Victory claim second A-League title
By Joe O'Shea
Posted
Updated
Melbourne claimed its second A-League crown in three years with a hard-fought and controversial 1-0 win over Adelaide in tonight's highly-charged grand final at Docklands.
A long-range strike from man-of-the-match Tom Pondeljak in the 60th minute proved the difference as both sides finished the match with 10 men courtesy of two questionable red cards from referee Matthew Breeze.
Victory captain Kevin Muscat, who played every minute of Melbourne's A-League season, said the title was the perfect reward for an outstanding season.
"It was by no means an easy game tonight, but I can't speak highly enough of the boys because all the talk during the week, we actually stood up and walked the walk," he told Fox Sports.
"It was a tremendous performance and Adelaide were great on the day, they pushed us right to the death there.
"But I can honestly say we deserved it."
Going into the match as rank outsiders, the Reds' chances of pulling off an upset were dealt a cruel blow when leading goal-scorer Cristiano was inexplicably sent off by Breeze in the 10th minute for a clumsy but accidental elbow to the head of Rodrigo Vargas.
Cristiano appeared to have eyes only for the ball but that did not stop Breeze from giving him his marching orders and placing Adelaide in big trouble early in the match.
Despite threatening the Adelaide goal on several occasions leading into half-time, the Victory could not take advantage of the weight of numbers as goal-keeper of the year Eugene Galekovic made some fine saves to keep the Reds in the match.
The score was 0-0 at half-time thanks to desperation defence from United, but Pondeljak's match-winning strike just on the hour-mark snuck past the unsighted Galekovic to hand Melbourne the lead.
Allsopp marched
The Victory appeared to have placed one hand on the trophy with Pondeljak's goal, but five minutes later Adelaide was given a ray of hope when Danny Allsopp was given the second red card of the match for an apparent headbutt.
Finally playing with even numbers, Reds duo Travis Dodd and Paul Agostino both had opportunities to level the score in the final 15 minutes of the match, but Victory 'keeper Michael Theoklitos kept a clean sheet to help Melbourne become the first side to claim two A-League championships.
Skipper Dodd said after the game that Cristiano's send-off changed the game, and paid tribute to the fighting spirit showed by his men.
"It's one of those things I guess, it changed the game, but what can you do about it now?" he told Fox Sports after the match.
"We worked hard to keep it scoreless until half-time, to keep our discipline and keep our shape and keep doing what we were doing.
"We backed ourselves to be able to pinch one and came out in the second half and had a couple of good opportunities, but that goal really took the sting out of us.
"It's a credit to the boys they just kept fighting.
"Down to 10 men it was a very difficult game for us, but the amount of courage and heart the boys showed tonight to get through the game and keep fighting to the end was fantastic. I couldn't ask any more."
Reds' horrific start
Aurelio Vidmar's men came out the stronger of the two sides in the opening exchanges, but were quickly forced to play from behind after Cristiano's send-off.
Vargas lay bleeding from the head following the clash with Cristiano, and after a minute of consultation with his assistant referee, Breeze shocked the crowd by producing the straight red that reduced the Reds to 10 men.
The Victory enjoyed 55 per cent of the possession and had 10 shots on goal in the opening stanza, with Allsopp and Archie Thompson looking particularly dangerous against the short-handed Reds.
Allsopp had the best chance for Melbourne midway through the half when he received a pinpoint long ball from Muscat, only to see his shot parried away by Galekovic.
Melbourne entered the game as the shortest-priced favourite for the title since the A-League's inception, having beaten the Reds all five times the clubs met this season.
The two sides met in the decider for the second time in three years after the Victory smashed Adelaide 6-0 in 2007 for their first title.
Melbourne 1 (T Pondeljak '60)
Adelaide 0
Melbourne Victory has won the A-League Grand Final against Adelaide United at the Telstra Dome. Melbourne came into the match with a 6-0 (2-0, 4-0) win over Adelaide United in their two legged semi final. Adelaide United came into the match with a win against Queensland Roar in the preliminary final.

The A-League uses the Page playoff system where the winner of the major semi final (1st vs. 2nd) qualifies for the grand final, while the loser plays the winner of the minor semi final (3rd vs. 4th) for the remaining place.


Docklands Stadium, where the match was played 
Cristiano 
Melbourne midfielder Tom Pondeljak scored the only goal for the match with a long range strike on sixty minutes.

Adelaide were reduced to ten men after ten minutes when Cristiano landed a clumsy elbow to the head of an opposing player. Melbourne was reduced to ten men twenty minutes from time when Danny Allsopp was sent off due to a late fracas.

"It was a great performance. Adelaide were great, they pushed us right to the death but I think we deserved it," Melbourne captain Kevin Muscat said. "Down to 10 men it was a very difficult game for us but the amount of courage and heart the boys showed tonight to get through the game and keep fighting to the end was fantastic. I couldn't ask any more."

"It's one of those things I guess, it changed the game, but what can you do about it now?" Adelaide Captain Travis Dodd told Fox Sports after the match. "We worked hard to keep it scoreless until half-time, to keep our discipline and keep our shape and keep doing what we were doing."