Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat praised Marco Rojas and Fahid Ben Khalfallah for their standout performances in the 4-1 win over Central Coast Mariners but maintains it does not happen without teammates.
Rojas netted a brace in the space of two minutes with Ben Khalfallah involved in both goals as Victory placed three past Paul Izzo in the second half.
Muscat was pleased with his wingers but highlighted the build-up and behind the scenes work which led to the goal.
“Marco gets his goals in the second half, but both of them are causing a hell of a lot of problems in the first half,” Muscat said.
“I’ll say it all the time, he doesn’t get that opportunity, if Carl’s (Valeri) not cleaning the mess behind him, if Leigh’s (Broxham) not winning the ball back in transition to give him the ball.
“Rather than sing the praises of an individual, when someone shines in our team it’s because of the work everyone else is doing.”
Muscat was adamant every player would have involvement in his team before the end of the season.
Centre-back James Donachie is still in favour over Nick Ansell and the Victory boss challenged the young defenders to compete.
“I thought James was suberb, even Alan (Baro) as well, he was exceptional tonight,” he said.
“Any danger which came, was, Connor hits a strike from the 18-yard box and Lawrence has saved and apart from that there wasn’t many opportunities they didn’t stop.
”He’s coming along playing well and knows both Nick is tapping on their shoulders, it’s great for the squad when you’ve got that healthy rivalry and competition for places.”
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