MVFCLFC Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 MELBOURNE VICTORY THERE'S ONLY ONE TEAM IN MELBOURNE I am playing with an updated database that opens up the top division in each Australian state as well as their statewide cup and the new Australia wide FFA Cup. Melbourne City (the club Manchester City took over recently) are still known by their previous name Melbourne Heart but do have an affiliation with Man City CLUB HISTORY Melbourne Victory was one of the original eight teams named for the innagural season of the Australian A-League in 2005. After a dissapointing first season which saw them finish seventh out of eight teams, an impressive recruitment campaign saw the club sign, amongst others, Brazilian star Fred (no not that one) who went on to play in the MLS and for arch rivals Melbourne Heart, as well as Grant Brebner (former Manchester United youngster and Reading player. The Victory swept all before them that season and finished top of the table and thumped rival Adelaide United 6-0 in the Grand Final. They beat the same opposition in the Grand Final two seasons later and had the chance to repeat the followign year, but lost to Sydney FC on a penalty shoot-out. Since then there have been play off appearances but little silverware. Something I hope to correct. TROPHY CABINET A-LEAGUE PREMIERS (TOP OF THE TABLE): 2006-07, 2008-09 A-LEAGUE CHAMPIONS (GRAND FINAL WINNER): 2006-07, 2008-09 FFA CUP (Nationwide Knockout Cup): not yet competed - 2013-14 will be first season ASIAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: no wins CURRENT FORMAT Ten teams play each other three times. The winner is crowned the A-League Premier. The top six qualify for the Finals. The winner of which is the A-League Champion. The Premier and Champion qualify for the Asian Champions League aswell as the highest placed team on the table not already qualified who enter the Champions League at the Play-Off stage. The FFA Cup is a brand new knockout cup competition that is open to all clubs around Australia and is a basic knockout competition. THE RIVALS... MELBOURNE HEART: Same city rivals who play out of the same stadium AAMI Park SYDNEY FC: Melbourne Victory's biggest interstate rivalry. Often heated and controversial. ADELAIDE UNITED: Traditional rivalry between Victoria and South Australia. Both of Melbourne Victory's Grand Final wins have come over Adelaide THE AIM... To be the holder of all four of the above trophies at the same time Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVFCLFC Posted October 2, 2014 Author Share Posted October 2, 2014 THE BEGINNING BACKGROUND In the grand scheme of things we are a very new team, playing in a very new league in a very new season. As I said earlier, the last of those trophies were earned in 2009. Time for some more! GENERAL INFORMATION The most season ticket holders in the league means we have the biggest fan base in Australian football. Our legend Archie Thompson has been with the club since the first season in 2005 and the striker, now 35, is the leagues all time top scorer. He's the man that once scored 13 goals in one international match for Australia against American Samoa. Like Thompson, Kevin Muscat and Danny Allsopp were there at the beginning of the club and Carlos Hernandez was here for a short time but was a cult hero. Long serving midfielder Leigh Broxham will be named vice-captain. SENIOR SQUAD This league has a Salary Cap in place. We are allowed one international and one Australia who are paid outside of this. Veteran Chilean defender Pablo Contreras is our international marquee and the club legend Archie Thompson is our Aussie marquee. We have two players in on season long loans. Tom Rogic from Celtic and James Troisi from his co-ownership clubs Juventus and Atalanta. Youngsters to watch include defender Nick Ansell and midfielder Connor Pain. YOUTH SQUAD We enter a team into the National Youth League. We have a small squad and players on youth contracts do not count to our squad quotas. The stars of the youth squad are two attacker. Chris Cristaldo and Anthony Proia. Both will spend the season on loan. Next: Pre Season and October Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVFCLFC Posted October 3, 2014 Author Share Posted October 3, 2014 PRE-SEASON 2013-14 Two loses was obviously a disappointing beginning to Pre-Season but we finished strongly. Young centre half Nick Ansell's hat trick against Springvale City was a highlight. This happened. I rejected a $600k bid and he got angry and requested a transfer. Pretty happy with the amount we got for him. We acted quickly to replace him with a young Korean based Australian centre half for a tiny fraction of the fee we will receive for Leijer. OCTOBER 2013-14 Strong undefeated start to the season. Huge win in the Melbourne Derby to kick start the season with veteran Archie Thompson and on loan James Troisi finiding the scoresheet. The second game saw us travel across the border to South Australia to take on Adelaide United. The normally action packed contest was anything but and finished scoreless. The last game of the month was at home to Brisbane Roar and with second half goals to Archie Thompson again and Gui Finkler, we took a solid 2-0 win off the powerhouse club. The Newcastle Jets sit atop the A-League table at the end of October with three wins from three. We slot in behind them two points back. We are followed by two of our fierce rivals Adelaide United and Sydney FC. Next: November Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adelaidean Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 Good start, and good luck with this. Decent price for Leijer too, hopefully his replacement works out for you Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVFCLFC Posted October 4, 2014 Author Share Posted October 4, 2014 Good start, and good luck with this. Decent price for Leijer too, hopefully his replacement works out for you Thanks mate. Very happy with the fee. Played traditional Melbourne Victory transfer fee hardball and it paid off. NOVEMBER 2013-14 FFA CUP ROUND OF 16 DRAW Our first foray into the brand new FFA Cup starts with a tricky tie on the other side of the country at Perth Glory. Could have been much easier with five lower league clubs in the round of 16. Remembering that the goal is to hold the A-League, Finals, FFA Cup and Asian Champions League at the same time, I am taking this cup very seriously. RESULTS A pretty poor November. Only one win from five in the league. That win came away to Western Sydney 3-1. Thrilled with the goalscorers in this one as they are all youngsters. Makarounas and Pain are 20 and Nabbout is 21. Wellington outplayed us at home and despite us taking the lead through a fantastic Gui Finkler free kick, we were never really in the game. It was a similar story against Sydney FC. The 91st minute consolation from Troisi masked how poor we were at the Allianz. In our loss at home to Adelaide we could only manage THREE shots all game! We almost held on for a point but they scored with ten minutes left. A more even game at Central Coast. We took the lead straight after half time through Kiwi midfielder Kosta Barbarouses, but worryingly, the Mariners equalised immediately forcing a share of the points. Probably the only game we looked comfortable in was the FFA Cup Round of 16 clash away at Perth Glory. Connor Pain gave us the lead five minutes before the half and then goals from veteran defender Pablo Contreras and young strikerJesse Makarounas sealed our progression. TABLE Around a quarter of the way through the season and Adelaide United are top of the table and undefeated. Newcastle are the surprise packet this season so far, sitting a point behind the league leaders. Brisbane follow them, then us while the Mariners and Melbourne Heart round out the top 6. At the wrong end, Western Sydney are yet to register their first win of the season. The top six make the Finals Series and fight for the Championship title. Next: December Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
musha_13 Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 Good stuff mate! Where did you find the database? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVFCLFC Posted October 5, 2014 Author Share Posted October 5, 2014 Good stuff mate! Where did you find the database? Thanks mate. I found it here DECEMBER 2013-14 RESULTS A bad start to the month as we were knocked out of the FFA Cup by Brisbane Roar. It was an end to end game that saw Connor Pain equalise in the 119th minute only for Luke Brattan to score in the 120th to win the game for our hosts. With just the league to focus on, we had four games at AAMI Park to round out the month. We started poorly in a 0-0 draw with Newcastle, but followed that up with two comprehensive wins over Perth and then our arch rivals Melbourne Heart in the derby. Archie Thompson's fourth goal of the month got us a point against Western Sydney to secure an undefeated month in the A-League. TABLE All teams have now played 12 times in the league and we are two games behind league leaders Adelaide United. Newcastle still sit in second just ahead of us and if Emile Heskey can keep up his great start to the season he might be able to carry them to an unlikely finals spot. The top six is rounded out by Brisbane, Wellington and Sydney. Western Sydney still sit bottom and there manager Tony Popovic is under all sorts of pressure. Next: January Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolanthustrel Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 Don't see many A-League games so I'll be following with interest, especially with the expanded Database. It looks interesting. Good luck, but not too much luck (Wanderers fan) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVFCLFC Posted October 6, 2014 Author Share Posted October 6, 2014 Don't see many A-League games so I'll be following with interest, especially with the expanded Database. It looks interesting.Good luck, but not too much luck (Wanderers fan) Haha thanks mate (I think). JANUARY 2013-14 TRANSFER So this happened. Our skipper, first choice anchor man and Socceroos regular Mark Milligan has agreed to terms with Bundesliga club Werder Bremen after we negotiated a massive $5m fee. Stoked with the amount we got for him and the fans agree as they are happy with the profit we made. We also smashed our record fee received. And it was all upfront... And named our new leadership team RESULTS Another mixed bag in January with two wins, two draws and a loss as we welcomed in 2014. We started with a 1-1 draw at home to Brisbane. In his second from last game for the club, Mark Milligan put into his own net to gift the Roar a lead on 36 minutes. Kosta Barbarouses saved his blushes just two minutes later. We then travelled to Newcastle and only took the three points thanks to an own goal from Jets keeper Solari. Our trip across the Tasman was a disaster as we never showed up. Barbarouses scored against his second former club in the month on his return home to New Zealand. Against Sydney we were again thankful for the opposition as Petkovic scored us a comical own goal by heading past his keeper from close range. We saved our best performance of January for our last game. Archie Thompson was in vintage form with a hat-trick and star left back Adama Traore got his frst of the season as we swept the Glory aside in Perth. TABLE We still trail Adelaide United and sit in second although Brisbane could overtake us with their game in hand. We have just ten games left this season AWARDS A great month for our young right back Scott Galloway sees him pick up the Young Player of the Month award. I'm thrilled as right back was a spot I looked to strengthen at the start of the season as I thought he was too young but he's made it his own and will continue to be my first choice. Next: February Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidBeckham Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 The league is still winnable! Good luck for the rest of the season ahead mate! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVFCLFC Posted October 7, 2014 Author Share Posted October 7, 2014 The league is still winnable! Good luck for the rest of the season ahead mate! Thanks mate! FEBRUARY 2013-14 RESULTS Just three games in February for three 2-1 wins. We were cruising 2-0 up away at the Mariners thanks to goals either side of the spot to Contreras from a corner and Finkler from the spot. Worryingly though, we let in a 93rd minute goal to give our hosts some consolation. At home to the Wanderers we were behind after just five minutes through a Tomi Juric thunderbolt before Makarounas, filling in for the injured Archie Thompson equalised in the 9th minute. Gui Finkler's fantastic 30 metre free kick with around 15 minutes to go secured us all three points. Makarounas continued his purple patch with a first half double against rivals Adelaide United. I was annoyed as like against the Mariners, we conceded a consolation goal in second half injury time. Also, Adelaide had a man sent of just before the break and we weren't able to add to our lead. A couple worries from a 100% month. TABLE We're on top. And Adelaide has dropped from 1st to 4th, but they are only one win behind us in a very compact top 6. With seven games left for most teams, every team are able to make the finals still... NEWS And we secured our spot with the win against Adelaide...now to secure top spot. AWARDS Great reward for Makarounas as we take out this award for the second month in a row. Jesse is mostly a back up who stood up magnificently in the absence of the injured veteran Archie Thompson. Had two goals ruled out against Adelaide so very well could have had a hat-trick in that game. Next: March Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVFCLFC Posted October 11, 2014 Author Share Posted October 11, 2014 MARCH 2013-14 RESULTS We started March by beating our local rivals Melbourne Heart 1-0. Central defender Aleksandar Jovanovic headed home Gui Finkler's pin point corner after just 10 minutes to secure a third win from three against the Red & Whites. The Mariners were next to AAMI Park but were brushed aside thanks to goals on either side of the half from Kosta Barbarouses and Archie Thompson. This win secured me the first silverware of the season, as we were confirmed as Premiers as we were unreachable at the top of the table. We the hit the road for two away trips. The first was a dull 0-0 draw at Perth Glory. The second was a frustrating 1-1 draw. Barbarouses was on the score sheet again, this time on the half hour, but despite our dominance, we let the Roar back into the game with a 84th minute equaliser. We rounded March out with a pleasing 1-0 win at home against fierce foes Sydney FC, courtesy of a first half James Troisi penalty. TABLE As I said, we are now confirmed as Premiers for season 2013-14. With two rounds left, the top four have all qualified for the playoffs, with Melbourne Heart, Newcastle Jets and Perth Glory all fighting for the last two spots. Confirmation of the first silverware of my reign in charge of Melbourne Victory. The success bought a new contract, which saw a pay rise, and a deal to carry over the next two seasons. The last game of the month saw midfielder Jordan Brown make his debut and break the club record for the youngest ever player Next: April 2014 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVFCLFC Posted October 13, 2014 Author Share Posted October 13, 2014 APRIL 2013-14 RESULTS With top spot cemented, we finished the season with a whimper. Two scoreless away draws and not the best form to take into Finals football. FINAL LEAGUE TABLE So the final six is now set. In week one of the Finals 4th place Adelaide United plays 5th place Newcastle Jets and 3rd place Wellington Phoenix are at home to 6th place Melbourne Heart. This is the Elimination Final round. The losers are out, the winners go through. The lowest placed Elimination Final winner plays second place Brisbane Roar and the highest place Elimination Final winner plays us in the Semi Final round. The winners of these two clashes go through to the Grand Final. Simple! Next: Finals Football 2013-14 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVFCLFC Posted October 16, 2014 Author Share Posted October 16, 2014 FINALS 2013-14 AWARDS SEASON Before the Playoffs, the end of Season awards were handed out, with Melbourne Victory picking up some of the big ones Tom Rogic picking up the Young Player of the Year was a huge surprise. I didn't even think the midfielder, on loan from Celtic, was our own teams best young player, let alone the best in the league. Nathan Coe was definitely the top Keeper in the league though, so I'm stoked for him. He's also forced his way into Socceroos reckoning which gave back up Lawrence Thomas a bit of a run towards seasons end. I won Manager of the Year, which was a nice reward. And a selections of our players were also rewarded for their hard work by being named in the All Star XI (voted by media) and the PFA Team of the Season (voted by players). SEMI FINAL So Adelaide defeated Newcastle 3-1 to set up a Semi Final against us. If we won, we'd seal our spot in the Grand Final, and ensure the game would be played in Melbourne. If we lost, we'd go crashing out in the most embarrassing way after coming first. Brisbane were hosting Wellington in the other Semi Final. I couldn't have hoped to start better. Archie Thompson was on the end of a pin point 40 yard pass from Contreras that caught Adelaide defender Jon McKain horribly out of position. Thompson went one on one with Galekovic and his chip was timed to perfection, kissed the post, and nestled in the back of the net. The perfect start just three minutes in. Archie should have had a first half hat trick. He had one goal ruled out for a 50-50 foul, and another header crash of the cross bar from a Finkler free kick. The second half saw Nathan Coe come into his own, justifying the Goalkeeper of the Year award he picked up. He pulled of five great saves from Adelaide strikers in one on one situations. This included pretty much the last kick of the game. He was as vital as anyone in securing us a home Grand Final GRAND FINAL Brisbane Roar would be our opponents in the big one. They thumped Wellington 4-0 at home in their Semi Final. I lined my team up with a more attacking purpose. I wanted to jump the Roar and take an early lead. We'd registered seven shots on goal before the ten minute mark ticked by and our possession football was a joy to behold. But, as it had so often this season, our inability to convert bit us on the rear end. One time Victory loanee Jean Carlo Solorzano got on the end of a Henrique flick on slot calmly past a helpless Nathan Coe so give Brisbane a 37 minute lead that rattled us. It was the only goal of the half, and despite my strong words to the team, we started like we'd conceded defeat already. On 64 minutes I removed left winger James Troisi and striker Archie Thompson and bought on youngsters Connor Pain and Jesse Makarounas. Pain needed just 11 minutes to bring us level. A lovely intricate passing move between Barbarouses, Finkler and Broxham ended with the Brazilian Finkler in acres of space and with the time to pinpoint a through ball for the overlapping Pain to place his shot past keeper Michael Theo. 1-1 and that the way the 90 minutes would end. Just four minutes into the first half of extra time, the second part of my double substitution doubled our dividends. Andrew Nabbout, who was also bought on from the bench, had his shot from long range blocked. The ball fell kindly to Makarounas, who was marked tightly and had his back to goal. He dinked the ball to his right, turned and curled the ball into the top corner to put us up in the Grand Final for the first time. From there, we never looked like losing. In fact if anything, we were very unlucky to not add the icing to the cake. A great reward for a great season! The win saw us qualify for the secure the double, in winning the League and the Playoffs... ...and qualify for the Champions League. Next: End of Season Review Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVFCLFC Posted October 18, 2014 Author Share Posted October 18, 2014 END OF SEASON 2013-14 TRANSFERS The deal that took Adrian Leijer to Holland took place in pre-season and we immediately snapped up Aleks Jovanovic. The other big bit of business was that which took our captain Mark Milligan to Werder Bremen for a massive club record of $5m. FINANCES LEAGUE FIXTURES We finished with an incredible 12 game unbeaten run FINALS FIXTURES FFA CUP FIXTURES Out at our second hurdle. This will be a focus next season. TOP THREE PLAYERS OF OUR SEASON Number 3: Pablo Contreras A great season by our veteran centre back. The Chilean international had been set to leave from the moment he joined and to be fair I'd probably be looking at pushing a younger player through for the next season. He stood up following the departure of Adrian Leijer and he and Aleksandar Jovanovic formed a solid and dependable defensive pairing. Number 2: Adama Traore The Ivorian left back was key to our team. When he missed 19 year old Aussie Dylan Murnane stepped in and whilst he did ok, and will be good in the future, we lacked a sense of stability when Traore was out. As you'll see soon, left back cover was one of my key focuses ahead of the next season. Number 1: Archie Thompson A bit bitter sweet for the Victory fans. Crowd favourite and foundation player Thompson was in vintage form and cemented his place as one of the all time A-League greats. However the 34 year old was in his last year of his contract, and because he filled our Australian marquee spot (his wages were paid outside the salary cap), he wouldn't re-sign on lower wages. A shame, but for what I want to achieve I can't be giving a guy in his mid-30's the sort of wages he was asking for. SQUAD STATS MY THOUGHTS... We did the double, winning both the league and the playoffs at the first time of asking. We were poor in the cup and that will be a big focus ahead of the 2014-15 season. We have to find a replacement for veterans Archie Thompson and Pablo Contreras. Also I have to build a strategy early for the inevitable fixture pile up that will occur later in the season as I embark on my first AFC Champions League campaign. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | SEASON | A-LEAGUE | FINALS SERIES | FFA CUP |AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE| OTHER COMPS (SUPER CUP/CWC etc) | |------------|------------|---------------|-----------|--------------------|-----------------------------------| | 2013-14 | 1st | Winners | Qtr Final | N/A | N/A | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShanghaiNugget Posted October 19, 2014 Share Posted October 19, 2014 You're halfway to achieving your aim already! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVFCLFC Posted October 24, 2014 Author Share Posted October 24, 2014 You're halfway to achieving your aim already! Yep...but I somehow think the second half of the challenge will be a bit trickier than the first! OFF-SEASON 2014-15 NEWS The first bit of good news we got was the transfer of our former attacker Robbie Kruse from Borussia Dortmund to Ajax for $7.75m. We received just under $80k from the deal so I was quite happy with that. Doing the double pushed gave us the highest reputation is Asia, which is a great achievement up against Japanese, Chinese and Korean clubs who have been around longer than us. Our Ivorian left back was officially named as our members player of the season. A great reward for a very important player. Our best XI of 2013-14. The one that surprised me the most was AM Rashid Mahazi. The youngster was probably the best of a bad bunch, beating out dissapointing Celtic loanee Tom Rogic. Leigh Broxham and Aleks Jovanovic capitalised on the sales of Mark Milligan and Adrian Leijer respectively. TRANSFERS The signing of Albanian international Besart Berisha was secured before I'd arrived at the club and was something of a coup. The striker had spent the very succesful seasons with Brisbane Roar and his goals to games ratio is one of the best the leagues ever seen. Lets hope he's an able replacement for Archie Thompson. We secured the services of high profile Socceroo midfielder Carl Valeri back in Janurary on a Bosman from Italian club Ternana in Serie B. The 29 year old has never played in Australia having started his career in the youth ranks at Inter and then plying his trade in the lower leagues of Italian football. He joins as our Australian Marquee contracted player. We bought in a second Australian central midfielder, this time in the form of 21 year old Jackson Irvine. He follows the path of Tom Rogic in joining from Celtic. He spent last season on loan to Kilmarnock and played 12 games in the SPL. A Melbourne boy originally, hopefully we can see a better return than his club teammate Rogic provided. Signed as back up to Adama Traore, who we are expecting to lose for a period of time to the African Cup of Nations. Smith is Sydney born but spent his formative years at Liverpool. Last season he played 18 games in League 2 with Chesterfield. As he's Australian born, he doesn't count to our foreign player count. We snapped up another ex Liverpool youngster, this time using one of our international spots. Conor Coady can play as either our holding midfielder or central defender. This is vital for us as we are under strength in both departments. Coady played League 1 football on loan with Sheffield United last term. Our last addition joins us from Italian giants Juventus. 31 year old Martinez joined Juve from Catania in 2010-11 for a massive $21.5m but could only manage 14 games between 2010 and 2014. He spent time on loan at Cesena and Romanian club CFR Cluj and spent last season on loan at Serie B outfit Novara, where he notched an impressive 11 goals and four assists in just 19 league matches. He takes up our International Marquee contract. Next: Pre-Season 2014-15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVFCLFC Posted October 25, 2014 Author Share Posted October 25, 2014 PRE-SEASON 2014-15 Three great results and one mediocre. Not too much can be read into these results though as we were barely tested by the four lower league teams. New signings Martinez and Valeri were both in the goals, which is nice. Our squad has been finalised. The newcomers were covered last post. From the youth squad, Anthony Proia is one likely to feature. The striker is in his last year on a youth contract so this season will be make or break. The Super Cup doesn't exist in real life. It is an inclusion from the creator of the edited database I'm using. It is therefore not one of the trophies I'm desperate to win. It was, however, a nice way to get things started. There was obvious Pre-Season rustiness but our boys did just enough, with youngster Connor Pain capitalising on a goalkeeper howler to pinch it late on. A pretty ordinary draw for our first match in the latest edition of the FFA Cup. Not only are we facing A-League opposition. We are facing a team we couldn't beat last campaign. This is one of my major aims this season. Next: October 2014-15 TROPHIES CURRENTLY HELD: 2 of 4 (A-League/Finals) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adelaidean Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Nicely done in your first season! Can't say I'm too happy with that semi-final though as an Adelaide supporter . If you were going really long term you could try to win the Club World Cup as well, though the AFC Champions League is certainly enough of a challenge ! Keep up the good work Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVFCLFC Posted October 31, 2014 Author Share Posted October 31, 2014 Nicely done in your first season! Can't say I'm too happy with that semi-final though as an Adelaide supporter .If you were going really long term you could try to win the Club World Cup as well, though the AFC Champions League is certainly enough of a challenge ! Keep up the good work Yeah at the rate I'm going, CWC might be a push. As I type, I'm watching your boys take on Melbourne City. Talk about torn! Thanks for the support! OCTOBER 2014-15 RESULTS We started well outside of the league winning the Supercup and then our first game in our second attempt at the FFA Cup. The 'Nix were no match in Melbourne as young fringe striker Francesco Stella gave us the lead which we took to the break. New signing Jorge Martinez made it 2-0 before a soft goal to Wellington made it a nervy finish. As the Kiwi club pushed everyone forward, Andrew Nabbout capitalised on the space to get his season of an running and secure us a passage into the Round of 16. We switched focus to the league. We started our campaign at home against Western Sydney and we were staring down the barrel of a dissapointing scoreless draw to kick of the season, before last season best player Adama Traore popped up at the far post to tap in a Martinez cross and snatch us the three points. After pushing aside the Roar in the Supercup, we ventured north to Brisbane to face them again and goals to former Roar man Barbarouses and new signing Carl Valeri were accompanied by an own goal from Brisbane defender Corey Brown to cap a convincing win. Our second from two. We then stopped in New South Wales on the trip back to Melbourne, to face the always tricky Central Coast in Gosford. We needed a second half equaliser from Jorge Martinez after the Mariners got off to a flyer with a goal in just the second minute. Month one in the league. Two wins and one away draw. We'll take it. Add in progression in the Cup and the month was a good one. TABLE Very early days but we slot into second place, behind the Mariners who we took a point off. They've played an extra game though. We make up the only two teams still undefeated. At the wrong end, the Phoenix and Sydney are still searching for their first wins to get their seasons pointing in the right direction. FFA CUP ROUND OF 16 DRAW Tricky, but could have been much harder. We'd obviously preferred not to take a trip to Western Australia, but the lower league opposition should be helpful in our quest to win the FFA Cup for the first time, and add it to our other two trophies. GALLOWAY IN RED HOT FORM Our young right back Scott Galloway was one of three players away with the Australia Under 19s for the first part of the season. Not only did he walk away with the Player of the Tournament award, in something of a shock from a defender, his four goals in five saw him add the Golden Boot award to his collection. NEXT: November 2014-15 TROPHIES CURRENTLY HELD: 2 of 4 (A-League/Finals) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVFCLFC Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 NOVEMBER 2014-15 RESULTS A great month for us. Undefeated in the league, progression in the FFA Cup and big wins over our arch rivals Melbourne Heart, Adelaide United and Sydney FC. The month started with us welcoming our Kiwi friends Wellington to AAMI Park. Their Fijian international Roy Krishna gave the visitors the lead with just a minute remaining in the first half. Connor Pain redeemed himself after missing a sitter in the first minute, by banging in a screamer on the hour to rescue us a point. We then made the journey across the country to Perth to play minnows Canning City in the cup. It was a completely dominant performance by our rotated side. Centre backs Ansell and Jovanovic were both on the scoresheet as well as widemen Martinez and Nabbout. We then had a huge three games in the league against our three biggest rivals. Two of them at home and one huge trip to Sydney. We saw off the other Melbourne in a cagey match. Right back Scott Galloway the hero. The Adelaide popped in. Same result thanks to an early Connor Coady thunderbolt. Then the big one. Gui Finkler's penalty gave us an early 1-0 lead which lasted just eight minutes. Despotovic dragging his side back to level. But then Finkler completed his double and Pain got his name on the scorers list to takes us to the break 3-1 up in hostile territory. We came out firing in the second. Martinez took just three minutes to put us up 4-1. Despotovic was really Sydney's only threat, and he joined our star Finkler in claiming a double on 63 minutes. Then, with the game winding down, Jovanovic rose higher than his marker to smash home a header from just our second corner. 5-2 it finished and another famous day for Melbourne Victory against Sydney. Our last game of the month was back in Melbourne against Newcastle Jets. It looked as if we suffering from a hangover from the Sydney game and we never got going. We could only muster five shots all game in a dull 0-0 TABLE So with all teams completing eight games we sit top a game clear of our nearest rivals. You can see just how frustrating the 0-0 against the Jets was as they were bottom of the table! FFA CUP QUARTER FINAL DRAW We were drawn away to another lower league outfit. This time we head north to Sydney to face the 1987 National Soccer League champions APIA. NEXT: November 2014-15 TROPHIES CURRENTLY HELD: 2 of 4 (A-League/Finals) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.