Melbourne Victory 3-1 Chonburi
21st May, 2008
Thompson Back With A Bang
by the-afc.com
Archie Thompson marked his return from injury by scoring one goal and setting up another as Melbourne Victory ensured they finished their AFC Champions League campaign with a win after defeating Chonburi 3-1 at the Telstra Dome on Wednesday. Thompson played for just half an hour but showed enough to suggest to national coach Pim Verbeek, who was in the crowd, that he is fit and ready should the Dutchman need him during the Socceroos four World Cup qualifiers in June.
Ney Fabiano gave the visitors the lead after 54 minutes, capitalising on a Kevin Muscat error before the Melbourne skipper atoned two minutes later with a goal of his own. Thompson then gave Victory the lead with an excellent solo effort in the 66th minute and then ten minutes later he set-up Carlos Hernandez for the third and final goal. Teenage goalkeeper Mitchell Langerak was making his first start for Victory in the ACL and was called on twice early in the game. He first parried Pipob On-Mo's header and then a few minutes later produced a fine save from a well-taken free kick from Arthit Suntornphit which looked to be heading into the top corner. His opposite number Kosin Hathairattanakool was also busy in the first 45 minutes, producing excellent saves from Rody Vargas' close-range header and powerful shots from Danny Allsopp and Tom Pondeljak.
A catastrophic defensive mistake from Muscat created the opening for Fabiano to score the opening goal in the 54th minute. Steven Pace knocked the ball back to his skipper who was dispossessed in the box by the Brazilian who then smashed the ball past Langerak and into the net. But Muscat made amends immediately when from a Billy Celeski corner, the Chonburi defence failed to clear and the ball ended with Muscat facing an empty net. He made no mistake and the scores were level again within two minutes. Having missed two months of football with a knee injury, Thompson made a big impression in the game and was too quick for the Chonburi defence just after the hour mark, running onto an Allsopp through ball, rounding the approaching Kosin and slotting the goal from a tight angle.
And it wasn't long before Victory had their third as Thompson charged down the right before delivering superbly for Hernandez, who coolly made it 3-1 after 76 minutes.
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