So with 2010 ending with a bang as Victory racked up their fourth consecutive win against the Mariners on New Year's Eve I thought it would be an opportune time to take a look back at the year that was in my now annual review.
High point of the Year.
Seeing Robbie Kruse get a call up for the Socceroos' Asian Cup squad would have to be the high point of the year for me as a Melbourne Victory fan. Whilst it may cost us some momentum in the lead up to a finals campaign it is a just reward for our standout player so far this season.
Low point of the Year.
Would have to be a toss up between two events, both of which happened in the same game, that being our ill-fated Grand Final loss. Seeing Archie Thompson go down with a knee injury so early in the game was a mere pointer to the disaster that happened during the penalty shoot out as Kevin "I never miss a penalty" Muscat decided that this was the time that he would hit the post instead of the back of the net. Also running these two events close was Victory's abject performance in the Asian Champions League.
Game of the Year.
Despite Peter O'Leary's decision to inexplicably allow Melbourne boy, Michael Theoklitos to gather the ball near the touchline and punt it forward for a fortunate Brisbane Roar last minute equaliser, the 3-3 draw against the current league leaders would have to be the game of the year in my books. It also has appeared to kick start our rather impressive winning streak at the moment, which has to be a good thing in my books.
Goal of the Year.
Robbie Kruse's wonderful play to bypass at least three Newcastle Jets players to set up Ricardinho for the easiest of tap-ins last week would have to go close but for the second year in a row I'm going to have go with the Carlos Hernandez and that fantastic free kick against the Mariners a number of weeks back. Never looked like missing.
Signing of the Year.
Our big name signings in Ricardinho and Michael Petkovic really haven't set the world on fire so far this season so instead I'm going to nominate the signing of Mitchell Langerak to German league leaders, Borussia Dortmund at the end of our ACL campaign for this one.
Coaching decision of the Year.
It's just gone 65 minutes in the Major Semi-Final second leg and Victory are trailing 2-1 and the tie locked at 3-3 at Sydney Football Stadium when Mr Merrick decides that it is the time to introduce Archie Thompson, who was returning from injury to the fray. Thompson, who was only originally meant to play a maximum of thirty minutes, was forced to extend his stay on the pitch as the game went into extra time. And it was a good thing that he did as he capitalized on a quickly taken Kevin Muscat free kick to bring the scores back on level terms which saw Melbourne again host the Grand Final.
Best favour from an opposition player.
This one goes to Melbourne Heart's Matt Thompson gifting the ball to Robbie Kruse in the second Melbourne derby to put us 2-1 ahead and all the momentum. This would closely followed by Wayne Shroj own goal later in the same match that eventually sealed the match.
What do you think of my choices?
