Kruse makes presence felt
Victory back on winners’ list
ROBBIE Kruse proved the hero Melbourne Victory needed to breathe life into its ailing season with a 1-0 win over Perth Glory at AAMI Park last night.
In his first start since returning to the club, Kruse set the tone with a clattering challenge on Ivan Franjic.
The Socceroo maintained that intensity in a dominant performance highlighted by scoring the matchwinner.
While Victory’s performance was not completely convincing, it should ease the pressure on boss Marco Kurz — whose image on the screen pre-game attracted a rumbling of boos from a small section of the 13,084 home crowd.
The Victory coach had emphasised the need for his team to get back to basics after a lacklustre loss to Adelaide and from the opening minutes, there was improved intent and aggression about his side.
Victory’s night was complicated before it started.
Storm Roux was a late withdrawal with illness, with Brandon Lauton expected to replace him at right-back.
Then Lauton pulled up with back tightness in the warm-up and was in turn replaced by Anthony Lesiotis.
Those pre-game setbacks did not seem to affect the Victory, who dominated the early exchanges as the vaunted attacking trio of Kruse, Ola Toivonen and Andrew Nabbout looked threatening.
After dominating for half an hour, the breakthrough came in the 33rd minute.
Jakob Poulsen found Adama Traore, who hesitated for a moment and whipped a cross to meet Nabbout at the back post.
He turned on the ball but found enough control to slide it across goal for Kruse to tap home ahead of Gregory Wuthrich.
Perth regained a foothold in the match after halftime, with Bruno Fornaroli wriggling free of Leigh Broxham to hit the post in the 50th minute; Alex Grant’s header clipped the bar 10 minutes later.
While Perth dominated possession, Victory seemed largely content to soak up pressure and play on the counter.
Kruse was applauded from the field in the 88th minute before celebrations intensified to mark Victory’s second win of the season.