Thompson played only half an hour of the match but showed enough to suggest to national coach Pim Verbeek, who was in the crowd, that he is fit and ready should the Dutchman need him during the Socceroos four World Cup qualifiers in June.

Ney Fabiano gave the visitors the lead on 54 minutes, capitalising on a Kevin Muscat error before the Melbourne skipper atoned two minutes later with a goal of his own.

Thompson then gave the Victory the lead with an excellent solo effort on 66 minutes before ten minutes later supplying Carlos Hernandez with the third and final goal.

Teenage goalkeeper Mitchell Langerak was making his first start for the Victory in the ACL and was called on twice early in the game.

He parried Pipob On-Mo's header and then a few minutes later produced a fine save from a well-taken free kick from Arthit Suntornphit which looked to be headed into the top corner.

His opposite number Kosin Hathairattanakool was also busy in the first 45 minutes producing excellent saves from Rody Vargas' close-range header and powerful shots from Danny Allsopp and Tom Pondeljak.

But despite the early goalmouth action, both teams struggled to get into a rhythm to create constant attacking chances and it was little surprise that the first half ended without a goal.

A catastrophic defensive mistake from Muscat created the opening for Fabiano to score the opening goal in the 54th minute. Steven Pace knocked the ball back to his skipper who was dispossessed in the box by the Brazilian, who then smashed the ball past Langerak and into the net.

But Muscat took an immediate chance to atone. From a Billy Celeski corner, the Chonburi defence failed to clear and the ball ended with Muscat facing an empty net. He made no mistake and the scores were level again within two minutes.

The Victory were looking in a more attacking frame of mind, with Thompson coming on and having an immediate impact. Having missed two months of football with a knee injury, the Socceroos striker was too quick for the Chonburi defence, running onto an Allsopp through ball, rounding the approaching Kosin and slotting the goal from a tight angle on 66 minutes.

Four minutes later, the Victory looked to have a third when Vargas found the net, but the central defender was ruled to have fouled his opponent before heading the ball in.

But it wasn't long before the Victory had their third for real as Thompson charged down the right then delivered superbly for Hernandez, who coolly made it 3-1 on 76 minutes.

Stephane Baga tried to get his side back into it late in the game, but he just failed to replicate the long-range goal he scored against the Victory in Bangkok.

Melbourne Victory 3 (Muscat 56, Thompson 66, Hernandez 76)
Chonburi FC 1 (Ney Fabiano 54)
Crowd: 9958 at Telstra Dome