Western’s finals dreams crushed by Victory thrashing

Melbourne Victory have officially ended Western United’s faint finals hopes, with a 6-1 thrashing at AAMI Park.

Played behind closed-doors, Victory put the game away in a 36-minute four-goal blitzkrieg of a nonchalant and open Western defence – finally defeating their Victorian rivals on the sixth attempt.

The win gives caretaker boss Steve Kean his second in charge of Victory, giving their at-home faithful something to smile about after a difficult season.

However, the humiliating five-goal loss makes it a sixth-straight defeat for Mark Rudan’s side, whose previously promising campaign has screeched to a halt – ensuring they won’t play finals in their first two seasons in the competition.

After a series of half-chances to open the contest for both sides, Victory was able to apply a period of sustained pressure which ultimately led to the opener.

Tomislav Uskok’s failed clearance from a Storm Roux cross fell to Brimmer, who rocketed the ball into the top-corner with a well-hit first-time volley.

Victory would soon find themselves two ahead as Adama Traore burst down the left-flank and put the ball on a plate for Gestede to poke the ball past Ryan Scott.

It would only get worse for Western as Folami played a square-ball to an unmarked Kamsoba, who made the most of United’s pedestrian marking to tap home their third.

United’s lethargic defence would again find themselves back-pedalling, and once more were picking the ball out of their own net as Folami strolled in unopposed from halfway to make it four.

Just before the break, Alessandro Diamanti was able to save some grace for Western, dispatching his penalty with ease following Folami’s handball.

Any chance of a miraculous comeback was put to bed shortly after halftime as Kamsoba and McManaman linked-up with a clever one-two which allowed the Burundi international to slot home his second.

In the dying moments, Jacob Butterfield joined in the party scoring Victory’s sixth with a stunning strike to round out the result.

Western check out

Lethargic, nonchalant, listless – usually adjectives associated with Western United’s opponents, the Melbourne Victory, for much of the season.

On this occasion, Western were the epitome of those words, playing not like a side whose faint finals hopes hinged on getting all three points but instead a team who had mentally checked out after five-straight losses in the lead-up.

After a promising opening to the season, their campaign has crashed and burned – leaving the final two games of the season with little more than pride to play for.

Victory break the duck

After five previous attempts, Melbourne Victory have finally gotten one-up on their newest rivals.

In a contest in which Victory had little to play for, they looked a far-cry from the side who had struggled for the majority of the season – carving up a haphazard Western defence with an impressive attacking outburst.

In their first two seasons in the league, United previously had the wood over their rivals, winning four of first five including a 4-3 heart-stopper earlier this season at Marvel Stadium.