Victory back to basics in repelling Roar

IT WASN'T pretty, but it was highly effective. And the 1-0 win over Brisbane Roar, the fact that no injuries were picked up and the reintroduction of several players who had been injured means that Melbourne Victory has set itself up nicely for next weekend's home clash with Gold Coast United.

Victory boss Ernie Merrick will not be concerned about any short-term criticism of a performance that lacked any of the hubris or swagger that might be expected of champions but instead went back to basics.

Roar exerted much of the pressure but was unable to break down the Melbourne defence, which, for the first time in a long time, defended as a unit and got numbers behind the ball to thwart any incursion.

So great was the Roar pressure, and so deep did Melbourne defend, that often the ball was cleared from the penalty area to no one but an opposition player in acres of space because they had all 11 of their own men behind the ball.

Merrick said yesterday that he had not set out to ''park the bus'', but when Brisbane threw so much at his side, it had little option but to sit back and absorb punishment with all hands to the pump.

Merrick made a big statement of his own, dropping goalkeeper Glen Moss and bringing in 21-year-old Mitchell Langerak for his first start of the season.

Langerak acquitted himself well, kept a clean sheet and will definitely get a run of games now.

Merrick said that Moss needed a break. ''Let's not forget that Glen Moss has been part of getting us to second position in the league … so Glen has done a great job.

''But by his own admission, his standards, which are high, he's not happy with the way he's playing … so we chatted about that and his attitude has been fantastic … we will give Mitch a bit of a run to see how he goes for a while.''

Langerak made some routine saves, including one parry from a stinging Danny Tiatto free kick that came at a good height for a keeper, and one good one to deny Charlie Miller right at the start of the second half.

He was beaten once, by Josh McCloughan's second-half header, but referee Ben Williams ruled that Craig Moore had interfered with the keeper as he came for the corner.

How much the win meant, after the 4-0 mauling at home by Central Coast Mariners in round 14 and the earlier 3-0 loss to Sydney, was evident by the post-match reactions of Merrick and captain Kevin Muscat.

''It's the sort of club where expectations are very high, and when you cop seven goals at home in two matches, it hurt the players, so it was very important,'' Merrick said.

''… they have had to suffer that for two weeks, so they wanted to come up here and keep a clean sheet and they did a great job.''

Muscat, who after the game refused to shake Brisbane midfielder Matt McKay's hand for some behaviour the Victory captain would not discuss, said: ''It was a long 10 to 12 days walking around Melbourne with that hanging over your head, so it was good to get a chance to get a result.

''We defended in numbers, it was a collective effort to get a result. Sometimes you are a victim of your own success. Sometimes when you throw so many bodies forward to score goals, you concede goals.''

Central Coast, so impressive when beating Melbourne, continued its hot streak by demolishing North Queensland 5-1 in Townsville to leave Fury at the bottom of the table.

The Mariners are now only four points behind Melbourne with a massive plus-13 goal difference and look real title challengers.

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