Melbourne Victory managed its first home win of the season, defeating Queensland Roar 2-1 at Docklands Stadium on Saturday evening, and - at least for a day - going top of the A-League on the back of its away form.
An early goal for Victory's Ney Fabiano was cancelled out shortly afterwards by an equaliser by Reinaldo, sending the sides in level at the break. Adrian Leijer netted the winner with twenty minutes to go after man-of-the-match Carlos Hernandez found him from a free-kick.
New Melbourne recruit Robbie Kruse, who until recently had been a Roar player, received a torrid time from his ex-team mates, and at least one off the ball incident behind referee Strebre Delovski's back late in the game will likely attract the attention of the match review panel. Kruse was regularly fouled, but to the youngster's credit, did not respond to the provocation, and will be a better player for knowing he'd endured the experience without retaliating.
In a high-energy beginning lapped up by the big Melbourne attendance, Fabiano opened the scoring with a bullet header after four minutes following good set-up play by Hernandez and Archie Thompson.
Reinaldo levelled seven minutes later after David Dodd's blocked shot rebounded handily for Charlie Miller, who then cleverly found Reinaldo with an outside of the foot pass leaving the Brazilian with a clear shot on goal.
Those who'd been aware of these sides' last meeting, during which six goals were shared, were now awaiting the game's remaining eighty minutes with keen anticipation. Their hopes were realised, at least as far as the first half was concerned, as although no more goals were scored before the break, there was plenty of action at both ends which kept the scoreboard attendants' attention.
Victory had the better chances, but did not dominate general play. Reinaldo and Henrique were lively for Roar, and captain Craig Moore solid at the back, but strike-partner Sergio van Dijk was well-held by Muscat and Rodrigo Vargas, and mostly ineffective as a result.
But there were opportunities scorned, and which Victory coach Ernie Merrick would have preferred were taken. The tightness of the league means that fine margins apply this season, and a solid lead is the reward for a side with a high conversion rate.
Thompson will look at this game and see a number of chances which should have been taken. Midway through the half he raced clear of Ivan Franjic and an ineffective Roar offside trap on a Fabiano pass, but saw his shot rebound off the post.
He later ran clear after Leigh Broxham broke up a Roar passage of possession inside his own half, giving the Melbourne speedster half a field of space to race into. Sadly though for the Melbourne support, Thompson wasted the option opened up by Fabiano who was free to his right, and elected to shoot instead, giving Roar goalkeeper Liam Reddy the chance to save.
And in first-half added time, Fabiano, released after a slide-rule pass from Hernandez, saw his shot rebound off the post with Reddy beaten.
Roar was not being outdone, and was holding its end up of the contest. Henrique was proving to be a creative workhorse, and was combining well with Reinaldo, requiring the Victory back-line to remain on high alert. One such combination up the left ended with a beautifully weighted square ball to Danny Tiatto who shot wide from distance, with no blue shirt having spotted the veteran midfielder's run.
Throughout the half, Kruse was marked tightly by Tiatto, sometimes outside sporting standards according to referee Strebre Delovski. Ten minutes before the interval things boiled over after yet another Tiatto foul, this time when he'd blocked Kruse off the ball, resulting in Tiatto's booking, and a minute-long melee of players.
Before order was restored and the free-kick could be to be taken, Reddy and Leijer had joined Tiatto's name in Delovski's book. Tiatto might not have heard the last of the incident, as cameras captured him giving the finger to the crowd after they'd hooted his image appearing on the venue's big screens after being booked. The authorities looked upon a similar Tiatto gesture harshly in a previous season, and they may be required to reconvene again as a result of this one.
After a barn-storming first half, the second was a few grades tamer with neither side managing the same level of adventurous action. Not surprisingly, it was another foul against Kruse which was the genesis of Melbourne's winner just after the second-half's midpoint.
Hernandez had been inaccurate with his earlier dead-ball deliveries, but this time sent in an inviting ball to the far-post where Leijer was able to bundle it home for the winner with a combination of header and scrambled kick, out-muscling Moore along the way.