Pondeljak opened the scoring for Victory in the 21st minute before O'Dea marked his Victory debut, by doubling the advantage with 15 minutes remaining.

Kurt Crnic pulled one back for Bentleigh in the 85th minute and it needed a terrific stop by Victory keeper Sebastian Mattei to deny the state team a leveller.

Pondeljak tapped the ball home from a goalmouth scramble to open the scoring in the 21st minute.

The second half saw Victory lift their intensity as Costa Rican import Marvin Angulo forced two saves from the Bentleigh stopper in a matter of minutes.

But while Angulo couldn't quite find the back of the net, O'Dea, recently signed to a National Youth League contract at the club, netted in the 75th minute after coming on as a second-half substitute.

There was still time for Crnic to pull one back in the 85th minute from a good cross by Anthony Selemidis, while the pair combined three minutes later to create another chance, only to be denied by the rock-solid Mattei.