Heart Pain Again

Heart Pain Again

Melbourne Heart coach John Aloisi after the match

By Mark Humphrey

The local Melbourne Derby was on again last weekend between the A-League’s Melbourne Heart and the Melbourne Victory at Heart’s headquarters AAMI Stadium.

Perfect conditions greeted the teams as they embarked on another classic Hyundai A-League Derby with Heart’s Harry Kewell leading out the team to a thunderous roar from the Heart supporters.Superstar Harry Kewell was a breathe of fresh air but couldn't halt the Victory force

With a crowd of more than 26,000 the atmosphere throughout the night was electric with the Victory supporter base out gunning the home team for most of the night. It was a fantastic spectacle to witness thousands of Victory fans waving and singing in sync helped along by an unstoppable Victory team as they marched to a 3-1 win over the luckless Heart.

The game started off in typical fashion with neither team getting the ascendancy early.  Heart’s Behich got the first shot away inside the first 3 minutes with a strike that was well wide. Mifsud was at his usual best making opportunities for himself and team mates in front of goal but like in many of the previous Heart games the #11 never looked like scoring. A diving save by Victory keeper Nathan Coe was the closest Mifsud come to scoring in a hectic 15 minute period. Ably assisting Mifsud was Heart’s Mate Dugandzic who was creating plenty of attacking opportunities for his teammates up forward. Dugandzic finished up being one of Heart’s better players on the night with his hard running and ability to split up the sides.Heart's Mate Dugandzic battle hard all night for the reds and had a good tussle with Victory's Adama Traore

At the other end of the pitch the Victory superstars were slowing working their way into the game with a free kick awarded just outside the big box. A deliberate cover and subsequent strike by the Victory was defended well by the Heart defence as tempers started to flare. Kewell and Victory’s Pain exchanged heated words with a closely followed Red Card to Heart’s Patrick Kisnorbo after a tackle on Pain. With 20 gone in the match Heart coach Aloisi now faced the scenario of being a man down which I’m sure thrilled him to bits.

Victory could feel the tide turning and upped the ante with solid attacking football keeping Heart goalie Andy Redmayne busy guessing where the next attack was coming from. Troisi took a Victory free kick in front of goals but was well wide. With plenty of heat still in the game Pain laid a crude tackle on Heart’s Murdocca which sent the Heart supporters into a spin calling for a Red Card on Pain.In everything early with plenty of aggression was Victory's Connor Pain.

With 25 minutes gone in the first half, Heart coach John Aloisi subbed out Mifsud for Patrick Gerhardt. Although striker David Williams had been serviceable for the Heart up until this point of the match, the replacement of Mifsud with Gerhardt seemed to get Williams into top gear. Whether the substitution had any impact on Williams or not doesn’t matter as Williams constantly looked threatening running down the side lines. Easily one of the better games Williams had played this season which seemed to kick start from the Mifsud substitution.No doubt one of Heart's shining lights on the night was David Williams.

Kewell who was also having some influence for Heart had stalled going into attack before he set up a perfectly placed cross for a Williams header which was kept out by Coe. Once again Williams looked like scoring for Heart and it seemed only a matter of time before the Heart was on the board.

With 35 gone in the first half Victory’s Barbarouses had a long range shot which was barely kept out by Redmayne. A magnificent strike with an equally impressive save by Redmayne who for the better part of the season has been a shining light for Heart barely putting a foot wrong.One of the most influential players on the night was Victory's Kosta Barbarouses.

The Victory forwards by now were starting to attack the goals in waves with Nichols, Troisi, Pain and Barbarouses combining to mount unbelievable pressure on the Heart defence. A (what looked to be)  lazily clearing kick by Redmayne was pounced on by the Victory forwards and sent straight back to a waiting Nichols who made no mistake and put the ball into the back of the net to give Victory a 1-0 lead with 38 minutes gone in the first half. You could see Redmayne’s head drop as the Victory went on their celebration march. Aloisi would have been thinking not again as a crucial mistake by one of his players once again put the Heart on the back foot.Ever reliable goal keeper Andy Redmayne in easier times clears to Robbie Wielaert

With the confidence of the Heart players sapped the Victory smelt blood and went on the attack. Barbarouses who was already busy just stepped it up a gear and started to inflict damage on the Heart defence. It just looked a matter of time before the Victory would score again with Nichols, Troisi and Pain completely dominating the forward area. Victory’s Adama Traore had a genuine attack on the goals which was eventually thwarted by a desperate Murdocca who hadn’t stopped trying. Connor Pain immediately got involved and put one past Redmayne to what looked a certain goal only to strike the upright post and bounce back into play. Moments later Traore completely out worked the Heart defence and cleverly got a perfectly placed cross over to Pain who’s subsequent strike was just wide.

With the half time break signalled Melbourne Victory led 1-0 with signs of more to come. For the last 15 minutes of the half the Victory forwards had completely dominated the play and looked on several occasions to score heavily. When the ball come out of the Victory forward half captain Mark Milligan simply organised his troops to send it straight back.

For the Heart striker David Williams definitely looked the sharpest option up forward to score and was well supported by Murdocca and Dugandzic who was having one of his better games for the Melbourne Heart.

With the second half action under way Nichols and Pain immediately combined for a shot on goal which went high. Williams once again for the Heart was creating opportunities up forward and looked to score after getting on the end of a Kewell pass. Minutes later a superbly controlled ball by Kewell is once again just wide of scoring.

With 54 gone in the match a crude tackle by Gerhardt gives the Victory a free kick just outside the box. Milligan took the shot which sailed high over the top. Moments later Traore was involved in another shot on goal this time getting past several Heart defenders with brilliant footwork to set up Nichols. Nichols shot on goal went wide but by now the Victory were attacking in waves and it just seemed a matter of time before the Victory would post number 2 goal.

With 55 gone in the match a combination of passes between Troisi and Nichols eventually finished with Troisi putting the ball into the back of the net to give the Victory their second goal. Victory 2-0 after 55 minutes.  One of Victory's goal scorers James Troisi gets one away.

8 minutes later Nichols found himself on the end of a deft pass and breezed past Redmayne to post Victory’s 3^rd goal. In a 10 minute period of complete dominance the Victory were able to score twice to put the game out of Heart’s reach. On many occasions this season the Heart with patches of complete dominance in play have threatened to do the same thing against their opposition with one glaring result, they don’t score.

With the game well gone it would have been easy for the Heart to throw in the towel as they faced their 16^th loss on the trot. To the credit of this group they kept at it with Dugandzic and Kalmar combining for a shot on goal from the boot of Kalmar which just managed to go wide. A free kick to Dugandzic was set up in front of goal barely a metre out. Victory’s Coe attacked the ball and attempted to clear it from the danger zone. An errant ricochet off the head of Kalmar goes in for Heart’s 1^st goal of the match at the 80 minute mark. Fortunate for Melbourne Heart and just plain unlucky for Victory’s keeper Nathan Coe who had done an outstanding job all night.

Melbourne Heart followed up going once again deep into their scoring territory courtesy of a Williams pass to Dugandzic who was unable to control the pass resulting in yet another missed opportunity.

With minutes left in the match Barbarouses finished off where he started by getting past Redmayne for a shot on goal that just slipped past the net. This was virtually the last play of the night with Victory dominating the match to easily win 3-1.

For Heart coach John Aloisi the scrutiny no doubt will start again. Having lost the last 16 games with just 3 more losses away from the all-time A-League losing record it’s hard to imagine Aloisi surviving the media scrutiny that comes with failure.

It seems a touch unfair that Aloisi has to cop the lot as no doubt the early Red Card on Kisnorbo had an impact on the result. If you look deeper into the match the unexplainable play by Redmayne (who has served Aloisi so brilliantly this year) was yet another situation out of Aloisi’s control but one that might bring him down.

Experts have opinions on the fate of Aloisi but the facts are that Melbourne Heart is not scoring. There have been numerous occasions in past games where the team should have scored and didn’t. Often the opposition team will score from exactly the same scenario yet Heart seems incapable of it. Maybe the heat should be on these players who are paid and expected to score.

David Williams looks by far the best option of scoring especially when Kewell is setting him up but unfortunately too many of his shots are just missing. Mifsud is another who continually wastes shots at goal. It an issue that opposition teams don’t seem to have.

For Victory their next encounter is at AAMI Stadium on the 28^th where they host the Wanderers.

Heart hosts the Phoenix the night before also at AAMI Stadium.

For more info go to http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/aleague/home

IMAGES FROM THE GAME

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