Melbourne Victory end drought with 1-0 win over Newcastle Jets from Fahid Ben Khalfallah’s goal

HUNTER Stadium has finally become a happy A-League hunting ground for Kevin Muscat, after his below-par Melbourne Victory put Newcastle to the sword 1-0 on Sunday.

Fahid Ben Khalfallah of the Victory is congratulated by coach Kevin Muscat after scoring a goal during the round 13 A-League match between the Newcastle Jets and Melbourne Victory at Hunter Stadium in Newcastle, on Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

HUNTER Stadium has finally become a happy A-League hunting ground for Kevin Muscat, after his below-par Melbourne Victory put Newcastle to the sword 1-0 on Sunday.

Fahid Ben Khalfallah’s second-half winner was eight games and more than six years coming at this venue, snapping the club’s long-time hoodoo and their five-match winless slump at Hunter. For 71 painstaking minutes, it looked like neither side would break an end-to-end deadlock characterised by long balls and scarce pretty play.

But Victory ensured they remained in fifth place at the season’s halfway point and closed the gap on Sydney FC to one point.

It leaves the deflated eighth-placed Jets winless in nine attempts and without a goal in 469 minutes and five matches, only one match less than the now-defunct New Zealand Knights’ all-time record of six back in 2006.

Fahid Ben Khalfallah is congratulated by coach Kevin Muscat after scoring the winning goal. Picture: AAP

Victory opened with a flurry and forced Newcastle gloveman Mark Birighitti into a few quick saves, including a potential own goal from Jason Hoffman, who got stuck in a scramble to block Ben Kantarovski’s goalward drive.

It was touch-and-go when Archie Thompson smacked the deflection back Birighitti’s way but it hit the upright.

With defenders Hoffman, Daniel Mullen and skipper Nigel Boogaard finally together again, the Jets weathered the early storm and worked their way back into possession.

They fashioned admirable opportunities, but yet again lacked the polish to whittle them into anything meaningful.

Perhaps the absence of suspended winger David Carney and perennially injured playmaker Leonardo had an impact, but glimpses of good play between Serbians Milos Trifunovic and Enver Alivodic did not trouble Victory ‘keeper Danny Vukovic.

Victory defender Jason Geria challenges Milos Trifunovic of the Jets. Picture: AAP

Victory, meanwhile, were rickety, seemingly without a feasible game plan as they dallied in purposeless possession.

The closest they — or indeed either side — came to opening the book before Ben Khalfallah’s goal, was in the 53rd minute, when Oliver Bozanic cracked a shot dead on target as Birighitti loitered vulnerably off his line.

But Hoffman was in position for the vital block.

As the match wore on, yellow-carded Besart Berisha became a time bomb of mouthy agitation that didn’t stop ticking, even when Kosta Barbarouses galloped downfield in transition and put the winner on a plate for Ben Khalfallah.

Ben Khalfallah himself had stealthily run out wide and back inside to isolate Birighitti, as Newcastle defenders called for cover that never came.

If there had been an equaliser, it looked like coming four minutes later from the head of Trifunovic, but the striker put Cameron Watson’s cross into Vukovic’s hands.

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Originally published as Melbourne Victory end drought with 1-0 win over Newcastle Jets from Fahid Ben Khalfallah’s goal