Central Coast were too hot going forward Friday night, rampaging into the final of the pre-season cup with a deserved win over their hosts. Archie Thompson did indeed start up front for Melbourne. He played well but proved a touch off his best with a series of very near misses. For the Mariners, Tom Pondeljak was pushed forward in place of Russell Woodruffe, a move that paid dividends for Lawrie McKinna as Pondeljak proved to be the most productive attacker on the night, bagging a penalty and a nicely slotted-in goal during open play. Pondeljak often drifted into midfield, where Melbourne's lack of a dedicated holding player saw him unmarked and able to set up the play.
In the centre of the park, Noel Spencer (pictured) and Andre Gunprecht totally dominated Kristian Sarkies and Michael Ferrante in ball-winning and the possession game. Victory's game plan consisted of holding a narrow formation and driving either through balls to Thompson's feet or long looping balls to Danny Allsopp's head. Neither striker was particularly effective at holding up the play and bringing the midfielders into the game, but Thompson did manage to turn on the razzle-dazzle every now, and then and if not for a couple of great saves from Crawley he might have put Victory back on top in the second half. It was very disappointing to see Victory make very little effort to open up the game down the flanks. Kitzhbichler and Vlahos could not get behind the Mariners defence, and more than once it was obvious that Sarkies and Ferrante had nobody to pass to out wide.
It was quite the opposite for the Mariners, with Damien Brown having a blinder down the left flank. More than once his pace was far too much for Kevin Muscat, leaving the ex-Socceroo (and let's hope it stays that way) far behind the play. It was no surprise, really, that Brown's jinking runs eventually drew a foul and a penalty from hatchet-man Muscat. Given Muscat's woeful lack of speed, Claeys' back pass error that led to Central Coast's third goal, Byrnes' red card and Recchia's jittery performance, there have to be several question marks concerning Melbourne's until now very highly rated defence.
The altercation between Mark Byrnes and Nick Mdrja requires some comment. Byrnes was bringing the ball out wide in order to set-up a clearance with Mrdja applying pressure, which included pulling Mark's shorts about half-way down his thigh. Clearly pissed-off, Byrnes lifted an elbow and smacked Mrdja in the face with a glancing blow. Nick made the most of it, and Mark Shield, a tad trigger happy I think, gave Byrnes the straight red. Mrdja received a yellow for his earlier infraction. If Byrnes had received a yellow earlier, so if he got another he would have been gone anyway, but I didn't think the elbow flash was nasty enough to deserve a red, leaving 3,871 one-eyed Victory supporters very upset. Following this, the bulk of the crowd stooped to referee abuse as a way to vent their frustration at Victory's performance. Another individual near where I was sitting was less charitable when it came to condemnation of the players. Late in the game Thompson decided to hold onto the ball and go it alone rather than offload to a teammate. "Pass the ball," the supporter screamed, "Bloody team Thompson!" How different it could have been for Archie, who is generally loved by the Melbourne fans, if one of his great efforts in attack had found the back of the net.
Overall, the Mariners were far too good for Victory, and based on this result their A-League championship odds must be dropping faster than the temperature in Melbourne after sunset. Last time I checked they had ballooned out to $15.00 or so, which is ridiculous. Against Victory, they were fit, sharp, fast and totally ruthless.
The best moment of the night was watching Leo Carle's trickery during the half-time break. Warming up with the other substitutes, Carle showed he definitely has the skills to pay the bills, but he only received about 30 secs of match time from McKinna, who preceeded to order all three subs to run the length of the pitch five (!) times after the game. A somewhat unfit or just lacklustre Carle was left a fair length behind the other two subs by the end of this little extra fitness program, perhaps explaining McKinna's reticence to use him!
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