Victory beat Jets but Kevin Muscat and Ernie Merrick still feuding

Victory’s first win of the season was soured by continued bad blood between Kevin Muscat and Ernie Merrick.

Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat celebrates his side’s win over Newcastle Jets on Saturday night. Picture: Getty Images

It was a rematch of last season’s controversial A-League grand final but the result, another 1-0 win to Melbourne Victory over the Newcastle Jets, was lost amid the continued bad blood between rival coaches Kevin Muscat and Ernie Merrick.

After two losses to open the new season, the Victorians fashioned a hard-fought three points to get the ball rolling in the defence of their championship.

Terry Antonis’s left-footed strike in the 71st minute proved the difference at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday night.

Despite controlling large parts of the match and creating a number of chances, particularly in the first half, the Jets walked away with nothing to show for it and are still winless after three games.

But it was all secondary to the after-match shenanigans between Victory’s Muscat and Merrick, one-time friends who have barely acknowledged each other over the past seven or eight years.

After combining as player (Muscat) and coach (Merrick) to lead Victory to two titles in 2007 and 2009, the friendship soured and they now have easily the most intense personal rivalry in the A-League. That took an uncomfortable twist on Saturday when the pair did not exchange handshakes before or after the game.

Merrick confirmed there was no hand shake, declaring “it is a regular occurrence”.

“I went over to shake hands with the assistant coach, the goalkeeping coach, the fitness coach but Kevin sprinted in the opposite direction to thank their fans and I wasn’t going to chase him. That’s the way it is,” Merrick said.

“I was looking forward to a handshake. He is the one who disappeared. I don’t make a big thing of it … it’s just disappointing really. He won the game, he should be happy.”

Muscat countered, saying he expected a handshake before the game but “none was forthcoming”.

“I didn’t see Ernie (after the game). It’s a lie (that I declined to shake Merrick’s hand) so one of you (the reporter or Merrick) is lying,” Muscat said.

“If you get the footage you will see I shook the hands of all the officials and all of the Jets players.

“If you want to assassinate someone’s character, and I know you are only passing on the message, it’s a lie.”

The two teams met for the first time since Victory’s 1-0 win in the championship decider in May in a game that bore some resemblance to that match. The Jets looked sharp for much of the first half but were wasteful in front of goal.

Struggling with the wind and Newcastle’s hard press, the visitors eventually got a grip in the second half and made the Jets pay when Keisuke Honda set up Antonis, who powered home a left-footer from outside the box.

It was a welcome relief for Victory, who had started the season with losses to Melbourne City in the derby and Perth Glory.

“It wasn’t a particularly nice game to watch, the ball spent a lot of time in the air and the windy conditions didn’t help us,” Muscat said. “We gifted a bit of territory to them in the first 15 minutes but I thought our defence showed great resilience, throwing their bodies on the line to block crosses and shots.

“We took more control in the second half and I think we deserved the three points on our second-half performance.”

Merrick believed the Jets deserved to win.

“It is disappointing to not come away with the three points after dominating so much of the game … we had 21 shots to 10 and we were 11-3 up in the first half,” he said.

“We controlled the game for most part and had more than enough opportunities to score right till the death and couldn’t put one away.”