Melbourne Victory recorded a comfortable 4-1 win over Perth Glory in the Foxtel National Youth League clash at Lakeside Stadium, South Melbourne on Sunday afternoon.
Melbourne Victory recorded a comfortable 4-1 win over Perth Glory in the Foxtel National Youth League clash at Lakeside Stadium, South Melbourne on Sunday afternoon.
Melbourne controlled the encounter throughout with Jesse Makarounas and James Jeggo impressive pulling the strings from the centre of midfield playing incisive through-balls from the middle for the Victory wingers, particularly two-goal Andrew Nabbout, the primary creative influence in the match.
Perth Glory struggled to break down the Victory defence, looking most dangerous on the counterattack with drilled crosses from wide on the break looking most likely to unlock Victory-s defensive structures.
Victory looked most likely to open the scoring in the first half with Makarounas feeding Nabbout and Christoper Cristaldo on several occasions however Victory were unable to take these opportunities early.
Despite being pegged back in their own half for the first half an hour, Perth Glory almost took the lead twice from close range through front-man Barbor Sam who was denied first by a last-ditch block from Nicholas Ansell before Lawrence Thomas came out strong to save at feet to deny an opener.
Victory were finally rewarded for their opening ascendency in the 32nd minute as Cristaldo-s determination inside the box culminated in a goal as he twisted and turned to create space before being able to crash the ball home free of defenders from five yards.
Victory looked to extend their lead before the break with Nabbout curling a shot off the upright after seizing on an errant sideways defensive pass from the edge of the box.
Perth started the second half brightest but soon found themselves another goal behind as Damien Miskulin was able to finish simply into the back of the net from 10 yards after Jimmy Jeggo squared a ball to him from Nabbout-s cross-field build up in the final third.
Two minutes later Melbourne put themselves three up as their ability to counter at pace was best illustrated by a quick throw from Lawrence Thomas in goal after mopping up a good chance from Perth Glory was moved up the field with two quick passes to release Nabbout one-on-one who made no mistake with his finish across the keeper.
Perth regained a faint hope of getting something out of the match pulling a goal back as Isaka Cernak cut inside from the left wing to set up Brandon O-Neill who finished powerfully from the edge of the box to make the score 3-1 in the 72nd minute.
Victory saw out the rest of the match with few concerns from Perth with Nabbout rounding off Victory-s strong performance scoring his second with a close-range finish that was the last action of the match after a flurry of late opportunities to make it 4-1.
Melbourne Victory 4 (Cristaldo 32m, Miskulin 62m, Nabbout 64m, 90+3m)
Perth Glory 1 (O-Neill 72m)
HT: 1-0
Melbourne Victory: 3. Milos Ridesic, 4. Nicholas Ansell, 5. Dylan Murnane, 6. Jordan Brown 10. John Buceto 59m), 7. Christopher Cristaldo (15. Damien Miskulin 59m), 8. Luc Jeggo (C), 9. Jesse Makarounas (12. Anthony Duzel 59m), 13. Andrew Nabbout, 16. Scott Galloway, 17. James Jeggo, 20. Lawrence Thomas (GK)
Perth Glory: 1. Jack Duncan (GK), 2. Joshua Tucker (6. Blamo Qua Qua 45m), 5. Mark Barnett, 7. Harry O-Brien, 8. Isaka Cernak, 9. Barbor Sam, 10. Adrian Zahra, 14. Sean Troup, 15. Aleksandar Jovic (11. Gian Albano 59m), 16. Jacob Collard (C) (3. Scott Robertson 59m), 17. Brandon O-Neill
Yellow Card: Joshua Tucker 20m, Harry O-Brien 76m
