3 minute read
A superb first-half header from Swede Ola Toivonen has given A-League finals-bound Melbourne Victory a 1-0 away win over Western Sydney.
Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat was happy to immediately move on from their 1-0 final round A-League away win over Western Sydney and the Wanderers were happy to move on from a graveyard home ground.
A magnificent header from Swede Ola Toivonen gave finals-bound Victory their eighth away win of the campaign, one more than the third placed side managed at home.
Victory created most of the first-half attempts at ANZ Stadium on Saturday and had a few in the second, but but had to withstand a spirited Wanderers' fightback after the break.
'We were half decent, but really it's now moving on to next week," said Muscat referring to a finals home game against either Melbourne City or Wellington Phoenix.
"From now we go into a zone and a focus for next Friday night and the least said about tonight the better."
Western Sydney fans will look forward to returning to Parramatta next season at their rebuilt stadium after the Wanderers' 13th loss in 22 games at ANZ Stadium over the past two seasons.
They won only five of those matches.
Victory thoroughly deserved a halftime lead earned by Toivonen's bullet header from behind the penalty spot after a pinpoint cross by Thomas Deng.
"One of the very few highlights in the game," Muscat said.
A more urgent and threatening Western Sydney had several shots at goal in the first 20 minutes of the second half.
Bruce Kamau almost equalised within two minutes of the restart but his short-range effort was blocked again by goalkeeper Matt Acton.
The introduction off the bench just before the hour mark of retiring club appearance record holder Mark Bridge was cheered by the majority of the 7919 crowd.
"It was a bit similar to the whole season, we cant say anything against the boys because they did many things right," Wanderers' coach Markus Babbel said.
"We said before the game 'fight for Bridgey, so that he has a good end to his career' and the boys did well.
"After 20 minutes we started to dominate them and especially in the second half great opportunities there great chances there, but we couldn't score and this is a bit symptomatic for this season."
Victory should have gone 2-0 up midway through the half when Kosta Barbarouses broke clear downfield on a counter attack, but goalkeeper Jack Greenwood kept his shot out.
Barbarouses put another effort in the net, but VAR confirmed an original offside call.
Acton got a knock in an early collision, but played out the game and Muscat reported no injuries.
He said it it was unlikely Socceroo James Troisi would recover from his hamstring injury in time to to play on Friday, but didn't totally rule him out.
