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Robbed last weekend, the Melbourne Heart donned balaclavas and gloves to pinch a belated maiden A-League victory at AAMI Park on Saturday night.
The Heart bounced back from their gut-wrenching late draw with Perth six days earlier to trump North Queensland Fury 1-0.
Midfielder Nick Kalmar’s 11th minute goal gave the competition newcomers an unconvincing win as they were dominated by the Fury for long periods in an entertaining match.
But it was hard to begrudge the Heart some luck after the controversial late penalty awarded to Perth striker Michael Baird stifled celebrations and snatched away three points last week.
Heart goalkeeper Clint Bolton was exceptional, making an important save in each half to deny the Fury, who also shot themselves in the foot with two head-shaking first half misses.
Heart coach John van ‘t Schip paid tribute to his side’s willingness to work hard despite disappointing results in the first five matches and a poor first half against the Fury.
“The first half was one of our performances that I was not satisfied about, but I think the second half was a lot better,” van ‘t Schip said.
“We have to get more consistency. It is a good quality we have in the group to turn (a game) around.
“We have a fighting spirit and we showed that today by defending the 1-0.”
North Queensland played far more fluent football and could have been ahead as early as five minutes in when striker Eugene Sseppuya (Sseppuya) was put one-on-one with Bolton, but inexplicably shot metres wide.
Despite the Fury’s brighter start, the Heart struck first when Kalmar ghosted in at the far post to head home a Rutger Worm cross.
They nearly went two goals up 60 seconds later when striker Alex Terra’s nimble work on the right set up Matt Thompson for a powerful volley well saved by Fury keeper Justin Pasfield.
For the rest of the half, the Heart battened down the hatches in pouring rain against a Fury side in full attacking flight.
Bolton’s intervention just touched the ball far enough from Fury skipper Gareth Edds as he appeared just a metre out with the goal begging.
Then in the 28th minute, Isaka Cernak squandered the Fury’s second golden opportunity to equalise.
Bolton also produced a great save just before the hour to deny a thundering Edds volley – the Fury’s best second half chance.
The home side eventually hung on to the delight of the 4000-plus crowd who braved miserable weather conditions to attend.
Fury assistant coach Stuart McLaren felt his side had been “robbed” despite playing high quality football, especially in the first hour.
“We can be very proud of how the lads played. All that was missing was the finishing, especially the gilt-edged ones in the first half,” he said.
The Heart now clamber away from the bottom of the table – just behind the Fury but above crosstown rivals Melbourne Victory on goal difference.
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