Melbourne Victory head coach Kevin Muscat was left pleased and relieved with Saturday’s 2-0 win over Newcastle Jets at AAMI Park.
Despite being frustrated early in the game against an understrength Newcastle side, Victory scored twice in quick succession in the second half to secure its fourth win from its past five Hyundai A-League matches.
“It potentially could have been a dangerous game for us,” Muscat said after the match.
“Credit to (Newcastle coach) Mark Jones. They’ve had a number of injuries, and they came here with a game plan and in the first half they made it very difficult for us.
“I thought we were fine getting the ball out of our back third, the difficult thing was getting the first goal and that was always going to be the hardest thing for us.
“The final pass or strike in the last third didn’t come off for us early, and frustration built.
“In the second half I thought we corrected things and were receiving the ball in a lot more dangerous areas.
“Once we got the first goal it settled us down unbelievably, we kept possession and kept creating chances.
“I don’t think at any point we were in any danger of losing the game.
“I thought we were in control from the outset. It could have been a few more.
“The number of strikes on goal, number of opportunities, any other night it could be a bit more of a gap.”
Victory jumped into the top three on the Hyundai A-League ladder with a game in hand after beating the Jets, ahead of another home game against Perth Glory on Friday night. Tickets are available here.
Renew or join as a Melbourne Victory member and stand Arm in Arm with us in 2016/17. Click here for more details.
