MORE often than not Grand Finals fail to live up to the hype that surrounds them and Saturday night's match was no exception.
Whilst the game wasn't a great football showpiece it certainly was a drama filled night and we can certainly thank our good friend Matthew Breeze for that.
It was always going to be interesting to see how Adelaide would bounce back from the 6-0 drubbing that Melbourne handed them in the major semi-final. Surely, they couldn't play that bad again. And sure enough they showed in the early going they showed that they weren't going to be that bad again and Victory looked like they would have a fight on their hands. In reality you wouldn't have expected anything else.
But then came the intervention of Matthew Breeze and his straight red for Cristiano for a stray elbow to the head of Rodrigo Vargas. Without having access to a replay and being at the other end of the pitch it was difficult for me to make a judgement on the call - but being Matthew Breeze you sort of expected a harsh decision for what looked from distance to be a fairly innocuous and probably clumsy challenge. I sought an outside and neutral opinion - ie. someone who had access to a television. The response via text was "yellow card at worst".
And thus what was shaping to be an enticing clash was ruined by the actions of Matthew Breeze within the first 10 minutes. You may think that it's odd that, as a Melbourne supporter, I'm complaining about a red card given to an opposition player, especially an Adelaide one at that. It goes so nicely with their shirts.
Although being a fan of one-sided finals (in Melbourne's favour of course) I wanted Melbourne to beat Adelaide fair and square like we had done in the previous five encounters this season. Plus I wanted to use this blog as an opportunity to gloat about our win but Matthew Breeze and his poor decision-making put paid to that. Another reason to dislike Mr Breeze - not that I needed another.
And as for the Allsopp sending off, the one and only replay I have seen shows him pushing into Cornthwaite with his shoulder. How a linesman on the wrong side of the action could have seen a suspected headbutt is beyond me.
To the game itself and to be honest it was a fairly ordinary first half, especially after the sending off as Melbourne struggled to break down a determined and heavily numbered Adelaide defence. I'm not going to say they parked the bus, but at some stages there definitely was a mini-bus or two.
The man marking of Jonas Salley who basically never left Hernandez's side stifled the influence of the Costa Rican and thus the creativity that the other Melbourne attackers thrive on. When Hernandez did find some space his opposite number made sure he had a handful of shirt or a piece of the Costa Rican himself.
Whilst many wouldn't begrudge Tom Pondeljak for his Joe Marston medal, I personally thought Michael Theoklitos might have picked up the award. His crucial saves during that period early in the second half where Adelaide pushed for the opening goal were hugely important in the end result.
And just when it looked liked we could be in for some extra time up popped Melbourne boy, Tom Pondeljak to stroke home a well-taken winner. For a player who contributed so much to the NSL with the Melbourne Knights, Sydney United, Sydney Olympic and Perth Glory it was rather fitting that he should score in front of his home crowd in such an important match.
Many commentators pointed the finger of blame for the goal at the feet of Eugene Galekovic but with the rather large posteriors of Messrs Hernandez and Salley in front of him I'm amazed he saw the ball at all.
The second half was marginally better than the first but as it progressed it became more and more of a slug fest whilst my fingernails got a severe working over as the clock ticked down. It certainly wasn't a match to write home about but I'll still buy the DVD of the match to add it to the collection, which hopefully grows in the years to come.
Neil congratulates Melbourne Victory on their second championship but thought it was poor form by those Melbourne Victory supporters who booed the Adelaide team during their medal presentation. Booing during presentations should be solely reserved for politicians and Matthew Breeze only, especially Matthew Breeze.
