By Guy Hand
October 25th 2009 @ 1:40am
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Victory make it eight straight against Reds
Melbourne Victory have continued their torment of arch-rivals Adelaide United, posting an eighth consecutive A-League win over the Reds at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.
The Victory ran out 3-1 winners – youngster Mate Dugandzic scoring twice for the home side.
On a ground Adelaide have lost two grand finals, they were on the backfoot early when Dugandzic slotted home an intelligent pass from Thai striker Sutee Suksomkit in the 18th minute to put Melbourne one-up.
Guest player Suksomkit impressed on debut, linking well with Socceroo Archie Thompson as the Victory dominated the first half.
But the start of the second half was a different story, with United more enterprising and unlucky to fall two goals down against the run of play in the 56th minute.
Victory fullback Matthew Kemp’s sweet long ball unlocked the Reds, freeing midfielder Carlos Hernandez to pass across the face of goal for Dugandzic to tap in and cap off a memorable match.
Adelaide then spent the next 20 minutes asking serious questions of the Victory – clawing one back when Adam Hughes turned and shot home in the 64th minute.
But the Victory rallied and finished off the Reds with two minutes left – centre-back Adrian Leijer heading home from a corner.
The result puts Melbourne top of the table until at least Sunday, when Gold Coast and Sydney FC have the chance to go ahead should either win their matches against Wellington and Brisbane respectively.
Victory coach Ernie Merrick felt it was his side’s best 90 minutes of the season, and was particularly pleased with how they managed to compose themselves after Adelaide scored.
Melbourne also had a couple of late chances through Thompson, forcing two excellent saves from Reds keeper Eugene Galekovic.
“I think we could have scored a couple more and it’s hard to control a game for 90 minutes,” Merrick said.
“When they scored there’s always going to be that 10 or 15-minute spell when it’s give and take but we bounced straight back … it was a very impressive performance.”
Reds coach Aurelio Vidmar was philosophical after yet another defeat by the Victory.
“There was a positive tonight – we scored,” he quipped.
“But we started poorly – one team wanted to win, the other just came to play.
“We turned it around in the second half, but by then it was far too late.”
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