By James Manton

Melbourne Victory's blistering form this season has continued as it trounced a hapless Brunswick City 9-1 on Saturday afternoon at Dunstan Reserve.

Four goals in the opening 11 minutes set up the dominant win for the visitors as their class proved far too much for the home side.

John Maclean barely needed a minute to open the scoring as Lucas Aoun's attempted clearance was scuffed to the Victory forward, who duly put the ball into the bottom corner.

Victory's lead was doubled the very next minute as Damien Miskulin got his foot to a Christian Cavallo free-kick, volleying into the back of the net.

The barrage didn't abate, as just a couple of minutes later Miskulin once again popped up with another goal, his looping header bagging the defender's second of the match.

Almost ludicrously the visitors scored again just minutes later as James Xydias was put through clear on goal by Anthony Duzel, coolly slotting past the onrushing Alex Hards to give Melbourne its fourth.

The rest of the half was a much more even contest, with Brunswick even gaining the ascendancy at times after the early assault with Nick Tzoulis' free-kick rattling the crossbar as the home side's closest opportunity.

Coming out of the break, Melbourne once again did not take long to score its first for the half, as Xydias won the ball on the right wing before setting up Kieran Dover for a simple tap-in.

Brunswick finally broke its drought halfway through the period as Ahmet Turer was bundled over in the area, with the referee awarding a penalty after some consultation with his assistant.

Confidently stepping up to the spot, Turer smashed the ball past Stephen Hatzikoutis for a consolation.

But the goals were far from finished, as Milos Ridesic got onto the end of pass from Joey Katebian - who was one-on-one with the goalkeeper - to finish into an open net.

Just minutes later Katebian pounced onto an errant backpass to score Victory's seventh.

Once again the visitors' goals came in a cluster, as two minutes later Katebian scored another when his flick from a Maclean cross doubled his tally for the match.

Melbourne's ninth - and final - goal came just a few minutes from time as Maclean somehow managed to get behind the defensive line, rounded the keeper, and calmly finished off a bludgeoning win for the league leaders.

MATCH DETAILS:at

Brunswick City 1 (Turer 72') defeated by Melbourne Victory 9 (Maclean 2' 86', Miskulin 3' 5', Xydias 11', Dover 54', Ridesic 75', Katebian 78' 82')

Brunswick City: 34. Alex HARDS, 49. Peter CONSTANTINIOU, 52. Reha KURUL, 45. Frank SERRATORE (25. Jordan BROWN 89'), 29. Lucas AOUN (23. Baran KOCKAYA 46'), 48. Nick TZOULIS, 50. Resit CULCULOGLU, 35. Anthony IANCHELLO, 18. Matthew MURPHY, 62. Dimitri VITHOULKAS (17. Evan KARAVITIS 46'), 9. Ahmet TURER

Unused substitutes: 8. George MARKELIS, 15. Jake CREA

Yellow card(s): Tzoulis 15'

Red card(s): Nil

 

Melbourne Victory: 1. Stephen HATZIKOUTIS (20. Andre JANNESE 78'), 18. Christian Cavallo, 3. Milos Ridesic, 5. Damien MISKULIN, 19. Nick GLAVAN (2. Reece CALDECOT 67'), 8. Anthony DUZEL, 6. Stefan NIGRO, 10. Kieran DOVER (16. Patrice AVICE 62'), 11. John MACLEAN, 9. Joey KATEBIAN, 14. James XYDIAS

Unused substitutes: 4. Pierce WARING, 13. Lucas DERNIZ

Yellow card(s): Nil

Red card(s): Nil