Melbourne Victory v Adelaide United – Fri 19th October

Round 3 of the A-league season began on Friday night with Victory taking on arch rivals Adelaide at Etihad Stadium.

Mum and I arrived not long after the gates opened and secured great seats in the third row, right near one of the corners of the ground.  Getting there that early meant we had around 80 mins before the game started but it was worth it.

When the game started it seemed that Victory were going to play well.  Their speed was great and they weren’t allowing Adelaide to get in their offensive half (which was at our end).  After last week it was great to see them sticking to their game plan.  At half time the score was 0-0 but soon after Billy Celeski gave away a penalty to Adelaide who scored.  The tv commentators described it as a brain fade when I watched the reply.  I have to agree.  He seemed to put his forearm out and the ball hit below the elbow which is definitely a penalty.  Four minutes later Mark Milligan headed the ball in for a goal so we were back to 1-1.  The intensity soon stepped up as both teams knew they had to get another goal to secure the 3 points.   Not long after Archie Thompson kicked the ball into the goal square and Marco Rojas headed the ball but it hit the cross bar and bounced out.  He had another go and got it in this time.  Phew. I thought it was a great goal because he was ready for the rebound.  Sometimes players aren’t ready and miss the opportunity.

It was great to see Victory win after 2 losses in the first 2 games.  Final score was 2-1.