John Greco

6 years ago

The crazy stats and records behind Victory and Roar’s six-goal thriller

Melbourne Victory emerged from one of the craziest halves of football ever seen in the Hyundai A-League smelling like roses.

Kevin Muscat’s side put 10-man Brisbane Roar to the sword on Friday night, hammering in four opening half goals to clinch their sixth win on the trot.

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After starting the season with back-to-back defeats, Victory is now on their second-best winning streak in club history – and are four wins away from equalling the record of 10 straight set by Western Sydney Wanderers in 2013.

A_League streaks

And the opening 45 minutes at Suncorp Stadium had a bit of everything, with six goals, two penalties, a red card, an own goal and incredible goal-line clearances.

Here’s some of the incredible records to fall in one of the Hyundai A-League’s classic matches.

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Raining goals at Suncorp

You couldn’t take your eyes off the action at Suncorp because if you did, there was a good chance you probably missed a goal.

In fact, only once before in the Hyundai A-League has there been more goals scored in the opening 45 minutes than there was on Friday night, as Victory took a 4-2 lead to the break.

While the six goals in Brisbane had fans on the edge of their seat, there was another Hyundai A-League game that saw seven goals scored in the first half.

 

Interestingly, Roar were also involved in that fixture against Perth Glory at nib Stadium in February 2016.

On that wild night in the west, Glory led 4-3 at half-time on the way to a thrilling 6-3 victory.

https://players.brightcove.net/5519514571001/default_default/index.html?videoId=5979517715001

Bautheac’s brisk brain snap

Roar playmaker Eric Bautheac went close to setting a couple of records of his own, but for all the wrong reasons.

The fired-up Frenchman gave his side a mountain to climb by getting himself sent-off midway through the opening stanza.

Bautheac was sent off for two bookable offences, first for a challenge on Victory’s Corey Brown, before another for an incident involving Ola Toivonen.

Astonishingly, there were just 84 seconds between the first and second yellow card shown to Bautheac.

That was the shortest amount of time between two bookings to one player since Jets winger Jason Hoffman achieved the [unwanted] feat in just 42 seconds.

And his dismissal in the 21st minute is the quickest any player has been sent off for two yellows in four years.

Toivonen joins selected goal-scoring group

It was quite an eventful night for Victory’s towering Swedish striker.

Not only was Toivonen involved in the red card incident and on the end of some physical challenges from the hosts, he also had a big contribution on the scoresheet.

Toivonen continued his excellent start to life at Victory by scoring their second goal of the night, just minutes after Roar had equalised through Adam Taggart.

https://players.brightcove.net/5519514571001/default_default/index.html?videoId=5979502495001

But the 32-year-old also played a part in getting the hosts back into the contest by putting the ball past his own keeper in Lawrence Thomas at the other end.

In doing so, Toivonen joins a select few players to have scored both for and against his team in the same game.

Kosta’s deadly December

While Victory’s imports Keisuke Honda and Ola Toivonen have been generating plenty of headlines, there’s another overseas star playing a key role in their incredible form.

New Zealand international Kosta Barbarouses is having a December to remember.

In just two games this month, the pacy attacker has been directly involved in more goals (scoring or assists) than any other player.

 

https://players.brightcove.net/5519514571001/default_default/index.html?videoId=5979503488001

The pass masters

Victory’s numerical advantage meant they had a stranglehold on possession for much of the night.

The Big V attempted 743 passes over the 90 minutes, the fourth-most of any side in any match since Opta Data started keeping those figures back in the 2012/13 Season.

Of those 743 attempts, 662 were completed which is the second-most ever by any side in that time.

It was a big weekend for passing in the Hyundai A-League with Sydney FC also dominating in their clash against a 10-man Western Sydney Wanderers.

The Sky Blues attempted one more pass than Victory (744) but completed one less (661).

Sydney FC midfielder Josh Brillante set a Hyundai A-League record by having 167 touches against the Wanderers, the most-ever, with Corey Brown’s 129 for Victory the most by any player for the club.

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