The two-time Premiers' four-goal demolition of early title favourites Gold Coast United at a re-configured 'rectangular' Etihad Stadium not only opened up a five point gap at the top of the table, but signalled to chasing sides that they are seeking to become the competition's first back-to-back Champions.

In an almost  perfect team performance, Victory tore apart the hapless Coast outfit, showing no mercy for their opponents who were fielding no less than five youth team players - two of whom were making debuts.

Melbourne were once again led by talismanic striker, Archie Thompson - who is absolutely itching for a place in Pim Verbeek's World Cup squad  - as well as Carlos Hernandez , and a rejuvenated Robbie Kruse.

The ex-Roar prodigy was a livewire for the home side, showing why, at one time, he was regarded as one of the country's most exciting up-and-comers.

The only real concern for the Victorians was an injury to midfield hard man, Grant Brebner, who was later cleared of a suspected broken ankle. Matthew Kemp and Evan Berger are now also in doubt for Friday night's match with  Wellington Phoenix.

Victory's rise up the table was helped - albeit unwillingly - by Sydney FC, who suffered a heavy home defeat to a plucky Newcastle Jets outfit on Sunday afternoon.

Branko Culina's return to the SFS was clearly a memorable one, as former Sky Blues striker Michael Bridges cut a swathe through the Sydney defence to pocket two goals for the men in gold.

Elsewhere Central Coast and Perth played out a snore-draw, while Brisbane regained some confidence with a 4-1 thumping of Wellington Phoenix at Suncorp stadium, and North Queensland Fury pole-vaulted into seventh spot with an inspired win over a hapless Adelaide United outfit.

The round began in Gosford, as Central Coast Mariners made a return home after six weeks on the road.  They took the field against Perth Glory having scored a spectacular nine goals in two games, and brimming with confidence.

The spritely home side started the contest the better, and Central Coast could have gone ahead early courtesy of  midfielder Michael McGlinchey, who tried his luck from long range in the seventh minute.

Six minutes later the Mariners looked likely again when fellow import Matthew Crowell - back from suspension - sent a powerful shot straight at Perth goalkeeper Tando Velaphi.

But the best chance of the first stanza fell to the visitors on 41 minutes when Mile Sterjovski's powerful shot from 30 metres out was smashed into the post with Mariners goalkeeper Danny Vukovic well beaten.

Perth came close to breaking the deadlock six minutes into the second half, but Adriano Pellegrino's back post header was well saved by Vukovic.

Both sides sent men forward as the game wound down, but chances came few and far between.

Nicky Travis sent in a perfectly placed cross to the back post in the 85^th minute, but his team mate Matt Simon failed to hit the target. Ahmad Elrich came agonisingly close from long range in the dying stages of the game, but goalless it stayed.

Central Coast Mariners 0
Perth Glory 0
Referee: Gerard Parsons
Crowd: 7,857

Melbourne Victory returned to Etihad Stadium this week, eager to put a string of poor home performances behind them. Their opponents, an undermanned Gold Coast United outfit, were looking to make up up some space on the league leaders

There was no shortage of chances inside the first 20 minutes, most of them falling to the home side. Robbie Kruse started brightly, fashioning an excellent opportunity for himself before turning a provider for Archie Thompson.

A busy Carlos Hernandez also created his fair share of chances - He would get one on target on 21 minutes, but it was straight at Scott Higgins.

It was Kruse who would find the net first for the home side, unleashing an unstoppable shot from outside the penalty area.

The goal didn't change Melbourne's attacking mindset and after Hernandez shot just wide from a free kick, Higgins was called into action twice to thwart Ward and then Thompson. Thompson was just about the busiest player on the park and he curled a ripping shot just wide on 40 minutes.

In first-half injury time, he put in a clever run and knocked it back for Ward for the second goal. Ward latched onto the ball about 22 yards out and the ball beat Higgins, hit the upright and went in the net.

The only negative aspect of the half for Melbourne was a serious injury to Brebner, who left the field on a stretcher to be replaced by Leigh Broxham. Gold Coast had already replaced an injured Steve Fitzsimmons with James Brown.

To add to Gold Coast's misery, Joel Porter then came off injured early in the second half, replaced by Golgol Mebrahtu, who immediately headed an excellent chance over the top. Smeltz followed suit minutes later, missing a gettable shot for the second time in the match.

The match was all but over on 54 minutes when Ward returned the favour to Thompson, hitting a perfectly-weighted pass through for the striker to spring the offside trap and convert from a tight angle for his seventh of the season.

Fourteen minutes later, Rody Vargas got forward to involve himself with the fourth goal, laying off for Kruse who then found Thompson, who netted with a powerful shot.

With 20 minutes to go, Brown came close to getting Gold Coast off the mark, forcing a good save from an otherwise untroubled Mitch Langerak, while a frustrated Culina could only shoot over late in the match.

Melbourne Victory                                4 (Robbie KRUSE 28', Nick WARD 45'+1, Archie THOMPSON 54'/68')
Gold Coast United                                0
Referee: Ben Williams
Crowd: 20,537

Cellar-dwellers North Queensland Fury welcomed fellow strugglers Adelaide United to the tropical north on Saturday night, with both teams looking to put past poor form behind them.

It was the home side who had the run of the first half, with 64 percent possession and nine attempts on goal, most of which came from an electrifying performance by Daniel McBreen.

North Queensland's newly-promoted Justin Pasfield had an early baptism of fire between the posts having to punch away a cross amid heavy traffic in the fourth minute, and McBreen should have scored in the 11th minute after a back pass from David Williams into the box, but pulled his shot wide of the right post.

The striker was again at the end of a long ball minutes later and spectacularly bicycle-kicked it into the net but received a yellow card for his efforts as he had handballed in the process.

McBreen always looked like scoring in the early stages of the game, and his perseverance was rewarded after a neat little pass by strike partner, Robbie Fowler.

Fury should have doubled their lead a minute after the break when Williams found new signing Terry Cooke unmarked in the box, but the former English Premier League player was unable to convert when scoring seemed easier.

Fowler then showed his brilliant skills and left foot taking a pass outside the 18-yard box and casually shooting into the left corner.

United didn't give up and pushed forward with Cristiano finding the net in extra time, following a flurry of activity by the visitors in the dying stages of the game.

Fury's home win was enough to consign Adelaide United to the depths of the A-League table, at least for this week.

North Queensland Fury                                    2 (Daniel MCBREEN 39', Robbie FOWLER 66')
Adelaide United                                                1 (CRISTIANO 90'+1)
Referee: Peter Green
Crowd: 5,356

After unleashing a poisonous attack on his rivals last week, Branko Culina ushered his team south to Sydney, returning to the SFS amid a chorus of howls from Sydney fans.

It was the Jets coach who would have the last laugh, however, as his side put in an inspired performance to dispatch a pedestrian-looking Sydney outfit.

Newcastle took the lead on 22 minutes when Jin-Hyung Song was brought down in the penalty box by Rhyan Grant, following a one-two with Michael Bridges.

It was Bridges who stepped up to the spot, the former Leeds man making no mistake.

Jets skipper Matthew Thompson then supplied the aforementioned Bridges with a beautiful cross, only to see the resulting goal ruled out for offside.

The Jets could have inflicted further damage in the 34th minute after Bolton, perhaps still dazed after back-pedalling and crashing into the right post earlier, was slow to come off his line for a one-on-one challenge with Sean Rooney.

Rooney's shot appeared goal-bound but fortuitously for Sydney it struck Bolton in the head and deflected harmlessly away for a corner.

For Sydney, Terry McFlynn let fly with an ambitious drive from outside the box on 36 minutes, the effort pushing past the left post. Alex Brosque then joined in the act, taking the ball on a dance down the left touchline

Thompson went in hard against Simon Colosimo on a 50-50 ball, winning the challenge and serving up a defence-splitting pass for Bridges to go one-on-one with Bolton.

For the second time in the evening, he beat Bolton to put the visitors two goals to the good. Eight minutes later Thompson sealed a stunning upset with the goal of the game.

The skipper involved Rooney and Bridges in some lovely one touch football before side-footing his shot past Bolton, the keeper getting a hand to the effort but unable to prevent the goal.

Alex Brosque pulled one back for Sydney at the 75-minute mark, prospering from Aloisi's graft in lunging a foot out to a Shannon Cole free kick and re-directing it towards the goalmouth.

Sydney FC                                           1 (Alex BROSQUE 75')
Newcastle Jets                                     3 (Michael BRIDGES 24' (pen)/51', Matthew THOMPSON 58')
Referee: Strebre Delovski
Crowd: 10,114

The final game of the round saw Wellington Phoenix travel to Brisbane for a replay of a spiteful encounter earlier in the year, which saw Roar starlet Tommy Oar sent from the field.

Perhaps eager to atone for his indiscretion early in the year, Oar starred for the home side; the 17-year-old putting in a man of the match performance for the orange outfit.

Indeed, it was the youngster who beat his man down the flank to provide a pin-point cross for Sergio Van Dijk, only for the Dutchman's header to go crashing into the wood-work.

Reinaldo opened the scoring for Brisbane in the 17th minute, when van Dijk's back-post header was parried by Phoenix keeper Reece Crowther directly into his path. The move started after Charlie Miller played Oar into space, the youngster serving another tantalising cross into the box.

Not to be outdone, Wellington struck back 10 minutes later through Chris Greenacre - the Englishman rising unmarked from a corner to fire home, beating several dozing Roar defenders.

Reinaldo then registered his second of the night when he was played in behind a stretched Wellington defence by Miller to slot home low past the advancing Reece Crowther.

Already on the back foot, Phoenix were reduced to ten men a minute later when Maltese international Manny Muscat elbowed Tommy Oar in an off-the-ball incident.

To their credit, Phoenix continued to attack, but van Dijk put the game beyond doubt when he slammed home a curling left foot drive after Roar were granted a free kick right on the edge of the area in the 76th minute. In doing so, he became Roar's highest ever goal-scorer.

Substitute David Dodd capped off a well-earned win for Roar in the 90th minute, when he was played into space by Mitch Nichols, before rolling the ball through the legs of Crowther.

Brisbane Roar                                      4 (REINALDO 17'/56', Sergio VAN DIJK 79', David DODD 90'+1)
Wellington Phoenix                              1 (Chris GREENACRE 27')
Referee: Alan Milliner
Crowd: 6,307

Hyundai A-League 2009/10 League Table

Hyundai A-League 2009/10 - Leading Goal-Scorers

11 - Shane SMELTZ

9 - Robbie FOWLER

8 - Archie THOMPSON, Sergio VAN DIJK

6 - Mark BRIDGE, Carlos HERNANDEZ, Paul IFILL

5 - Chris GREENACRE, Branko JELIC, REINALDO, Matt SIMON, Mile STERJOVSKI

4 - John ALOISI, Michael BRIDGES, Labinot HALITI, Victor SIKORA

3 - Alex BROSQUE, Tim BROWN, Steve CORICA, CRISTIANO, HENRIQUE, John HUTCHINSON, Daniel MCBREEN, Nik MRDJA, Lucas PANTELIS, Wayne SRHOJ, Matt THOMPSON

2 - Leo BERTOS, Pedj BOJIC, CASSIO, DANIEL CORTES, Jason CULINA, Dyron DAAL, Mate DUGANDZIC, Steven FITZSIMMONS, Rostyn GRIFFITHS, Jason HOFFMAN, Adam KWASNIK, Matthew LECKIE, Adrian LEIJER, Adriano PELLEGRINO, Joel PORTER, Jin-Hyung SONG, Nicky TRAVIS, Nick WARD

1 - Danny ALLSOPP, Costa BARBAROUSES, Nigel BOOGAARD, Grant BREBNER, Scott BULLOCH, Isaka CERNAK, Kofi DANNING, David DODD, Travis DODD, Ahmad ELRICH, Ney FABIANO, Iain FYFE, Brendan GAN, Chris GROSSMAN, Troy HEARFIELD, Dean HEFFERNAN, Todd HOWARTH, Adam Hughes, Karol KISEL, Robbie KRUSE, Michael MCGLINCHEY, Terry MCFLYNN, Charlie MILLER, Tahj MINNIECON, MILSON, Craig MOORE, Kevin MUSCAT, Jason NAIDOVSKI, Mitch NICHOLS, Lloyd OWUSU, Tomislav PONDELJAK, Sean ROONEY, Ben SIGMUND, John TAMBOURAS, Danny TIATTO, Alex WILKINSON