Melbourne Victory 2-0 Brisbane Roar
by Alyce Collett (19/4/25)
Above: Melbourne Victory celebrate today with goalscorers Alex Chidiac (facing camera) and Nikki Flannery (far right). Photo: Melbourne Victory.
Melbourne Victory have had a solid tune-up for finals after defeating Brisbane Roar 2-0 this afternoon. The Victory were in control for much of the match, and goals from Nikki Flannery and Alex Chidiac saw them come away with the chocolates.
The initial stages of the match saw the Victory dominate in terms of the territory battle, but a tight pressing Brisbane defence meant that the Victory never really looked like scoring. The Roar did eventually even out the territory battle, but a well-positioned home defence meant that the Queenslanders also did not really look like scoring.
As the half progressed, the field play really opened up. Although scoring threats rarely came, the match was really free-flowing and intriguing to watch as one-on-one battles became a key part of it.
Victory thought they might have had the first goal of the match about 40 minutes in, after Rachel Lowe tapped in from a well-timed Flannery cross, but an offside call made it invalid.
Flannery did not have to wait too long to score a goal that counted, though, after she curled in a shot from out wide and right into the opposite top corner of Brisbane’s goal mere minutes later.
The half time stats told a very interesting tale.
The Victory were comfortably leading the possession tally (55.6% to 44%), but the Roar finished the first half with four more shots on goal than the hosts recorded. However, both of Victory’s shots were on target, while only one of Brisbane’s six shots was.
The home side had a second goal not even 10 minutes into the second half after Chidiac nutmegged poor Keeley Richards, and the ball went into the back of the net.
Things went from bad to worse for the Roar not even five minutes later when Momo Hayashi was given a straight red card and Leia Varley was forced off the field due to injury.
Brisbane did have a few moments of spark in the second half, but the Victory were in control. They held more of the possession and got very close to scoring again on several occasions.
As a sign of how in control of the match Jeff Hopkins felt his side was in, he really utilised his young bench and gave some decent rest to some of the hardest runners in his team. This also saw a first appearance for the season from the much-loved Paige Zois, who is now back from injury just in time to influence her team’s Finals campaign.
Teams: MELBOURNE VICTORY (4-4-2): Newbon, Jancevski, Morrison, Bunge, Pickett, Chidiac, Murphy, D’Appolonia, Furphy, Flannery, Lowe. Substitutes: Curtis, O’Grady, Techera, Young, Zois.
Goals: Flannery 43’, Chidiac 54’.
BRISBANE ROAR (4-3-3): Richards, De La Harpe, McQueen, Varley, Blissett, Pringle, Hayashi, Hecher, Kruger, Yallop. Substitutes: Kuilamu, Morris, Cuthbert, Hoyos, Gibbon.
Referee: Izzy Cooper.
Attendance: 1,740.
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