Melbourne Victory grab first win of season over Gold Coast United

Melbourne Victory have recorded their first win of the season, beating Gold Coast United 1-0 at Skilled Park.

A-League Round 4
Gold Coast United: 0
Melbourne Victory: 1 (Robbie Kruse 20’)

Venue: Skilled Park
Crowd: approx. 4,000
Referee: Ben Williams
Yellow cards: GCU - Kristian Rees 24’
MV - Mate Dugandzic 22’

Melbourne took the lead in the 20th minute when Robbie Kruse got on the end of a brilliant through ball from Carlos Hernandez and controlled well before finishing past former teammate Glen Moss from a tight angle to make it 1-0.

The goal sparked Gold Coast into action and they were well on top in all facets of the contest besides the scoreboard and should have at least equalised before the break.

The Victory got back into the match in the second half even though they were leading after United really took control towards the end of the first 45 minutes and they were pushing hard for a second before the home side once again made their intentions clear.

The final 15 minutes was all Gold Coast as they tried hard for a leveller but the visitors managed to hold sway in defence and notch up their first maximum points of the season.

Starting Line-Ups

GCU
Glen Moss (gk), Michael Thwaite, Dino Djulbic, Zenon Caravella, Anderson (Barisic 58’), Jason Culina, Kristian Rees, James Brown, Golgol Mebrahtu (Halloran 46’), Adama Traore, John Curtis (Pantelidis 69’)

Subs - Scott Higgins (gk), Steve Pantelidis (69’), Andrew Barisic (58’), Ben Halloran (46’)

MV
Michael Petkovic (gk), Kevin Muscat, Mate Dugandzic (Angulo 87’), Surat Sukha, Leigh Broxham, Grant Brebner, Rodrigo Vargas, Carlos Hernandez, Evan Berger (Ferreira 45’), Robbie Kruse (Kellaway 77’), Adrian Leijer

Subs - Sebastian Mattei (gk), Marvin Angulo (87’), Diogo Ferreira (45’), Geoff Kellaway (77’)