The sacking of coach Ernie Merrick has not changed Melbourne Victory’s Asian Champions League fortunes, with the club losing 2-1 to South Korea’s Jeju United at Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night.
Two-time A-League championship coach Merrick was cut on Saturday, after overseeing a 5-1 thrashing by Gamba Osaka in Victory’s first group match.
But they were outclassed again under caretaker Mehmet Durakovic, leaving little hope of reaching the ACL knockout stages for the first time in three attempts.
Aside from one early botched half-chance to Melbourne striker Danny Allsopp, the visitors dominated the first 30 minutes.
Victory were lucky that Jeju had several near-misses among their frequent, early attacking moves.
The most fortunate escape came in the 20th minute, when a Jeju goal-bound shot ricocheted off the shoulder of Melbourne’s Marvin Angulo, on the line.
It appeared a matter of time until Jeju scored, but instead Allsopp capitalised first from a rare Victory chance.
It was beautifully-constructed, starting with a clever intercept by captain Adrian Leijer.
He passed to Tom Pondeljak, who threaded it to Archie Thompson in the box, the striker laying off to fellow frontman Allsopp, who sidestepped the defence, then netted a left-footer.
Victory’s lead lasted just four minutes, before their customary vulnerability at set pieces surfaced – a failed corner clearance allowing Jeju’s Park Hyunbem a simple finish.
The second half started like the first, with `keeper Michael Petkovic kept busy.
The veteran had enough tentative moments for the small crowd of 4,825 to cheer at one point when he took a ball cleanly.
Still, Melbourne almost regained the lead after a clever through-ball from substitute Carlos Hernandez found Thompson one-out with the `keeper, but the star striker’s 61st-minute shot rolled wide.
Eventually Jeju’s attack capitalised on their control, Lee Hyunho receiving a cross between veteran Victory defenders Kevin Muscat and Matthew Kemp in the 84th minute, to seal the win which left Melbourne last in their group.
Durakovic said his team played well given the limited time he had to prepare them.
“I couldn’t be any prouder of them, they gave it all they got,” he said.
“Two mistakes and two goals, another set piece we should have cleared, it’s a bit hard to take.”
He said reaching the next stage remained achievable and having three weeks until their next match would help.
Jeju coach Park Gyeong Hoon said he was very happy to win, particularly as his team played just a few days earlier in their domestic league and were missing some of their best players to injury and suspension.
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