"With all due to respect to Melbourne Victory, as there's no doubt they deserved the win, I think their game is bordering between physicality and dirtiness," Bleiberg told Fox Sports after the game.

"They stretch it as much as the referee allows them to stretch it. They kept going with it.

"The tackle on Bas van den Brink was not even in the first 120 seconds and we lost a key player for a simple tackle from someone doing it week-in week-out.

"They're experienced enough to stretch the referee's patience and I was amazed to see at the end of the game Melbourne Victory got one yellow card. You might think you played against a church team."

Bleiberg added: "The main difference in the game was we lost Shane Smeltz because of the flu and from the other side Danny Allsopp was the hero of the day. He was in top shape and scored two good goals. It's the misfortune of one team and the good fortune of the other team."

Victory coach Ernie Merrick was pleased to see his side finish off a busy period of games with a win.

"We had four games in 11 days, we've won two and drawn one," he said. "The way the group has pulled together, it's been good to be a part of it."

Merrick was cool on talk of chasing a top-four finish which would give the club a home final, preferring to focus on reaching the finals first.

"It's not something I'm concerned about," he said. "I'm concerned about result first, performance second at the moment and today was a change from the last game in that we had a great result and great performance from beginning to the end."

Both sides are back in action on Wednesday, when Victory host Newcastle Jets, while Gold Coast entertain third-placed Adelaide.