Melbourne Victory earned bragging rights and propelled themselves into the A-League top six with a comprehensive 3-1 win over crosstown rivals Melbourne Heart at AAMI Park on Saturday night.
Two Robbie Kruse goals, a watertight defensive performance and a mighty ball-winning effort in midfield spearheaded the Victory to a comfortable triumph – their first in six matches.
In front of more than 23,000, the Victory ensured an attacking contest with a goal after just 12 minutes.
Fullback Surat Sukha, who was outstanding, won the ball in midfield then kicked off a neat move through usual suspects Carlos Hernandez and Archie Thompson for Kruse to edge in with the deftest of touches.
But the Heart equalised for their first goal in more than seven and a half hours soon after – an outrageous free-kick from Gerald Sibon.
The Dutchman put a wicked bend on a 20-metre free-kick, completely fooling Victory goalkeeper Michael Petkovic to find room between him and his post and earn a spot on this season’s A-League highlights reel.
The Victory retook the lead on 28 minutes after a defensive error from Heart’s Matt Thompson, who failed to control a regulation ball and watched in horror as Kruse swooped for his 10th goal in 13 matches.
Melbourne Heart’s best chances to equalise came just after halftime, with midfielders Wayne Srhoj and Nick Kalmar just missing with their attempts.
Then the Victory found a third in the 54th minute to put the match beyond doubt.
Thompson was again involved, supplying a neat cross for Adrian Leijer to bundle in from close range.
While the Heart hit the bar twice from long-range, the Victory were always in control and never looked like losing.
It was the Heart’s sixth loss in their past seven matches, and comes at the price of another injury with Sibon suffering a hamstring strain.
Victory coach Ernie Merrick was pleased with a win he rated one of his club’s most satisfying of the season.
“It was a game we played for the full 93 minutes, our defence was rock-solid from midfield, and Krusey did a job up front,” Merrick said.
“I made a point of saying to the players before the game the tendency with derbies is to get too emotional, to get too involved in hard, tough defensive play and we wanted to avoid that.
“Tonight was about playing a really good brand of attacking football, it wasn’t about the negative aspects of a derby match and I thought our boys did that to a tee.”
Heart coach John van ‘t Schip believed his side matched the Victory in most aspects, but not in front of goal and importantly when their errors gifted their rivals the opening two goals.
“We definitely were not outplayed, more giving the goals away cheaply,” van ‘t Schip said.
“I don’t think we played badly at all, but you don’t get points for that.”
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