Acton laments Victory’s slow start in Big Blue defeat

Melbourne Victory goalkeeper Matt Acton says his side paid dearly for a lacklustre start to an otherwise solid display in a 1-0 loss to Sydney FC on Tuesday night.

Acton was the star of the show in Tuesday night’s Big Blue at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, but ended the game on the losing side after an early Sydney goal decided the hard-fought contest.

Bobô netted in the sixth minute of play to put the home side ahead, and that’s how the score remained until the final whistle.

Between the sixth and 90th minute, however, Acton made nine saves to keep his team in reach of a point. The woodwork denied Victory forward Lleyton Brooks in the second half, but that was all the 11th-placed outfit could muster in terms of dangerous chances as the Sky Blues clinched a 1-0 win.

Speaking to FOX Sports post-match, Acton lamented his side’s inability to remain switched on from the first whistle to the last, as a potential point went begging at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium.

“I think it would have been a good game to watch for the neutral,” Acton said.

“We had our chances, and just unfortunate not to take them. We take one or two of those, and it’s a different game.

“Obviously disappointing to lose the game, but I think we can hold our heads high.”

MATCH REPORT: Sydney FC 1-0 Melbourne Victory

https://players.brightcove.net/5519514571001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6250667822001

Acton added: “we felt out there we were building into the game as the first half went on nicely.

“It’s just disappointing to give them that goal so early on in the game.

You can’t give Sydney goals and expect to be in the game, so it’s obviously disappointing the way we started in those first sort of ten or fifteen minutes.

“But the words at half time – it wasn’t a rocket or anything – it was just ‘hang in there and we’ll get our chances’.

“Unfortunately tonight we couldn’t take them.”

In a performance which broke away from the recent pattern of late collapses, Victory were exposed in the opening stages of the contest before running a tight ship defensively to the final whistle.

In the last 15 minutes of Victory’s two most recent games – a 7-0 loss to Melbourne City and 5-4 win over Western Sydney Wanderers – the Melbourne outfit conceded a combined seven goals. That trend came to an end against the Sky Blues as Acton combined with a solid defensive line to put on a performance offering encouragement for the future.

Speaking to the press post-match, interim Victory head coach Steve Kean praised Acton for his efforts in a team resistant to cracking under pressure against the Sky Blues.

“He’s made big saves in big times to keep us in the game,” Kean said.

“That’s another message we said: stay in the game. You never know, at the end we could get something, so Matty kept us in it.

“I thought defensively we looked okay, but Matty had a big game. The good thing is for us, I felt we finished the game better than we started, so that’s encouraging.”

https://players.brightcove.net/5519514571001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6250654636001

Kean added: “I think it’s an improvement second half, we didn’t start the game particularly well but I thought we grew into the game.

“I said that to the players at half time and encouraged them to stick with the second part of the first half and build on that.

“With a young, inexperienced side they’ll be better for it. Lleyton Brooks will be better for it, Ben Folami is getting better, in every aspect of his defensive play and he’s causing problems.

“We stuck with it, I’m not saying it was fantastic but I thought maybe near the end of the match we could have got a bit more service into Rudy Gestede with Elvis (Kamsoba) off him, maybe we could slip somebody in and get something.

Effort, commitment and especially encouraging for us is sticking to the game plan with and without the ball, so there are positives to take from the game.

For a club of our stature and where we are, I’m sure the supporters will see that we didn’t crumble.

“It’s pretty easy to not want the ball and not show any courage to get on the ball after an early goal. But I felt we stayed with it.”