Melbourne Victory ended a three-year drought against Brisbane Roar and maintained their unblemished start to the Isuzu UTE A-League season with a 2-0 win on Saturday.
Subway Socceroos duo Nishan Velupillay and Jason Geria, who are both in the squad to face Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup qualifiers, scored to lead Victory to their first win over Brisbane since November 2021, ending a seven-match losing streak and propelling them to the top of the table.
Velupillay broke the stalemate in the 37th minute with his second A-League goal of the season, before defender Geria scored 15 minutes later, his first since the 2023-24 Grand Final loss to the Central Coast Mariners.
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Velupillay and Geria will return to AAMI Park on Thursday for the Socceroos’ World Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia.
Patrick Kisnorbo’s Victory are undefeated after four rounds, moving to the top of the table ahead of Auckland FC, who have a game in hand, while Brisbane sit at the bottom of the standings and still looking for their first points of the season.
Victory’s lineup remained same against the Roar, with veteran talisman and Socceroos attacker Bruno Fornaroli absent once more, having also missed the Round 3 triumph over the Macarthur Bulls.
Florin Berenguer made his first start of the season for the Roar, who had just lost to Sydney FC in the dying moments.
Besart Berisha, an A-League great, watched from the stands alongside Carl Valeri as his former teams Victory and Brisbane faced off at AAMI Park, where Ryan Teague’s deflected free-kick bounced just past of the post within the first six minutes.
The Roar defended well in the first half, and they almost took the lead in the 29th minute when Thomas Waddingham forced a diving save from Jack Duncan. It would not have counted regardless of whether the flag was raised for offside.
Brisbane were penetrated eight minutes before halftime, thanks to some brilliant technique from in-form winger Piscopo, who stood up his defender, ran past him to the byline, and served the ball on a platter for Velupillay to finish.
Duncan had to make an unusual save just before halftime to help Victory maintain their lead.
The Roar dominated possession throughout the game but were unable to score, so Indonesia international Rafael Struick was inserted in the second half to help equalise.
Instead, Victory doubled their lead 14 minutes from time as Socceroos full-back Geria climbed highest to give the home side some breathing room in the dying moments.
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