Sunday, September 19, 2010

Victory fail to score again


Melbourne Victory is gradually climbing the A-League ladder after a slow start to the season.


They got their second goalless draw in four days when they drew 0-0 away to North Queensland Fury in Townsville yesterday afternoon.


Carlos Hernandez almost fooled Fury goalkeeper Justin Pasfield in the 2nd minute with a long-range swerving shot, but the keeper woke up in time and was able to catch the ball.


Chris Grossman went close for the Fury in the 12th minute when he just reached Osama Malik’s pass from the right, but he could only pull the ball wide of the target.


Ten minutes after the interval, Fury came close to scoring twice. First, a marvellous strike by Ufuk Talay from the left produced a fine save from Michael Petkovic and, from the resultant corner, taken by Talay, Malik headed centimetres wide.


A Talay corner again spelled trouble for Victory in the 81st minute as David Williams managed to fire in a shot that was headed wide for a corner by Adrian Leijer, with Petkovic scrambling unsuccessfully to cover the initial shot.


Victory squandered a great chance to steal the three points in the final minute when substitute Geoff Kellaway shot wildly from the left, the ball harmlessly clearing the crossbar as the unmarked Tom Pondeljak waited expectantly at the far post.


The Fury are 8th on the ladder.


Grossman and Gareth Edds were cautioned for the Fury, as was Victory’s Brazilian import, Ricardinho, the latter for a bad tackle from behind on Fury captain, Talay.

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