Melbourne wins its second Hyundai A-League Championship
Melbourne Victory has claimed its second Hyundai A-League Championship, with a hard fought 1-0 win over Adelaide United at the Telstra Dome tonight.
In a pulsating clash, both sides had a man sent from the field, with Tom Pondeljak playing in his third Hyundai A-League Grand Final, grabbing the winner 15 minutes into the second half.
It wasn-t a classic grand final, but in terms of major talking points there were plenty with the two dismissals of Adelaide-s Cristiano after 10 minutes and then Danny Allsopp after 65 minutes.
Cristiano-s dismissal, for an elbow to the head of Rod Vargas, certainly changed the complexion of the match, as Adelaide had no choice but to throw everyone, bar Travis Dodd, behind the ball. Certainly the blood that was coming out of Vargas- head wound didn-t help Cristiano-s cause and referee Matthew Breeze after consulting with his linesman, showed the Brazilian a straight red card.
Five minutes after Melbourne had gone ahead through Pondeljak-s low drive from 20 metres, Allsopp found himself facing the wrath of Breeze, after a melee erupted in the box.
The big striker was pushed to the ground by angry Adelaide players and Breeze after again consulting with his linesman, Allsopp was shown a straight red card for initially instigating the incident.
The match as expected opened with a few niggly fouls and Adelaide certainly showed they were not going to sit back with Scott Jamieson pushing forward in attempt to keep Nick Ward from getting into dangerous forward positions.
Indeed Adelaide had some claims for a penalty after just three minutes, when Jamieson appeared to be held back by Ward as he surged into the penalty box, but Breeze waved play on.
But it was Ward that had the first real chance of the match, when he was able to skip clear of jamieson wide on the right and his shot from 18 metres was just wide.
Up the other end, Barbiero headed wide for Adelaide-s first chance at goal, but within minutes the game was turned on its head with Cristiano-s dismissal.
But as so happens when a side is reduced to 10-men they lift a gear and Melbourne apart from a few half chances, generally struggled to fin a way through.
Melbourne-s best chance came in the 27th minute, when Kevin Muscat played a delightful ball to Allsopp on the edge of the box and with one movement, he turned and snapped a shot at goal, which Galekovic did well to turn away.
Minutes later came Adelaide-s best chance of the half, when Jonas Salley was narrowly wide with a header from Jamieson-s superb free kick.
The second half, saw Adelaide come out and have a go at Melbourne.
Sasa Ognenovski saw a shot blocked in the 53rd minute and two minutes later Theoklitos produced a great reaction save with his legs to deny Jamieson from point blank range.
Adelaide kept coming forward and a minute later Dodd was denied by Theoklitos.
It was against the run of play that Melbourne took the lead, when Evan Berger played a nice backheel to Pondeljak and he cut inside and hit a curling shot that went through a sea of legs and Galekovic couldn-t react quick enough to prevent from going in.
But then Allsopp was sent off and Adelaide suddenly had renewed belief and Theoklitos saved at full stretch from Jamieson-s well hit free kick.
Adelaide substitute Paul Agostino should have done better when he missed Cassio-s cross with 10 minutes remaining, which proved the best opportunity for Adelaide to force the game into extra time.