Attacking with pace and more importantly, purpose, the visitors won 2-1 at AAMI Park to take all three points home to Brisbane.

The first half saw Victory launch most of the often toothless attacks only to be hit by two Roar sucker punches. Brisbane drove forward with intent every time they won the ball and they positioned themselves well enough to win the ball high.

The team with the oldest average age (33.4) in Australian football history won the game tonight. Is that a good thing?

Melbourne Victory

Lawrence Thomas – 6

The Victory custodian did well to recover from his awful head injury last week. He didn’t have much to do other than pick the ball up out of the net.

Leigh Broxham – 5

It was his poor clearing header that led to Brisbane’s first goal. He didn’t get forward enough down the left either.

Rhys Williams – 5.5

With a lot of the pre-game talk centred on his Socceroo hopes he might have put a bit too much pressure on himself tonight. Both Victory centre halves were guilty of turning the ball over but their midfielders were at fault here too from bad positioning and presenting.  

James Donachie – 6.5

Took him a while to shrug off an early knock to the hip but he went on to be Victory’s strongest performer in defence. Constantly cut out Brisbane attacks. That said, he was guilty of getting too close to Maccarone for the Italian’s goal.

Jason Geria – 6

Came to life in the second half. He has been excellent for Victory this season but he needs to get the confidence to shoot.

Carl Valeri – 5

He didn’t do enough to protect the Victory back four tonight. His role is to play as the more defensive midfielder in the Victory line up but he didn’t fill that role well enough in the first half. He was caught out of position on several occasions and wasn’t quick enough to adjust to the fast Brisbane counterattacks.

Matias Sanchez – 3

Won himself a yellow card but didn’t win much else.

Terry Antonis – 5.5

Taking Troisi’s place as Victory’s number ten his passing game was good but not good enough to create decent opportunities. He was more effective in the second half when he dropped deeper. Victory need his energy there.  

Leroy George – 5.5

A frustrating game for one of the players of the season so far. Nothing seemed to go right for the Victory attackers tonight.

Kosta Barbarouses – 5.5

He has been having a good season but he wasn’t at his best tonight. Not entirely his fault. Victory are predictable and Brisbane worked hard to shut him down.

Besart Berisha – 4

His 100th game for Victory and quite possibly his worst. Passed when he should have shot, twice got in his team mate’s way and couldn’t get himself out from under Papadopoulos’s clutches.

SUBS

James Troisi – 6

Scored a wonderful goal. Hopefully his stint on the bench spurs him on to further good performances. Like all of the Victory team, he's become a bit too predictable.

Kenny Athiu – 5

Not a bad cameo from ‘King Kenny’. Didn’t have many chances to influence the game but his physical presence alone put Papadopoulos

Josh Hope – 5  

He was a little off the pace when he came on but after a couple of mistakes he adapted and made an impact. Hopefully he gets more opportunities as Victory enter their busy period of the season.

Brisbane Roar

Jamie Young – 7

Excellent keeping again tonight. Made a good save in the first half that might have changed the game and commanded his area relatively well after that. Was a little hesitant once or twice but it didn’t come back to bite him.

Jack Hingert – 6.5

Brisbane had done their homework and their fullbacks upped their defensive work tonight. Hingert did well to stifle almost everything Barbarouses and George (they switched wings a couple of times) threw at him.

Jade North – 6.5

The quiet achiever of the Brisbane backline tonight. He was almost able to play as an old fashioned sweeper tonight. Papadopoulos rarely let go of Berisha and this let North sweep up any of the scraps.

Avram Papadopoulos – 8

Wouldn’t let Berisha have a moment of peace. He was a beast in the heart of the Brisbane defence. Under a lot of pressure in the second half he wasn’t beaten.

Ivan Franjic – 6.5

Good defensive work tonight. He’s a better player when he bombs forward and attacks down the line but the way the game panned out he didn’t need to do much of that tonight.

Thomas Kristensen – 7

Was able to intercept a lot of balls from the Victory defenders. His ability to stifle this link between Victory’s lines put Muscat’s men under constant pressure in the first half. He positioned himself really well in front of the Roar defence and this was one of his best games of the season.

Matt Mackay – 6

Did his job to hold his position tonight. Kept the Victory midfield under pressure and played his part in winning the three points.

Fahid Ben Khalfallah – 6

Didn’t need to do much attacking tonight. Brisbane got one of their goals off his good work and when they were two up it was just a matter of keeping their lead.

Eric Bautheac – 6

He’s done something to annoy the referees in the league. He can’t seem to win a free kick.

Brett Holman – 7.5

Finished off a great Brisbane counter attack for his side’s second goal. His speed in attack and particularly his speed in transition caused a lot of problems for Victory tonight.  

Massimo Maccarone – 7.5

Scored a great opening goal after he latched onto a poor Victory clearance. He can be clinical when he’s at his best and he was tonight. As well as scoring and assisting he held the ball up well.

SUBS

Daniel Bowles – 5

Came on when it was all hands on deck to keep Victory at bay. Played his bit.

Corey Gameiro – 5

Coming on as a striker when your team is two nil up can either be fun or frustrating. It would have been frustrating for Gameiro tonight. He barely got a touch.

Shannon Brady – 5

Didn’t see much of the ball in his limited minutes.