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A look-away headed goal from defender Rody Vargas highlighted a 2-1 win over Queensland Roar which took Melbourne Victory to the top of the A-League ladder.
The potent Victory attack was blanketed by the quality Roar defence throughout the first half on Friday night at Telstra Dome, with Melbourne having only a few half-chances before the interval.
But the Roar were not showing much attacking intent, seemingly content to go to the break with the scores level.
A Serginho Van Dijk header which went over the crossbar in the ninth minute was their only real chance of the first half.
Victory coach Ernie Merrick was clearly frustrated at the stalemate, making his first substitution in the 33rd minute and another at halftime to try to spark his side.
But it took a precision combination between Melbourne star strike pair Danny Allsopp and Archie Thompson in the 55th minute to break the deadlock.
Midfielder Carlos Hernandez passed to Thompson on the right side of the box, with Thompson cutting in, then spearing a sharp low pass past two defenders to the feet of Allsopp at the near post.
Allsopp’s crisp first touch from close range sent the ball into the net before keeper Liam Reddy could dive forward and smother it.
With that score forcing Queensland out of their shells, room started to open up for the Victory to create more chances and 12 minutes later Vargas made it 2-0.
Roar defender Andrew Packer brought down Nick Ward to give away a free kick just outside the box.
Billy Celeski’s free kick looped over the Queensland defensive wall, and Vargas showed great awareness and timing to step backwards and head the ball behind him into the net.
The Roar gave themselves a chance of gaining something from the match, when skipper Craig Moore scored in the 75th minute.
It was a straightforward header for the Socceroos veteran, after he was left completely unmarked at the far post from a Matthew McKay corner kick.
But it was Melbourne who did nearly all of the attacking from that point, Thompson narrowly failing to convert three chances in as many minutes close to fulltime.
The Roar, who had scored last-gasp winners in their past two games, had one last roll of the dice in injury time, Mitchell Nichols forcing a reflex diving save from Victory keeper Michael Theoklitos with a fierce long-range shot moments before the final whistle.
Roar coach Frank Farina said Vargas should never have been on the field to score his goal.
He said Vargas should have been sent off for a two-footed tackle on Massimo Murdocca in the 18th minute, for which he received a yellow card.
“I would like to see it again, but live it didn’t look good … if that was (Roar player) Danny Tiatto as long as my backside points to the ground, he would have got a red card,” Farina said.
He also revealed referee Peter O’Leary was ready to call the game off beforehand because of the state of the pitch, after a New Year’s Eve dance party staged two nights earlier.
But both Victory coach Ernie Merrick and Farina intervened to ensure the game went ahead.
“It would have been much worse if the game wasn’t to go ahead tonight, I think that would have been scandalous … the reality is it wasn’t that bad in terms to play on,” Farina said.
There were large worn brown patches and players from both sides said they also found small pieces of debris on the grass.
Merrick also said the condition of the pitch was “unacceptable”.
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