Victory show no mercy

The Hyundai A-League league leaders Melbourne Victory cruised to a 4-0 victory against cellar dwellers New Zealand Knights at the North Harbour Stadium in the round 10 clash this afternoon.

Both sides made one change to their starting line-ups with the Knights replacing Richard Johnson with Noah Hickey. On the bench was their new recruit Hamza Mohammed on the bench. The Victory were without their suspended captain Kevin Muscat for the trip he was replaced by Steve Pantelidis, with Mark Byrnes coming on to the bench.

The Knights began well against the league leaders and forced the opening corner in the first minute, Malik Buar’s corner punched clear by New Zealand old boy Michael Theoklitos under pressure from big Neil Emblen. Moments later it was Jonti Richte down the right for the Knights but his cross was cleared by the overworked Victory defence, and Fernando’s long range strike was saved comfortably by Theoklitos.

The visitors looked shell-shocked but had no need to worry and in their first attack in the 8th minute they were ahead, Fred heading home unmarked in the box from a Grant Brebner short corner. The Knights pushed for the equaliser and Adam Casey raced clear down the right but his cross was well claimed by Theoklitos low down. The Knights were playing good possession football but lacked the final ball to cause the Victory any problems.

The Knights should have leveled in the 22nd minute, Neil Emblen fed Richte in the right channel but he delayed his shot and Theoklitos pushed away his shot. The bottom of the table side continued to push for the equalizer, Scott Gemmill fed the dangerous Richte, whose shot on the turn was saved by Theoklitos.

The Victory soaked up the Knights pressure and went within inches of increasing the lead on 25 minutes, Adrian Caceres sent Archie Thompson into the box and his chipped shot was only inches over the bar with Danny Milosevic stranded. It was 1-0 at the break and the Knights had it all to play for in the second half against their illustrious visitors.

Victory coach Ernie Merrick made a change at the break bringing on Kristian Sarkies for Steve Pantelidis, and hoped for more from his side. It was a quiet opening to the second half the first chance fell to the Knights Noah Hickey in the 50th minute, after he cut inside Simon Story from the left but sent his shot over. But the Victory doubled their lead against the run of play in the 57th minute, the Knights’ defender Darren Bazeley’s attempted clearance was blocked and Fred played in Archie Thompson who fired into the net.

It was 3-0 sixty seconds later, Brebner’s delightful through-ball sent Caceres though the middle of the Knights defence and finished low past Milosevic. The Victory began to get on top with Fred and Caceres pulling the strings in midfield, and it should have been 4-0 with the duo joining up and sent Danny Allsop clear but his shot was well blocked by Milosevic.

The Knights’ agony wasn’t over yet, and it was 4-0 in the 72nd minute, again Caceres was the architect, his inch perfect pass sent Thompson clear down the left and his cross was finished at close-range by Allsop. To the Knights’ credit they pushed for a consolidation goal and earned four consecutive corners late on but they came to nothing.

The Victory continues with their good form and goes into this weeks clash at the Telstra Dome against Central Coast Mariners full of confidence. Meanwhile the Knights will host Queensland Roar at North Harbour Stadium next Sunday afternoon hoping to kick start there season.

Team Line-Ups

New Zealand Knights:
Danny Milosevic (gk), 2 Darren Bazeley, 3 Gregory Duruz, 4 Che Bunce, 6 Neil Emblen, 8 Scot Gemmill,11 Jonti Richte, 14 Malik Buar, 15 Adam Casey, 16 Noah Hickey, 26 Fernando (Banks 62). Subs not Used: Michael Turnbull, Sime Kovacevic, Hamza Mohammed, Campbell Banks. Yellow Cards: Bunce (89).

Melbourne Victory:
Michael Theoklitos (gk), 3 Daniel Piorkowski, 6 Steve Pantelidis (Sarkies 45), 8 Fred, 9 Daniel Allsopp (Alessandro 84), 10 Archie Thompson, 12 Rodrigo Vargas, 14 Adrian Caceres (Byrnes 89) 15 Adrian Leijer, 16 Simon Storey, 17 Grant Brebner. Subs not used: Eugene Galekovic, 18 Alessandro. Yellow Cards: Brebner (32), Adrian Leijer (60).

•  Have a view on this story? Send us your feedback!