TAKING my cue from the film that I chose to watch instead of Friday night’s match and the fact that Melbourne has failed to win a match on the other side of the Nullarbor since the 2006/07 season I duly name Perth Glory, our Inglourious Basterds.

When I did get around to actually watching the game it seemed that referee Chris Beath may have still been thinking about all those intersecting plotlines from Pulp Fiction all those years ago as he awarded the free kick that lead to the first Perth Glory goal.

Perth Glory player tackles Melbourne Victory player from behind, wins ball but in the process takes Melbourne player and gets a free kick as a reward. Go figure.

Not much was made of it at the time, you wouldn't expect that from Messrs Cockerill and Harper, but I am still searching the ruling that explains that free kick. (Also before you opposition fans jump up and down and say what about Surat Sukha not getting a second yellow, I have to agree he was very lucky to stay on the park.)

Putting that aside from that, what followed was Melbourne's defending from the ensuing set piece. Again a bit like when you watch a Tarantino film, you know you have seen it somewhere else before, the players are a bit different but in the end you get the same result. For Melbourne fans, it's poor marking and an early goal conceded; for Tarantino fans, you get a somewhat entertaining film.

And like a Tarantino movie, Melbourne Victory provided some moments of brilliance that had you demanding more; others that you wished they really hadn't done that; and of course something you never really expected at all.

Away from home, no-one really would have expected Merrick to start all three strikers but that he did and for once it really worked without robbing our midfield. The resulting interplay between Fabiano, Allsopp, Thompson and Carlos Hernandez was at moments truly sublime.

Much like the guy at my high school who would repeat the same lines from Pulp Fiction after watching the movie countless times, I could watch that through ball to Allsopp, in the lead up to our only goal, over and over and over again.

But once again after dominating large parts of the first half with some brilliant marking it was again our failure to deal with a decent cross that lead to our downfall early in the second half.

Try as we might Perth were having no more of our sublime football and shut the down space previous available to Hernandez and Co. in the first half. Try as we might we couldn't find that equaliser. 

Next week sees us again play on a Thursday night as we host Newcastle Jets. It's an early crunch game for us, as we really need the three points to keep us in touch with the leaders. It will be also interesting to see how the fans greet the presence of Ljubo Milicevic in a Jets shirt.

I would like to congratulate Matthew Kemp and wife Stephanie who gave birth to a healthy baby boy Harrison David Kemp on Saturday morning. Now back to the starting line-up for you Kempy! And as for Inglourious Basterds, I give it 3.5 stars.