Melbourne Victory fell to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Brisbane Roar in the third round Foxtel National Youth league encounter at Lakeside stadium on Saturday.
Melbourne Victory 1 (2′ Jordan Maclean)
Brisbane Roar 2 (15′ Devante Clut, 73′ Kofi Danning)
Played at Lakeside Stadium, Albert Park.
Victory were missing several A-League players who were part of last weekend’s win over Perth Glory, with Jordan Brown, Andrew Nabbout, Jesse Makarounas and Rashid Mahazi all named in the Hyundai A-League squad for Monday night’s clash with Wellington at AAMI Park.
The omissions didn’t seem to hinder Victory in the early stages as they started the stronger of the two sides.
After some early pressing, Jordon O’Doherty forced a turnover in midfield, slid the ball to an unmarked John Maclean who scored with his first time shot in the 2nd minute.
Darren Davies’ boys controlled the play for the opening 10-15 minutes, hemming Brisbane into their half with some strong pressing, reminiscent of the A-League side.
This produced immediate results as another turnover in midfield fell to Anthony Duzel on the edge of the box, however a desperate Brisbane defender blocked his strike.
This trend continued moments later as Victory striker George Howard was put in behind the Brisbane defence after a turnover in midfield, his strong left footed strike produced the first save of the match.
Brisbane were always going to be a threat and this proved the case in the 15th minute when Corey Brown broke down the left wing and crossed to Devante Clut, who scored with his follow up attempt after his first strike was blocked.
Victory thought they had the quick reply in the 19th minute when after a quick Christopher Cristaldo break and attempt on goal, the ball fell to striker George Howard who tucked it home. However the goal was disallowed as Howard was incorrectly adjudged to have been offside in the build up.
Brisbane began to gain the ascendency towards the end of the first half with A-League capped players Corey Brown and Devante Clut controlling the match.
After a long spell in the Victory half, Brisbane created their next best chance in the 39th minute when a low cross fell to the feet of Captain Benjamin Litfin on the edge of the 6-yard box, however he miss-controlled the ball into his hand and the chance was lost.
Just before the end of the first half Cristopher Cristaldo had an opportunity to put Victory ahead after an error from the Brisbane keeper, however his shot could only find the side netting.
After a strong downpour of rain at half time it was Melbourne pouring on the pressure at the start of the second half, this produced the first chance of the half to O’Doherty, who’s low shot was saved by the keeper.
This seemed to spur Roar back into action as they again wrestled control of the match, their best early chance fell to former Sydney F.c speedster Kofi Danning, however his shot flew well over the goal.
But Danning made up for his earlier miss, netting the eventual winner in the 73rd minute when a cross found him unmarked in the middle of the 18-yard box, Danning calmly tapped it in to put Brisbane ahead.
Both sides were reduced to long shots for the remainder of the match, but neither could find the back of the net as the match came to a close.
Melbourne Victory’s Foxtel National Youth League side hosts its next home match at Lakeside Stadium on Saturday, November 15 against Melbourne City. Entry is free to all Victory NYL home games this season.
