BILLED AS… Muscat's men versus Moore's Roar: but could either score?

IN REALITY… Victory could score. Twice. But for 66 minutes, it looked like neither would in a turgid encounter that was only brought to life by impish scamp Archie Thompson. It was his magic after 66 tiresome minutes that resulted in a penalty that was coolly converted by Muscat. And the Socceroo striker finished off Roar with a nifty strike. It wasn't pretty, but it was three points, two goals and one very happy Ernie Merrick.

THE GOOD… Victory fans. Grand Final weekend in the AFL and NRL, and a rainy lead up still saw over 25,000 Victory fans turn up and keep cheering despite the poor fare for most of the game. Oh, and Michael Zullo impresses each time he comes on for Roar, as does Adrian Caceres for Victory.

THE BAD… The first half. Stunk it up big time.

THE UGLY… The pitch. With NRL and AFL having been played on it, the surface was not conducive to good football. And with the markings still evident to a degree, the pitch looked like a patchwork quilt.

THEY SAID WHAT… Archie Thompson: "It's been a long time coming and I think a lot of the guys thought we should've got three points in some of the first matches we played, but thanks to my trusty Powerade it was a good win. It's been a long time, that corner flag has just been eyeing me off for the last couple of weeks and it's just finally good to get a win, especially in front of our crowd who are still coming out in numbers and they are still believing in us. We proved a point tonight that we are still a good championship side."

THE FALLOUT… Victory head into the superclassico with Sydney next week knowing they are now hitting some form. For Queensland, could it be time to bring out the blood and bones voodoo magic to cure its scoring woes ahead of the Phoenix match?

Victory
Michael Theoklitos, Kevin Muscat (cp), Daniel Piorkowski, Steve Pantelidis, Grant Brebner, Danny Allsopp (Adrian Caceres 62’), Archie Thompson (Carlos Hernandez 90’+), Joseph Keenan (Sebastian Ryall 79’), Rodrigo Vargas, Leandro Love, Leigh Broxham
Bookings Grant Brebner 50’, Daniel Piorkowski 58’, Joseph Keenan 74'

Goalscorers Kevin Muscat 68', Archie Thompson 85'

Roar
Liam Reddy, Craig Moore (cp), Josh McCloughan, Massimo Murdocca, Simon Lynch (Michael Zullo 71’), Reinaldo, Matt McKay, Hyuk-Su Seo (Ben Griffin 85’), Danny Tiatto, Sasa Ognenovski, Marcinho (Ante Milicic 71’)

Bookings Tiatto 45’, Ognenovski 67’, Murdocca 81’, Reinaldo 88’

Goalscorers None

MATCHRATING: 3/5