A toe-numbing Tuesday night couldn’t deter 1000 or so football fans from SS Anderson Reserve as Melbourne Victory took on the local boys Port Melbourne Sharks.
Mehmet Durakovic is entering his first season as an A-League manager and he took this game to look at some younger options, resting Isaka Cernak and Carlos Hernandez while Petar Franjic and Marco Rojas were away on national duties. Old stalwarts Thompson, Allsopp, Pondeljak, Brebner, Celeski and Vargas held their starting positions while Matthew Kemp made in-roads towards his long awaited return to full-fitness. Tando Velaphi continues to be the only option in goal for Durakovic, while youngsters Jimmy Jeggo and Nick Ansell recieved a rare start outside of the youth development squad. Former Gold Coast United junior and current Dandenong Thunder player Ben Harrison was tested on trial at Left Back.
After a cagey start in the torrid conditions, the State League Division 1 side had the first chance when a striker pounced on a defensive mistake from a tentative Kemp, his long-range attempt troubling Velaphi on the bounce but he gathered the ball quickly once it struck his chest.
An energetic Pondeljak almost instantly answered but his hurried deflected shot, although out of the keepers reach, hit the inside of the post and dribbled accross the face of goal.
Near the 30 minute mark Allsopp missed an open net after the Port Melbourne keeper was indiposed due to a parried Pondeljak shot but he made amends with a powerful raising drive from outside the box that crashed into the top right corner for the opening goal of the contest.
Despite vast improvements since arriving, Tando Velaphi showed he still has the tendancy to get a little ‘flappy’, throwing his arms about after a corner but far from making contact. The ball scrambled around the box, luckily for the young keeper it was a Victory team mate that could make clean contact first.
Durakovic made plenty of changes at half time, regulars Adrian Leijer, Leigh Broxham and Matt Foschini got a run, Jean Carlos Solorzano started at the point of the attack while Luke O’Dea and Dado Lokvancic also enjoyed a good chunk of time on the pitch. Intriguingly a tall slender unidentified halfback started alongside Leijer.
Melbournes experienced midfield showed moments after the restart when Billy Celeski cleverly played Pondeljak through on the right wing and he expertly found Costa Rican striker Solorzano unmarked in the box. His well timed header, ricocheted off the cross bar and back into the path of Leigh Broxham who’d strolled into unfamiliar territory and rebounded a rare goal.
Solorzano showed his hunger moments later when he found himself alone in the box again, Broxham and Pondeljak doing the hard work out wide this time but Solorzanos header fell just wide.
Harrison had a solid if uneventful trial, he was pushed out of position by stronger opponents at times but looked confident heading into attack. I’d expect to see him come August 24th when Melbourne Victory travel to Springvale for their next friendly against the White Eagles.
Pondeljak and Broxham were the most impressive of the regulars, hopefully Tomislav can capitalize on a good off season. Last season despite a positive break he started strongly but faded as the season wore on. Broxham continues to improve after every game and shows why he’s an integral part of the team and not just Ernie Merricks boot-boy.
The other player that I was tremendously impressed with was Nick Ansell. The kid who’s been away for the U-17 Fifa World Cup looked every bit as mature and familiar with his surrounding as Ben Kantarovski was when he turned out for Newcastle all those years ago as a sixteen year old. With Petar Franjic competing Rody Vargas for the vacant Centre-Back spot an injury could see the youngster make his A-League debut sooner rather than later.
Tags: Ben Harrison, Danny Allsopp, Leigh Broxham, Nick Ansell, Port Melbourne Sharks, Tom Pondeljak
