Melbourne Victory proved far too strong for Doveton SC on Sunday afternoon, securing a 5-0 win to round out the club’s NPL Family Day.
Team News
Head coach Joe Palatsides made two changes to his XI as Kasey Bos and Damien Bozinovski replaced Josh Inserra and Franco Lino in defence, with both Inserra and Lino unavailable due to international duty with Australia’s U18’s squad.
Summary
A healthy crowd turned out at Epping Stadium as part of Victory’s NPL Family Day, as the boys in blue went in search of their tenth win of the season.
The game did not take long to spark into life, as a poor challenge on Kasey Bos after just five minutes prompted a red card for Doveton, reducing the visitors to 10 players for the majority of the match.
Victory quickly made their numerical advantage count, with Noah Spaseski latching onto a cross to send the ball into the back of the net a few minutes later.
An ideal start for Palatsides’ side, who almost had a second goal right away when Jordi Valadon fired a free kick on target, but the Doveton goalkeeper was able to palm the ball away.
Victory’s second goal arrived from a clever set piece routine on the half hour mark, as Austin Ganino’s flick-on header was directed expertly into the path of Adem Duratovic, who finished off the chance with a header of his own.
As the half-time break neared Victory appeared to be heading in with a handy two goal advantage, but a late flurry in first half stoppage time ensured the game was almost beyond doubt at the interval.
Kasey Bos and Austin Ganino each added their name to the scoresheet in quick succession, giving their side a 4-0 lead heading into the second 45.
Palatsides took the opportunity to make two half-time substitutions with the game well and truly under control.
Kayne Razmovski and Josh Francou were brought on for the second period, replacing Bos and Marc Latsis.
Christian Siciliano had enjoyed a relatively quiet afternoon but was called into action on the hour mark when a Doveton counter-attack led to a one-on-one opportunity. Siciliano though got down well to his left, snuffing out the chance.
Victory’s fifth came from the penalty spot, when a clever cross from Ganino found Spaseski in the box who was brought down from behind.
Duratovic was the man who stepped up to convert the opportunity, securing his second goal of the afternoon.
George Karvounis, Nathan Stamatelos and Jack Pope were each brought off the bench across the final 30 minutes as Palatsides made full use of his outfield substitutions.
Victory were generally content to manage the game for the rest of the second half, denying Doveton opportunities by maintaining possession inside the visitors’ half.
5-0 remained the score when the full-time whilst blew, as Victory claimed their second consecutive win with an impressive display.
Head Coach Joe Palatsides’ post-match thoughts
On the performance:
“We had a bit of a rocky start, they started off a bit better than us.”
“But then obviously there was that really bad tackle which I thought the referee dealt with really well. That gave us a significant advantage.”
“I thought the boys managed the advantage pretty well. We controlled the game. We were really focused and made sure our concentration didn’t lapse.”
“In particular Damien Bozinovski and Kasey Bos who came into the XI, I thought they filled in really well. It was also good to see Kayne Razmovski back.”
On playing against 10 for the majority of the game:
“Sometimes playing against 10 can actually make things a bit more difficult because it allows the opponents to fall into a really low block and just defend the 18-yard box.”
“It becomes really tough if you can’t drag them out of position.”
“Today though I thought we dealt with it very well.”
“Tactically we changed very little at half-time seeing as the score was in our favour. It was more about making sure we kept control of the game and continued to create chances.”
On NPL Family Day:
“We were all pretty excited about the Family Day taking place.”
“It’s good to focus on the academy a bit and all of the great kids we’ve got in our junior teams.”
“For the families, supporters and the community in general – it’s a great initiative.”
Next Up
Victory next face a tough away trip as they head to Ballarat Regional Soccer Facility to take on Ballarat City on Saturday 17 June, kicking off at 3:00pm AEST.
NPL3 Victoria 2023 Round 13
Melbourne Victory 5 (Spaseski 9′, Duratovic 30′, 63′ (pen), Bos 45+2′, Ganino 45+4′)
Doveton SC 0
Melbourne Victory U23s starting XI: Christian Siciliano (GK), Ryan Lethlean (c), Alex Menelaou, Adem Duratovic, Jordi Valadon, Tim Atherinos, Austin Ganino, Noah Spaseski, Marc Latsis, Kasey Bos, Damien Bozinovski