Soccer: Victory finally for Melbourne

The much-heralded Melbourne Victory finally broke through for their first A-League win with a hard-fought 1-0 triumph over Newcastle Jets at Olympic Park last night.

A goal from set play in the 68th minute settled it and allowed the home side to wriggle into sixth place.

The first half produced little with neither side threatening to score.

Led by captain Kevin Muscat, the home side had a slight advantage although Newcastle did have a goal disallowed for off side.

Possession was shared but Melbourne, a team always reluctant to take a step back, committed twice as many fouls and had Steve Pantelidis booked.

Andy Vlahos, who once donned a Kingz shirt, was workmanlike in the Victory midfield and went close to opening the scoring with virtually the last kick of the first spell.

The deadlock was broken when Archie Thompson was brought down by Paul Kohler. Kristian Sarkies played the freekick in, Thompson nipped in front of Ned Zelic to get his head to the ball which found the post and beat Liam Reddy's despairing attempt to save.

Sydney FC shrugged off their ordinary start to the Hyundai A-League with a 3-1 away win over Queensland Roar for their second win in five outings.

In front of another huge Suncorp Stadium crowd (23,142), the visitors snatched the lead inside five minutes when Seo Hyuk-Su made an uncharacteristic mistake deep in Queensland territory. That was the only scoring of the first spell.

The home side got back to 1-1early in the second half when Jacob Timpano conceded an own goal but that was their lot as the Roar slumped to their first home loss.

Corica pounced on a poor Tom Willis clearance to score his, and Sydney's second in the 68th minute and Northern Ireland's Terry McFlynn completed the job five minutes later.

With the game safe, Sydney made three late substitutions including former Football Kingz midfielder Robbie Middleby and ever-dangerous striker David Zdrilic.

The home side were not out of it completely as they had more attempts (15-11) on goal, forced more corners (6-5) and narrowly trailed possession (47 per cent-53 per cent).

The action continues this week with Central Coast home to Melbourne on Friday. In what promises to be the game of the sixth round, Perth Glory are home to Sydney on Saturday after Newcastle have played Queensland. The NZ Knights are home to Adelaide on Sunday.