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Melbourne Victory have won the Premier’s Plate for the third time in their history with a 3-1 victory over the Central Coast Mariners.
MELBOURNE 3
CENTRAL COAST 1
Playing a full strength squad, in front of a strong Victory faithful, Melbourne would seal the Premiership with goals to Archie Thompson, Besart Berisha, and Daniel Georgievski.
Despite a goal to Eddy Bosnar, just before the half time break, the Victory were in cruise control for most of the game.
After Sydney FC won 2-1 in Wellington, against the Phoenix, all Melbourne needed was a win or a point to seal the title.
Only a 7-0 loss would have stopped them today.
The Victory didn’t want to tempt fate, and started well, as they looked to end the regular season on a high.
They got the perfect start with plenty of shots in the first few minute.
Melbourne peppered the Mariners but couldn’t find a way through.
To the Mariners credit they were able to hold out for over 30 minutes against the number 1 attack in the league.
On 32 minutes, that changed, as Daniel Georgievski got onto a pass from Besart Berisha to score the opening goal.
Berisha was able to hold the ball nicely and pass to his defender who lined up the goal right in the top corner.
Two minutes later they would score again to almost wrap up the game.
From a corner Gui Finkler was able to find Archie Thompson who flicked the ball into the net.
This handed Melbourne a 2-0 lead which was reduced to one right before half time.
Eddy Bosnar was able to get a wicked deflection from a free kick which would go into the net.
At half time it was 2-1 but that would only last for two more minutes after half time.
Besart Berisha, who has led the scoring for Melbourne Victory this season, scored his 13th goal of the season to end the match.
Despite chances to the Mariners throughout, they couldn’t get the vital second goal, which would get them back into the match.
The 3-1 loss ended the career of John Hutchinson who played 228 games for the Mariners.
In the 64th minute Matt Simon was also given his last minutes in a Mariner shirt.
He won’t be at the club next season and ended his Mariner career with 151 matches and 41 goals.
Simon will hold the record for the most goals at the club as well.
The Mariners will also finish the season in 8th and look to build a campaign for the final in 2015/16.
For the Victory, the finals await.
They will face the lowest ranked winner from Round 1 of the finals in a preliminary final in two weeks time.
The club and the fans will now be looking at winning the double.
Melbourne Victory have the chance to wrap up the Premier’s Plate when they face the Central Coast Mariners at AAMI Park in the final match of the regular season today. Join The Roar for a live blog of the match from 5:00pm AEST.
A draw or a win by the Victory would seal their 3rd Premiership and be the first A-League club to achieve the feat.
They may not need to do anything at all if Wellington defeat or draw to Sydney FC in the earlier match today.
Even if Sydney FC win, they would need to put about seven goals past Wellington, to win the Premiership for themselves.
They would also need to rely on a Central Coast win to record an unlikely victory. Unless a pig flies over AAMI Park today, the Victory should seal the premiership crown.
How Kevin Muscat goes into this match will be fascinating. With a week off in the first week of the finals he may opt to play a full strength squad today and rest them next week.
He may choose to rest some players, and play others, as well. It will be interesting to see what he does.
They have named a full strength squad with only Nathan Coe injured for the Victory. Dylan Murnane and Jesse Makarounas have been included in the squad and are the only changes so far to the team.
For the Mariners they are playing for pride today with their spot in 8th locked up at the start of the weekend.
They will be looking to farewell John Hutchinson in the perfect way, with a win, as the Maltese international retires from football.
After 227 appearances, which will be 228 today, Hutchinson retires with the record as the most capped player in the League.
He is also a two-time premiership player and a championship winner with the Mariners. He will also retire with the most matches played by a Mariner player.
Hutchinson has been a wonderful servant to the competition and will be missed by the league.
The Mariners have made three changes with Matt Sim, Fabio Ferreira, and Adam Pearce, promoted to the squad.
Liam Reddy has been suspended for the match. In recent form between the two, Melbourne has had the dominance, with four straight wins over the Mariners.
I expect that to continue even if they put out a weakened squad for the clash. They should wrap up the Premier Plate and end the season in style.
Prediction: Melbourne Victory 2-0
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