Victory came away with a 3-1 win in a game played behind closed doors at AAMI Park on Wednesday afternoon.

The Victorians looked stronger and maintained the intensity for a full 90 minutes.

They continue their pre-season against Adelaide United at Coopers Stadium next week.

Muscat said he was especially pleased with Mitch Austin, Marco Rojas and James Troisi.

“Structurally we were sound and we got through that front press a number of occasions we could’ve been more productive in breaking through that next line,” Muscat said.

“Once we did get the ball to Mitch and Marco in wide areas where they were isolated, they looked dangerous, from that perspective I’m relatively pleased.

“The boys have worked extremely hard and even at the end you could hear us, we wanted to maintain the intensity, from that perspective you’ve got to really.

“There’s a lot of competition for places now and I know we say that every year and I’m genuine when I say it.”

Rojas was involved in the first goal which saw Mitch Austin brought to the box by Rhyan Grant for a penalty, which was converted by Besart Berisha.

Victory’s second goal caught the Sky Blues on the break which saw a sizzling through ball by Troisi for Rojas to stake his claim.

The front three were Rojas on the right, Austin on the left and Troisi as a central striker.

Muscat admitted it may vary throughout the season with the versatility in the team, but was happy with the performance of the Kiwi.

“You can see he’s (Rojas) got ability, he’s got very good technique and he’s sharp,” he said.

“You could just sense when the ball got to him and he isolated his fullback, there was a little bit of panic because he can certainly beat his defender.

“At this point in time we’ve settled in how we want to play, you can just see in James as well, once he gets some minutes under his belt, he wants to break forward and get into goal scoring positions.

“He’s quality and the ball from the second goal was outstanding, he combined with Marco with a good finish. I like him in around those areas centrally because I want him on the ball as much as possible.

“Marco does drift inside and he can combine with James, I don’t mind that and you might see a little bit different, as long as we do come inside, we’ve got to retain possession of the ball.

“I enjoyed that and I’m for the group because we asked for some progress and we’re not there yet, but we’ve made some progress.”

Photo: Anita Milas