North Queensland Fury remains bottom of the table after a 1-0 loss to Melbourne Victory at Dairy Farmers Stadium last night. 6,514 fans witnessed an improved performance from the home side but it was Victory striker Archie Thompson who scored the only goal of the game in the 45th minute when he superbly controlled a long ball Adrian Leijer, and slotted home with his left foot.

Fury looked the better side in the second half and whilst both sides had scoring opportunities, it was Fury substitute Dyron Daal who had the best chance in the 87th minute, failing to make the most of a one on one with Victory keeper Glen Moss.

After the match Victory coach Ernie Merrick was thrilled with the efforts of the newly arrived Adrian Leijer.

"He was really, keen I thought he was outstanding," Merrick said.

"We conceded five goals in the last two games we have been working on shutting up the shop and Surat Sukha at right back plugged that hole from last week. So, overall a good defensive performance.

"We didn't play good football the first half an hour and we couldn't string a pass together," Merrick said.

"Credit to the North Queensland Fury they really closed us down.

"It was one of those ones that you had to grind out I was just impressed with our defence and our goalkeeper kept a clean sheet." For Fury coach Ian Ferguson, it was a great improvement from last week's 5-0 drubbing at Gold Coast.

"I thought we had done enough to try and get something out of the game," Ferguson said.

"A draw would have been a better result but unfortunately Melbourne are a quality side.

"To our credit our boys they came back in the second half and put in a big shift."