Melbourne Victory made it three wins in a row with a convincing three-nil defeat of the hapless New Zealand Knights at Olympic Park on Monday evening. The win perfectly sets up next Sunday afternoon's highly anticipated game against Sydney FC and promises a sell-out attendance.
Man of the match Richard Kitzbichler opened the scoring midway through the first-half, volleying home from Danny Allsopp's square ball after Victory had smashed Knights' attempted offside trap.
Talismanic captain Kevin Muscat settled jangling Melbourne nerves with the second just after the hour, slotting home coolly after a mazy run to end a period when Knights looked to have come back into the game.
Ricky Diaco scored Victory's third just two minutes later after some good approach work from Kitzbichler and to the voluble acclaim of the healthy 11,000 Monday night crowd.
"I felt very good in the warm-up," said Kitzbichler after the match. "I had a very good feeling. I was convinced we were going to win."
"No goals against, and three goals for, and with a bit of luck we could have had a couple more," said Victory coach Ernie Merrick, summing up the night's performance. "Next week should be a cracker, especially with both (Sydney's) Dwight Yorke and (Victory's) Archie Thompson being back (from World Cup qualifying duty)."
Apart from a short period after the interval, Knights looked well short of Victory's standard. Its position at the foot of the ladder will be hard to shake off. Knights' sad dividend for the night was compounded by an early injury to defender Neil Emblen which caused Knights' coach John Adshead to re-think pre-match plans.
"I've lost Emblen after twelve minutes. It could be a medial ligament. (He could be out) a long, long time. I've Danny Hay ¬‚ a top-class player ¬‚ at home, that could be long-term. Simon Yeo ¬‚ a top-class striker ¬‚ (is also) at home," said Adshead.
"They always say it's tough at the top ¬‚ but I tell you, it's tough at the bottom as well," he said. "We're not getting out-classed in any game ¬‚ we've never looked third-rate. We've just got to keep working at it, and it will turn."
"We didn't come here for a point," said Adshead. "We wanted to be attacking, but it just (wasn't) good enough on the night."
Kitzbichler's opener was a fitting end to a sparkling move. Muscat was quick to see the opportunity and placed a ball into space behind the Knights' back four as they moved upfield, and it fell handily for Allsopp's offside-nullifying run. The big striker was forced a little wide and decided to hold the ball whilst Kitzbichler made up ground in the middle. Allsopp released a square ball into the diminutive Austrian's path and Kitzbichler sent a left-foot shot high into the top corner and out of Danny Milosovic's despairing leap.
Knights had shown little danger up front, although Noah Hickey did well to create his side's two moments of potential in the first half. Just after the half-hour he wrong-footed Simon Storey up the right. Hickey's shot was deflected for a corner by Geoffrey Claeys when the chance of a bigger prize was on offer.
And just before the break, a long clearance from deep in the Knights' back-line carried towards the forward edge of Victory's own penalty-area. As Eugene Galekovic sought to claim the ball, Hickey rose in challenge and only marginally failed to make the decisive contact which surely would have forced the ball over the goal-line.
But the half was comprehensively Victory's. Kristian Sarkies was again showing energetic creativity in the midfield engine-room alongside Michael Ferrante and Andy Vlahos. These three regularly combined effectively to move the ball at speed and kept the Knights' defence working hard to cover. Sarkies' game was to end at the interval, substituted by Merrick in a tactical change. "We had to re-organise the left-hand side," said Merrick. "I felt (Knights) were coming down that side ¬‚ we had to restructure slightly, and it worked."
Knights could have scored twice within two minutes just after the re-start. Muscat seemed unaware of the presence of Joshua Rose after Sean Devine had sent forward what initially looked a regulation ball for the Victory defence to deal with. Muscat propped and awaited the ball's arrival but Rose nipped in to take possession and now with only Galekovic to beat. Galekovic needed a full-stretch diving save to deflect the ball for a corner.
But the danger wasn't over. Victory only part-cleared the corner and it was knocked in again where Devine took possession inside the penalty-area. Again Galekovic needed to be alert to save, as Devine sought the final touch.
It was a shaky period for Victory, and it took some excellent work by Kitzbichler up the right for Victory to re-assert its dominance. Kitzbichler came close himself with a clever move inside Ronnie Bull before letting loose a stinging shot which required a diving save from Milosevic.
But Merrick had made a change just two minutes beforehand which was to pay immediate dividends. Diaco had been brought on for the hard-working Vlahos and shortly after his introduction he played a one-two with Muscat which sent Muscat clean through a bewildered Knights' defence. Muscat shot low to Milosovic's left, beating the keeper's dive.
Diaco himself scored before the Victory support on the terraces had regained their positions. Kitzbichler had again toiled away on the right and crossed to the forward edge of the six-yard box. Allsopp got his massive presence over the ball and set it back for Diaco to smash home with a lunge.
"We've always said that Richard (Diaco) is a terrific impact player. As soon as he comes on, he threatens. He scored a goal and perhaps could have had another couple. It's good to see we've got players who come on and want to score goals."
Kitzbichler showed another piece of magic late in the game with the game well in Victory's control. Milosevic once again was called upon to make a diving save.