With Melbourne looking to atone for two home losses against the Mariners, there was much talk leading up to and after Saturday's night's clash.  "Victory want revenge against Mariners", "Victory get their revenge" and "Revenge is so sweet" were some of the headlines that appeared before and after the game.

With all that talk of revenge it was surprising that the words dish and cold didn't make some sort of an appearance but I guess Gosford's weather put paid to that even though Melbourne's play was delectable at times.

And to be honest after our last encounter with the Mariners where we were embarrassed 4-0 at home, all I would have been asking for would have been asking for is a clean sheet and for Sydney to not be top of the table at the end of the night. And in the end I got both my wishes and dare I say a bit of revenge in the process.

The difference between Saturday night's encounter and our previous clash was marked. Instead of trying to match the physicality of Central Coast, Melbourne looked to keep possession right from the kick off and play the match on our terms.

If Lawrie McKinna, who has just joined the rank of twitterers, had felt the need to twitter during play itself instead of just at half-time, he very well may have tweeted:

Boys have barely touched the ball in the first five minutes. Luckily that linesman is looking into the sun or we may have been a goal down.

Key to our early domination was the Mariners' decision not to put pressure on Kevin Muscat as they had done in our two previous encounters. Instead he was almost given freedom of the Bluetongue Stadium pitch and could often be found in the front third of the pitch.

Credit for Muscat's freedom must be given to Merrick, who decided to basically man mark Matt Simon, a constant thorn in Muscat's side so far this season. Rodrigo Vargas, who in recent weeks has started to get back to his form of old, was given the job of keeping Simon quiet and acquitted himself brilliantly.

Also for once against the Mariners, we actually decided to use our midfield and they totally outplayed their opposition and up until his injury, Sukha looked immense in his favoured position at the base of the midfield diamond. There were also standout performances from Broxham, Pondeljak, Kemp and Hernandez (I guess that goes without saying). In a tweet, McKinna could have pondered:

What's happened to my midfield? I'm pretty sure I had one out there at the start of the game! #whereismymidfield

As for the goals themselves, they were absolutely brilliant in their simplicity and as Andy Harper was want to say, you wouldn't get sick of watching them over and over again. The third goal as it trickled across the line did make me laugh, not because it was an own goal, but it reminded me of the efforts of my futsal team, who make a regular habit of doing the same thing.

So after the weekend's results, next week is shaping up to be a mouth-watering clash against the boys in baby blue. Let's hope we can reverse that previous score line as well.