Melbourne back to its best: Adelaide United 2, Mebourne Victory 3

Melbourne played what was arguably its best game of the season last night, fighting back from a goal behind to beat Adelaide United 3-2 and reclaim first place.

After a series of bad results and without Archie Thompson, Ney Fabiano and Carlos Hernández, the Victory were undoubtedly the underdogs last night. But they produced a great performance and certainly deserved the win.

It looked like it was going to be another bad night when Cristiano dived in the box and won a penalty from Matthew Breeze. Travis Dodd tucked the goal away, putting Adelaide up, against the run of play.

Melbourne had looked the more likely side to break through up until then, and continued to dominate the game after going down a goal. Matthew Kemp was particularly good in the first half, pushing forward with strong runs against his former club.

The Victory came out of the break and were again the dominant side. It paid off after 5 minutes, when Cristiano needlessly (some might stay stupidly) knocked Rodrigo Vargas down in the Adelaide box. Kevin Muscat made no mistake from the spot.

Cassio scored with a brilliant free kick in the 68th minute (brilliant kick, but why didn’t Theo try to save it?). Again, Melbourne down against the run of play. But credit to them, they kept going. Evan Berger in particular played a magnificent game. He doesn’t have silky technique, but I admire his speed and commitment. That paid off last night, when he was brought down by Robert Cornthwaite in the box, giving Melbourne its second penalty. Again, Kevin Muscat made no mistake.

(Why didn’t Cornthwaite get another yellow? A foul like that in the box certainly deserves it. Adelaide should have been down to ten men.)

Back to 2-2, Melbourne still kept going. Then, in the 84th minute: a mad scramble in the Adelaide box; a shot stopped by an Adelaide defender’s hand (another thing missed by Breeze); a bicycle kick by Tommy Pondeljak, missing the target but landing nicely for Billy Celeski, who nudged it in to get his first goal for the Victory and put Melbourne ahead at long last.

Excellent stuff. Even after going up, Melbourne did not resort to ultra-defensive tactics, as they have been prone to do in the past. If Danny Allsopp had made more of it, he could even have made it 4-2 in the final minute. But alas, 3-2 suffices. A win for Melbourne, back to the top of the league – and they’ll remain so if Sydney FC doesn’t win tonight.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwAEhA7tmIk[/youtube]

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MVFCBlog will be a bit quieter in November, as I’m heading to New Zealand for a four week holiday. You know how it goes. I will be at the Wellington vs Melbourne game on the 28th though. If you’re there, send me an email.

Meanwhile, check out some of the blogs in the sidebar if you’re looking for a blogger’s perspective on the A-League.