A brace from super-sub Damien Miskulin helped Melbourne Victory Youth trash Adelaide United 5-2 on a perfect Sunday morning at Lakeside Stadium.
The home side looked comfortable throughout the contest, with Jimmy Jeggo, Francesco Stella and Connor Pain scoring before Miskulin’s double.
Adelaide did manage to get on the scoresheet, with Matthew Bouzalas scoring a sensational solo effort in the first half, and Bruce Kamau notching consolation goal for himself late in the match.
The kickoff had been moved to the earlier time of 10am to accommodate the W-League Grand Final, but it didn’t matter for the Victory, who came straight out of the blocks.
They found the back of the net after just 12 minutes through Jeggo, who was played in on goal by Jordan Brown.
Following on from their goal, they kept pressing forward and won a penalty when Pain was felled in the box a couple of minutes later, but Christopher Cristaldo hit the upright from the ensuing spot kick.
He was then made to pay for his miss soon after when Adelaide equalised through Bouzalas.
The left back stormed forward on the ball, and dribbled his way past three defenders before smashing a shot past Lawrence Thomas, who had no chance to stop the effort.
Adelaide had now gained some confidence and almost took a lead when Awer Mabil unleashed a powerful effort on goal, but Thomas was on hand to tip it past the upright.
Victory worked their way back into the ascendancy and took the lead in the 37th, after Francesco Stella converted a penalty which he had won.
They continued on where they left off after the break when Dylan Murnane found Pain inside the box.
The winger then composed himself behind rifling a shot into the goal, taking a slight deflection on it’s way in.
Adelaide responded swiftly with Anthony Costa in particular having a couple of big chances to bridge the gap.
The Reds striker embarked on a solo run past the Victory defence in the 50th minute, but ruined his good work after flashing his shot wide of the post.
Mabil then found Costa again a couple of minutes later, and the forward executed a lovely turn before hitting the post.
It wasn’t to be Adelaide’s day, and they went further behind after failing to clear a corner, and John Hall spilled the ball straight to Miskulin who tapped the ball into the goal from close range.
The winger-turned-defender was not having the best of days as a fullback however, and almost cost the Victory a goal when he cleared an innocuous ball straight to Daniel Bowles, but luckily for him, Bowles’ shot smacked against the post.
Miskulin then missed a crucial interception a couple of minutes later, which allowed Mabil to get in on goal.
The Reds’ winger then crossed the ball, which was mistakenly played back to him by Ridesic, but even after the good fortune, he only managed to shoot wide.
Adelaide did manage to pull one back in the end, when Anthony Costa was brought down by Karvelis in the box, and though Thomas saved the resulting penalty, Kamau was on hand to slot in the rebound.
Miskulin then added some polish to the scoreline at the death, when Cristaldo played in the overlapping fullback, and he smashed a shot past John Hall to make scoreline read 5-2.
Team Lineups:
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Substitutes:
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Substitutions:
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Scorers:
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