A nine-man North Queensland Fury have hung on for a 2-2 draw with the Melbourne Victory in one of the most controversial A-League games in history at AAMI Park on Sunday afternoon.
In a drama filled encounter, Kevin Muscat scored both of the Victory’s goals from the penalty spot, whilst Eugene Sseppuya and Chris Payne scored for the Fury. Referee Chris Boyle took centre stage though, awarding three penalties, sending off two players and booking another two for simulation.
Melbourne Victory should have taken all three points, but poor finishing in front of goal and some fantastic saves from Fury keeper Justin Pasfield kept the scores level.
North Queensland started off the better of the two sides, and in the 15th minute they took an early lead. A rather soft free kick was awarded against Leijer, and after a goal mouth scramble from a dangerous ball, Sseppuya fumbled the ball past the Victory defence.
Victory searched for an equaliser and the game turned on it’s head in the 29th minute when Chris Grossman brought down Robbie Kruse in the box, earning himself a red card. Kevin Muscat then blasted the ball right down the middle, scoring Melbourne Victory’s first ever goal at new home ground AAMI Park.
From then on the Victory dominated the game.
Melbourne created more chances, and should have taken the lead right on the stroke of half time. Dugandzic won the ball in the midfield and laid the ball off to Kruse whose initial shot was blocked, and his second fell straight into the feet of Tom Pondeljak who somehow missed an open goal from right in front. Much to the disbelief of the 13,318 crowd.
In the second half, Kruse and Dugandzic both had penalty shouts turned down and were booked for simulation. Victory were awarded a second penalty in the 75th minute when Osama Malik brought down new signing Geoff Kellaway right on the edge of the area. Muscat had no problems slotting away his second of the game, and the Victory looked like taking all three points.
But Boyle awarded another penalty in the 80th minute, this time to the Fury which extraordinarily gave North Queensland the chance to equalise. Diogo Ferriera was penalised for what appeared to be holding inside the box.
It sparked a bizarre encounter between Eric Akoto and Kevin Muscat, who pushed down the Victory skipper and earnt himself a red card as well.
Chris Payne then converted the penalty, which rather undeservedly brought the Fury level.
Melbourne Victory pushed for a winner, and Justin Pasfield saved the Fury with a number of fantastic stops in the final minutes of the game, including a brilliant strike from Carlos Hernandez.
In injury time, Rodrigo Vargas was denied again by Pasfield. Leijer had the best opportunity of all with a stunning flying header which just flew past the far post.
It means Melbourne are still winless after their first three matches, whilst the Fury are undefeated.
Knuckles
Roar Rookie
I think i would rather see Julia Gillard naked than watch the fury play and i have http://petalac.blog-city.com/julia_gillard_naked_photo.htm she looks like Robbie in drag.
Rellum
Roar Guru
The Hearts first game had 11000, and that was with both side upper decks closed. So based on what I saw yesterday, with a decent amount of people sitting in those same areas, there must have been more than 13000.
Axel V
Guest
Melbourne's crowds have been falling since season 3. I'm not exactly as to sure what the reason is. Last season, despite a very successful season, it was the Victories lowest crowd average since they left Olympic Park. The average fell to 20,000. from 27,000 in season 3. The Bubbledome is a magnificent stadium, only problem is that the reserved seating is a big pain. At the moment, 18,000 seats are reserved for members, meanwhile it's 8000 for corporate? that Leaves 4,000 tickets for the GA. It seems like there are alot of wasted seats, reserved seating should have never happened, as members can no longer bring their friends to the games and sit with them. And even without this, the crowds have been falling anyway. Hopefully things will pick up, but it could be a sign of things to come.
Axel V
Guest
I don't understand, why is it that the amount of beeps that go into the stadium a mystery??? same happened last week too. From TV, the stadium looked half full, maybe slightly less than, half full = 15,000 , slightly less of 13,000 seems believable.
Axel V
Guest
"looked to me to be outside the box" You are half right, but Kellaway was fouled twice in the 1 challenge, 1st time was just outside, second foul was inside the box. And as for Muscat bashing, that is nothing new. Unless you are Melbournian or you have a sense of humour, you either love him or hate him! ;) The hate is in the majority. The match itself was chaotic, impossible for any ref to get everything right. Video replays on TV only added to confusion, the commentators never agreed on anything.
kman
Guest
13000 is definitely wrong. looked closer to 20000
chris mackinnon
Guest
north queensland fury was seen as a basket case team at the start of the season, from what i have seen they have youth there quick and playing exciting football. the football shown by the victory and the heart especially specifies the crap football that is boring to watch. muscat your antics get over it mate. at the moment victory need to rebuild side they win games in the a league because alot of the goals in the a league are from poor defending. when they play in the asian champions league they get smashed. the teams playing with most flair and excitement hopefully play well all season such as fury, wellington phoenix and glory
pike64
Guest
Muscat's behavior in this game typifies Muscat's behavior on the pitch generally. It is why I have crossed over to the Heart
Victer
Guest
The Fury have heart, that's for sure.
betty b
Guest
I think you should put your glasses on David, and give us a balanced (not biased) report. Fury deserve lots of accolades for their fantastic spirit and outstanding defence near goal. Victory were lucky to get that second penalty; looked to me to be outside the box. Muscat is a poor loser (most ungraceful post match interview I've heard in decades). His actions causing Akoto's send off need to be investigated. A great game. Right result.
con
Guest
i also thought it was more than 13k. 15-16 at least. but i gotta admit the timing wasnt the best, just like with afl, games early on a sunday arent the best. not too worried tho, good stadium, good atmosphere, terrible refereeing
whatever
Guest
there was a fantastic atmosphere in the stadium, prob close to min of 15000 people there. With sunday club games almost over for the season expect them to be back up for the next game.
Phil H
Guest
Struggle for crowds during AFL season but even so it was a disappointing turn-out. If Victory has 18,000 - 20,000 members then I can't understand why they are not turning up to claim their seats - unless their first love is AFL. I thought it looked more like 17,000 and there was a good atmosphere in the stadium.
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
They are having some problems with the ticketing. Last weeks crowd figure had to be revised too so I wouldn't read much into it because on TV their looked to be plenty of people there.
Trent from Punchy
Guest
Lowest Melbourne crowd since season one... things are really taking off at the Bubbledome! I though it was going to be sold out every week? Guess letting a second team in has just led to two teams with poor crowds rather than one with good crowds. I note with interest that both the Fury and Perth games got higher crowds last year at Etihad.