Melbourne Victory have consolidated their position in the top six and snapped their four-game winless run with a 3-0 drubbing of the North Queensland Fury at Dairy Farmers Stadium on Wednesday night.
Mate Dugandzic scored a double with an easy header in the 68th minute and a 73rd minute goal destined for the blooper tape.
Daniel Allsopp had earlier opened the scoring in the 25th minute with a simple tap in from a low cross from Tom Pondeljak.
North Queensland started strong but were outplayed as the game went on before Melbourne were forced to play the final minutes with 10 men due to a serious injury to Billy Celeski.
North Queensland football manger Robbie Middleby said conceding 11 goals in two matches after an 8-1 defeat against Adelaide was heartbreaking.
“I thought we went into the game with a positive attitude that we had at the beginning of the season but we made some bad mistakes,” he said.
“It cost us the game, it has disappointed us, our fans, players, officials and everyone involved in the club.”
“It is heartbreaking because everyone has put their heart and soul into the club.”
Melbourne Victory coach Ernie Merrick said the win was in no way ‘easy’ despite the scoreline.
“It was not an easy win at all, it was a tough one, it was not one of our best performances, we had a lot of youngsters in but they did the job,” he said.
“I thought he Fury made life very difficult for us in the first 20 minutes of the second half and we were struggling but we persisted and am happy to get the three points.”
“They had their best opportunities in the second half.”
The Fury threw everything they had at the visitors early with livewire forward David Williams the greatest threat.
Simon Storey intercepted a defensive clearance in the seventh minute and laid off to Williams in the box who tested keeper Michael Petkovic with a rising shot.
Williams chanced his arm again in the 11th minute with a wild shot from right-field which landed tantalisingly on top of the goal net.
Williams continued to threaten, racing down the right wing in the 19th minute before laying the ball back in the box but there was no one there to capitalise.
The Victory remained composed through the early onslaught, slowly building their possession in the opposition half before their chance to strike arrived.
Pondeljak dashed around defenders on the right wing in 25th minute to send a low cross into Allsopp to tap in for the opener.
Mark Hughes kept the lead from doubling in the 28th minute when he rushed back into the box to intercept a cross, which looked destined to find a Victory player.
Isaka Cernak broke through the defence chasing a loose ball in the 40th minute to peg back the lead but went tumbling over after a strong challenge from Petkovic.
The Fury came out after half-time with the ferocity they began the game with Williams again leading the charge.
Williams set off towards the goal in the 49th minute creating a two-on-two but his pass to a team-mate was too heavy, which allowed the keeper to pounce.
The Victory took charge with 20 minutes to go when Dugandzic headed in a simple header in after Fury keeper Justin Pasfield punched the ball straight into the air from a corner.
Dugandzic doubled his tally and slotted in the third of the night in the four minutes later after Eric Akoto failed to read a long pass which sailed over his head.
Dugandzic took possession and was one-on-one with Pasfield who did well to force him wide and into a weak shot.
Hughes scrambled back to the goal line but in an attempt to put boot to ball fell head over heel in one for the blooper tape.
North Queensland Fury 0
Melbourne Victory 3 (Allsopp 25, Dugandzic 68, 73)
Crowd 4093 at Dairy Farmers Stadium
