A-League: Victory showing good signs in win over hapless Roar

Melbourne Victory might have shown enough to suggest they are ready to turn their fortunes around.

Victory defender Rhys Williams is mobbed by teammates after scoring the opening goal against Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium last night. Picture: Getty Images

It wasn’t pretty but Melbourne Victory might have shown enough to suggest they are ready to turn their fortunes around after beating Brisbane Roar 2-1 at Suncorp Stadium last night.

The win enabled the Victorians to jump five spots from ninth to fifth on the ladder, still 15 points behind runaway leaders Sydney FC.

But it is a warning that coach Kevin Muscat could at last be close to getting the best out of a side that has underperformed so far this season.

Led by Dutchman Leroy George and defender Rhys Williams, Victory’s win came off the back of a solid first 45 minutes which included Williams scoring his first goal in the A-League before Kosta Barbarouses added a second.

An understrength Roar side showed plenty of fight to get back into the game with Italian Massimo Maccarone pulling a goal back in he 56th minute.

Victory’s resurgence will be put to the test next week when they face Melbourne City in the Melbourne derby.

Remarkably, Victory’s 2-0 lead was the first time they had been ahead at halftime of a game this season. And it should have been an even greater margin as some heroics from Roar goalkeeper Jamie Young and some wastefulness in front of goal prevented the Victorians from having safely put the game away after the opening 45 minutes.

Led by George, Victory showed they were approaching their best, especially in the opening 20 minutes when they opened up a 2-0 lead against an out of sorts Brisbane.

The visitors had threatened several times in the opening 10 minutes before Williams bobbed up with a thumping header into the top left-hand corner of the net following a corner from George. It was Williams’ first goal in any competition since 2011 when he was playing with English club Middlesbrough.

Victory didn’t waste any time doubling the margin and again George was heavily involved. The Dutchman found space on the left before delivering a delightful ball across the face of goal for Barbarouses to have the easiest of tasks knocking the ball into the net.

While the Brisbane defence was a shambles, they couldn’t get their act together in attack either.

Ivan Franjic probably had their best chance when he ran on to a through ball.

With keeper Lawrence Thomas coming out of his area, the former Socceroo attempted to dink the ball into the net but he put too much power into it and is sailed over the bar.

Young was called into action again right on halftime, making a stunning save off Barbarouses, who should have done better from point-blank range.

The second half did not have the same intensity as the first with chances few and far between.

Victory thought they had a third goal right on fulltime when Besart Berisha took advantage of a mistake, raced into the box and slotted his shot home. However, VAR came into operation and ruled the striker had handled the ball in the lead up.

Roar’s loss leaves them in second-last spot but still only two points out of the top six.