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Two depleted sides will face off at AAMI Park tonight as Melbourne Victory seek to maintain the six-point gap between themselves and Newcastle Jets. We’ll have live scores and commentary from 5.00pm AEDT.
Both sides are fielding somewhat weaker squad,s with news that Victory captain Marco Flores will miss the game due to injury, although striker Archie Thompson returns after an extended absence.
For Newcastle, top scorers Emile Heskey and Ryan Griffiths will both not be on the field, with Griffiths having requested and received an immediate release from the club this week to play for Chinese club Beijing Baxy.
Heskey and fellow Englishman Michael Bridges will be rested.
Melbourne Victory sits on 36 points and in fourth place, six points clear of Newcastle. Should the Jets manage an away victory, they’ll halve the gap on the table and distance themselves from the cluster of teams battling for the fifth and sixth spot.
Last time these two teams matched up, over 20,000 fans came to AAMI Park to see the Victory hold off a Jets comeback to win 3-2, with a brace to Marco Rojas. Rojas proved to be the difference in a game that was an even match-up in terms of chances created.
Victory’s form in the last few weeks has been anything but positive – they’ve had three straight losses, capped last week with a 6-2 trouncing by the Central Coast Mariners.
Melbourne’s defence has not been strong all season, and a report in the Herald Sun this week pointed out that no team has ever had such a poor defensive record (38 goals conceded in 22 games) and gone on to win the A-League.
Over the last seven weeks Newcastle have had four draws and has struggled to score, however they managed to win 2-1 over Wellington on Wednesday night (the game was brought forward from round 26 due to New Zealand’s 2014 World Cup qualifying schedule).
Tonight’s match will be the second of a stretch of three games in only ten days, and we can expect their fitness to be tested.
Keep an eye on Jets forward Adam Taggart, who scored his first goal for Newcastle on Wednesday night and will shoulder the load up front with Heskey, Bridges and Griffiths all out of the game.
Victory fans should look to old faithful Archie Thompson and the A-League’s fourth highest scorer Marco Rojas to feature in a game that the Victory should win.
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