Jim Magilton’s tenure in charge of Melbourne Victory has begun with a 1-1 draw against Adelaide United at AAMI Park on Friday night.
Jim Magilton’s tenure in charge of Melbourne Victory has begun with a 1-1 draw against Adelaide United at AAMI Park on Friday night.
Looking to build on the momentum of last week’s 2-1 defeat of Newcastle Jets in front of 20,559 fans, Victory took the lead after just six minutes thanks to Archie Thompson’s seventh goal of the campaign.
But Sergio van Dijk, who scored twice as Adelaide United beat Melbourne Heart at the same venue two weeks ago, scored his fourth goal in three games to help the Reds to a point.
Thompson terrorised the Adelaide defence in the early stages, almost finding the opener in just the fifth minute before he did so only a minute later but van Dijk equalised in the 53rd minute in a game where the teams eventually shared the points.
In the opening minutes Kewell put Thompson into the clear and it was only a desperate touch from goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic that helped the ball onto the far post to avert the danger.
But within seconds there was little Galekovic could do as Kewell got the ball again deep on the left, evaded Zenon Caravella and Matthew Watson and then fired in a low cross for Thompson to meet it and push it past the keeper with Anthony Golec also in the vicinity.
Having been dominated in the opening 15 minutes as they were pressured at every turn, Adelaide gradually worked their way into the game from when van Dijk put his header over the top.
But while possession was hard fought it was Victory who continued to have the better of the chances as Danny Allsopp’s hard running came to the fore.
A scrambled shot after a corner from skipper Adrian Leijer was on target in the 26th minute but was blocked by the defence before a minute later Matthew Watson was teed up down the right but blasted over.
Bruce Djite took a shot on the turn inside the final 10 minutes before the break but pushed it wide while a superb ball from Carlos Hernandez put Thompson into space and he curled his shot past the desperate Galekovic only for it to be cleared by Daniel Mullen.
Hernandez almost doubled the advantage a couple of minutes after the resumption when his free kick was curling towards the goal from the left, helped by a slight glancing header from Nigel Boogaard, only for a diving Galekovic to again save the day.
Allsopp could also have made it 2-0 in the 49th minute with a diving header after he was teed up by Kewell but again the ball flew wide and minutes later the game was back on level terms from a Dario Vidosic corner.
Boogaard headed against the crossbar with Ante Covic beaten but the ball fortunately fell for van Dijk who reacted quickest to lift the ball into the goal with his left foot.
Kewell was unlucky not to break the deadlock with 21 minutes remaining when he got around Antony Golec and charged into the box, only to smash his left-footer against the crossbar.
Magilton made changes in the final half an hour, bringing on Jean Carlos Solorzano for Allsopp, Diogo Ferreira for Hernandez and eventually Petar Franjic for Grant Brebner but they were unable to find a winner.
The best of the late chances came as Solorzano beat three defenders and then cut a brilliant ball inside for Thompson but he misread the line of the ball and it rolled harmlessly to Galekovic.
Melbourne Victory 1 (Thompson 6)
Adelaide United 1 (van Dijk 53)
