses broke free following a neat one-two with Gui Finkler before calmly finishing past Moss.
Rolieny Bonevacia did pull one back for Phoenix with eight minutes remaining, but George Howard made it 4-1 in injury-time after being set up by Archie Thompson to wrap up a convincing win for the reigning A-League champions.
Victory will now turn their attentions to the Champions League, where they are looking to maintain their place in the top two of Group G on Wednesday with a positive result against the Bluewings at the Suwon World Cup Stadium.
Sydney FC, the A-League’s other Champions League representative, were also in domestic action on Saturday but suffered a 2-0 defeat to Adelaide United at the Hindmarsh Stadium.
They fell behind in the 26th minute when defender Zac Anderson – in a bid to clear Michael Marrone’s cross – could only stab the ball towards his own goal and although goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic did well to keep it out, Bruce Djite was on hand to blast home the rebound.
Right on the stroke of halftime, another mistake by Anderson saw him lose possession in his own area to Bruce Kamau and the ball eventually broke to Djite, who lashed home a ferocious left-footed drive for his second of the evening, which ultimately proved enough to hand his side maximum points.
Sydney are currently top of Group H in the Champions League after two wins from their opening three games, and will be aware victory over Korea Republic’s Pohang Steelers on Tuesday would see them take a significant step towards the Round of 16.
Photo: Lagardère Sports
Source: the-afc.com