By Brad Worrall

MELBOURNE Victory has come from two goals down in the 80th minute to share the spoils with Murray United in Wodonga today.

Two goals to Melkie Woldemichael and an incredible free kick from player/coach James Coutts had the homeside leading 3-1 and on the verge of a monstrous upset deep in the second half.

The last time the pair met ended in a 9-1 thrashing to Victory.

But the ladder leading A-League franchise applied the blow torch -- a goal mouth scramble gifting John Maclean a goal, before the competition’s leading scorer Joey Katebian climbed above the pack to deliver the equaliser in injury time.

The first half delivered few chances – all three goals coming from defensive errors.

Woldemichael pounced on a loose pass on 19 minutes and was goal-bound before turning into and then out of trouble to fire across Victory’s keeper Lucas Spinella and find the side netting.

When United’s captain Ryan Giles lost his footing in the middle of the pitch just past the half hour it was a one-on-one for Kieran Dover and scores were level.
A minute later it was English visa player James Dunn who seized on a Victory error and Woldemichael made it a brace.

The game looked all but over when Coutts took a chance just past the hour, his free kick sailing over a despairing Spinella to find the back of the net and have United leading 3-1.

Coutts said he spotted the keeper moving to the penalty spot.

“To be honest I probably miss-hit it but at the same time I’m still going to take a goal like that,” he said.

“We were disappointed in the end result after leading but if you had given me a 3-3 draw at the start of the day I would have taken it.

“When we sit back and reflect on the game it was probably our best effort of the year, full of grit and determination – it’s how we want to play every week.

“You can’t put on training sessions for character but those players showed that in spades today – I’m really proud of every single one of them.”

Katebian said it was a frustrating result in a game Victory expected to win.

“Just a few silly errors really cost us today and in the end we were only just able to salvage a point,” he said.

Murray United continued its push towards youth, making substitutions with young gun strikers Lionel Masudi, 18, and Lewis Greenwood, 16, when leading 3-1.

MATCH DETAILS:
 
MELBOURNE VICTORY 3 (Dover 33’ Maclean 80’, Katebian 92’) drew MURRAY UNITED 3 (Woldemichael 19’, 34’, Coutts 61’)
La Trobe University Ground, Wodonga

YELLOW CARDS:
James Coutts; Murray United
Joey Katebian, Anthony Duzel; Melbourne Victory

MELBOURNE VICTORY: 1. L Spinella 18. C Cavallo 3. M Ridesic (58’ 13. J Xydias) 19. M Glavan 2 R Caldecourt (55’ 4. C Goulding) 8. A Duzel 6. N Stefan 10. K Dover 11. J Maclean 9. J Katebian 17. G Howard (30’ 7. J Daley)
MURRAY UNITED: 1. N Brown 11. J Ferguson 9. M Hasler (86’ 13. Lewis Greenwood) 16. S Pye 23. B Chaffey 5. A Dunn 15. R Giles (77’ 18. L Masudi) 33. A West 17. M Woldemichael 7. Z Walker (91’ 12. M Jessup) 8. J Coutts