Melbourne Victory manager Kevin Muscat was ecstatic after his side’s third game in eight days ended in a thrilling 3-2 win on Saturday night against Perth Glory, thanks to a Kosta Barbarouses’ late winner.
It appeared Diego Castro had rescued a point for a brave Glory with a delicate lob over Victory keeper Mat Acton after 83 minutes to make it 2-2 at a rainy AAMI Park.
But Victory wasn’t to be denied, continuing to press for a winner and man of the match Leroy George provided the beautiful long-ball assist for All White Kosta Barbarouses to slot home to make it 3-2 in the 90th minute.
Victory now are on 23 points and move up to fourth on the A-League ladder (fifth-placed Adelaide on 21 points play on Sunday).
“I would’ve liked it to have been a little easier but there was a lot to like about our performance and really pleased for the group that we ended up getting that late winner,” Muscat told Fox Sports.
“We spoke during the week about resilience and being ruthless and it would’ve been easy to have dropped our heads when we copped Glory’s equaliser.
“But to get on the ball and to play another peach of a pass [by Leroy George], and this time Kosta [Barbarouses] rewarded Leroy for the efforts and precision of the pass.”Victory have defeated the men from Western Australia for the third time in succession; marking their best run of results in the history of this fixture.
And Muscat paid tribute to man-of-the-match Leroy George, his assist King, who was everywhere for the home side.
“I said to him after the game if we score every one of the chances you created… it’s not possible to do that but he’s creating an abundance of chances,” Muscat said.
George took his assists tally to the season to 10 and he now has at least four more than the next highest performer in this category.
George’s three assists in this match was also a joint-high for the season.
