A penalty goal by Jesse Makarounas was the icing on the cake for Melbourne Victory’s first pre-season win, taking on Greek sponsored club Bentleigh Greens.
Playing their fourth game in two weeks, Bentleigh Greens are suffering at the hands of an unbelievably busy fixture, but ensured their match with the A-League club wouldn’t be so easy despite the 0-3 score.
Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat gave Besart Berisha, Carl Valeri and Matthieu Delpierre their first debuts for the team, with all three managing to show their worth early in the match.
The Brisbane Roar transfer, Berisha created the legwork for Connor Pain to score the first goal in the first 18 minutes, while Leigh Broxman brought the navy blues their second 20 minutes later.
Bentleigh found themselves struggling to break the Victory defence, and weren’t able to keep possession enough to create chances for their strikers.
Greek Australian Jesse Makarounas gave Melbourne Victory their third goal in the 57th minute after taking the penalty and sending Bentleigh Green’s
goalkeeper the opposite way.
It was clear Muscat was using the game to get as many players as possible match time, making 10 substitutions to give the younger players a chance.
Melbourne Victory will now play Hume City on Tuesday in their next pre-season match, followed by Greek sponsored team Port Melbourne Sharks on August 5.