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Narrow win for Victory in ACL qualifier

15th February, 2014
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Melbourne Victory did it the hard way before scraping past Thai team Muangthong United and into the group stage of the Asian Champions League with a 2-1 win at Kardinia Park on Saturday night.

The Victory went behind to a bizarre goal scored directly from a corner, had skipper Mark Milligan’s penalty saved on the stroke of halftime and had to rely on a late and spectacular winner from the unlikely figure of Leigh Broxham to seal the win.

Victory’s other goal was scored by James Troisi in the 58th minute, although he missed a host of other chances.

Muangthong had looked a club in turmoil in the buildup to Saturday night’s match, with conflicting reports regarding the future of their English coach Scott Cooper.

They were also forced to play without their North Korean international defender Ri Kwang-chon, who was denied an Australian visa.

But the Thai team played their part in an entertaining encounter, only for Broxham to steal the win for Melbourne with a long-range strike in the 83rd minute which was deflected in by Muangthong defender Thitiphan Puangjan.

“In the end it was a performance deserving of a victory,” said Melbourne coach Kevin Muscat.

“It was only a matter of time.

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“I was convinced at halftime that if we tightened up a few things defensively instead of gifting them half-chances and gifting them opportunities, there was no way we could have gone another 45 minutes knocking the door down without scoring a goal.

“And translating that belief into the players was pretty easy because they were just as confident as myself.”

The Victory started the match brightly with the impressive Tom Rogic pulling the strings in midfield.

But it was the visitors who went ahead against the run of play in the 22nd minute when Macedonian international Mario Durovski scored direct from a corner, with his curling effort evading defender Scott Galloway at the near post and goalkeeper Nathan Coe.

The Victory were gifted a golden opportunity to equalise on the stroke of halftime when they were awarded a penalty after Archie Thompson was hacked down in the box.

But Milligan – back in the starting lineup after recovering from a knee injury – had his penalty saved by goalkeeper Tossapol Lated diving low to his left.

Teerasil Dangda should have doubled Muangthong’s advantage two minutes into the second half, only to have his shot blocked by Coe.

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Victory finally got back onto level terms in the 58th minute when Troisi timed his run perfectly to head home Galloway’s pin-point cross.

The Thai side continued to look dangerous, with English forward Jay Bothroyd drawing another good save from Coe in the 63rd minute.

Broxham saved Melbourne’s blushes with his 83rd-minute winner, only seconds after Thompson and Milligan had both gone close to scoring for the home side.

Muangthong skipper Datsakorn Thonglao was sent off in injury time for headbutting Broxham as the Victory advanced to the group stage of the ACL for the fourth time in their history.

Their next match is away to Guangzhou Evergrande from China on February 26.

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