Melbourne Victory has bounced back to form in emphatic fashion, thrashing an out-of-sorts Perth Glory outfit 4-0 at Telstra Dome.
Victory put last week’s home defeat to Queensland behind them with an assured win which was all but sealed in the first half when Grant Brebner and Danny Allsopp got on the scoresheet. Rody Vargas bobbed up for the third in the first-minute of the second half, while Allsopp grabbed his brace on 71 minutes.
The win keeps Melbourne on top of the ladder, while for Perth, it is its second heavy defeat in succession and the Glory remain bottom of the table.
Melbourne coach Ernie Merrick praised his entire squad after the match.
“We didn’t have a bad player on the park, it was high quality football all round,” Merrick said. “They are a hard team to play against Perth. When you beat a team 4-0 you think it’s an easy job but it was one of those days where we did well at the office.”
Melbourne could have been a goal down on six minutes if not for Mitch Langerak. A header from Naum Sekulovski took a deflection and forced Langerak into a fine reflex save. It was a rare bright spot for Perth, with Melbourne taking charge of the game but unable to put the ball into the net until the 25th minute.
The opening goal came after an error from Perth defender Jeff Bright. Billy Celeski’s deflected cross had found Thompson, who shot straight at Bright. But the defender only managed to get it as far as Brebner, who weaved his shot through the maze of bodies and into the net.
Wayne Srhoj could have equalised with Perth’s second best chance of the half. Eugene Dadi played the ball back to the journeyman, but his volleyed effort did not force a save from Langerak.
On 40 minutes, Melbourne again profited from a Perth turnover. Celeski poached the ball in midfield, delivered to Tom Pondeljak, who then found Allsopp clear in the box. The first shot was blocked by Frank Juric, but Allsopp made it 2-0 with the rebound.
It should have been 3-0 at the break but for a comedy of errors. A handling error from Juric allowed Archie Thompson in. Thompson had his first effort blocked and then hit Pondeljak with his second.
Melbourne took no time making up for that miss after the break, with Evan Berger delivering a long free kick into the box and finding Vargas, who kneed it into the net.
It almost got worse for Perth a couple of minutes later when Juric was slow to get to a backpass and had his pocket picked by Thompson, but the Melbourne striker could not get a shot in.
David Mitchell sent on James Downey for Naum Sekulovski and Nikita Rukavytsya for Srhoj in a bid to get back in the game. But it had little effect and Melbourne continued to dominate the play. On 71 minutes, Pondeljak threaded through to Allsopp who beat the offside trap and chipped an advancing Juric.
Perth kept trying and Langerak produced another quality save from a deflection, this time from Rukavystya, while Nick Rizzo fizzed a shot just over. However, Melbourne was in no mood to offer consolation and held firm at the back to maintain the margin.
Perth coach David Mitchell said the entire club needed to take a good hard look at themselves after such a disappointing performance.
“We need to get some confidence back in the team,” he said. “Individual errors costs us. I thought we were good until they scored, and then it was always going to be an uphill battle.”
Melbourne Victory 4 (Brebner 25, Allsopp 40, 71, Vargas 46)
Perth Glory 0
Crowd: 18,036 at Telstra Dome
