Shock Victory loss heaps pressure on Wanderers

Interim Melbourne Victory boss Steve Kean said Friday night’s result was all about getting “the three points” as his side bounced back from last week’s humiliating Derby defeat.

Kean, who took over as caretaker from recently removed coach Grant Brebner, survived a bit of a late scare from the Wanderers, who piled on three goals late to make it a nervy finish for the home side.

However, the former Blackburn EPL boss said the pivotal moment in the game was their goal immediately after Jake Brimmer’s penalty miss.

“I think if you said before the game that we would win, you’d take it,” Kean told the media post-game.

“Obviously, there was a pivotal moment when we missed the penalty but then immediately scored from the corner and I think that was a big point in the game to keep the momentum moving forward.”

However, Kean said his side gave up too much territory and allowed the Wanderers to get back into the game and create a nervy finish for the home-side.

“Certainly the learning aspect is how to manage the game,” Kean said.

“Because we don’t need to score any more goals, we don’t need to be as expansive, we just have to manage our way through it especially because they are one of the strongest in the league in the 25-30 minutes of the game.”

Three late goals couldn’t steal the win for the Wanderers.Source:Getty Images

Conversely, it’s the sixth straight game without a win for Western Sydney, who are hanging on to a place inside the top six.

Their coach Carl Robinson was critical of the way they defended throughout the game but singled out the way they defended set-pieces where Victory were at their most dangerous, saying something “needs to change” in the run home.

“You have to be honest and analyse every little segment of the game,” Robinson said.

“Defensively, we weren’t good enough, we lost our battles and from the moment we conceded the first goal which is probably from their first attack – one or two heads dropped which is not very good.”

Despite only just being a point clear of Western United who have three games in hand on the Wanderers and both the Brisbane Roar and Wellington Phoenix just trailing behind, Robinson still believes his side can end their three-season finals drought.

“I’ve got full belief in this team,” Robinson said.

“I still think we can play finals, there’s a lot of games, we need to get out of this funk quickly.

“We know that we’ve drawn too many games and we’ve lost too many recently as well.”

Both sides come up against Sydney FC in their next contests with Victory travelling north on Tuesday while the Wanderers will welcome the Sky Blues to Bankwest Stadium on Saturday.

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