Melbourne Victory have returned to form with a 3-1 away win over the Newcastle Jets. Newcastle Jets: 1 (Labinot Haliti '22) Melbourne Victory: 3 (Archie Thompson '62, Tom Pondeljak '78, Carlos Hernandez '84)
Venue: EnergyAustralia Stadium Crowd: 6,029
In the 22nd minute, Tarek Elrich found space before playing a perfect through ball to Labinot Haliti who finished brilliantly under pressure from Victory keeper Glen Moss.
Minutes later, the Jets thought they had a second when Ben Kantarovski knocked it in from a Nikolai Topor-Stanley header but was judged to be off-side.
Despite the scoreline, the match was evenly poised and just after the hour-mark, the Victory got on level terms through star striker Archie Thompson.
Midfielder Carlos Hernandez played a long ball for Thompson who controlled it then knocked a flighted shot past Ben Kennedy and into the back of the net for a classy equaliser.
With just over ten minutes remaining, the visitors managed to take the lead when Thompson turned and played a ball to Hernandez who took a first-time shot from 25 yards that made Kennedy scramble for a save but the ricochet off the crossbar fell perfectly for Tom Pondeljak who knocked it in from close range.
The match was essentially ended when Hernandez was played in with only the keeper to beat and did a good job of it from a tight angle, nutmegging Kennedy to make it 3-1 with less than five minutes left.
The win puts the Victory back into second place on the table, a point behind league leaders Sydney FC whilst the Jets are flailing in second bottom with just two wins.
