Victory grabs point in Korea

Melbourne Victory salvaged some pride from their disappointing Asian Champions League campaign with a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Chunnam Dragons at Gwangyang Stadium tonight.

New Victory signing Tom Pondeljak gave his side a surprise early lead after just five minutes, bending in a goal from 20 metres with his right foot.

But from that point the Victory were put under heavy pressure from Chunnam, who needed to win tonight to keep their slim hopes of qualifying for the next stage of the competition alive.

Victory goalkeeper Michael Theoklitos kept his side in it with several important saves, before he was caught napping on 37 minutes for Chunnam’s equaliser.

Striker Ko Ki-Gu’s mis-hit cross from the left floated over Theoklitos and dropped into the net.

Chunnam suffered from a lack of invention in the second half, and those raids that did find a way though Melbourne’s solid defence were cleaned up by Theoklitos.

Melbourne even had two good chances to pinch all three points.

In the 51st minute, striker Danny Allsopp had an initial shot saved before shooting the rebound wide.

Then Allsopp had a chance to win the match in injury time, but put his reflex header over the bar.

The draw ends Chunnam’s hopes of qualifying for the second stage of the competition, with the Dragons needing a win tonight to keep their chances alive of catching Group G leader Gamba Osaka.

But for Melbourne, who sit at the bottom of the group with just one win and tonight’s draw from five matches, promising signs from new signing Pondeljak and the return of Costa Rican midfielder Carlos Hernandez were positives.

Hernandez, who has missed the entire Champions League campaign with a knee injury, came on a substitute for the last 20 minutes and looked sharp and inventive.

The Victory’s final ACL match will be against Thailand’s Chonburi FC on May 21 at Telstra Dome in Melbourne.