Valadon lifts Victory with late Australia Cup strike

After being on the right side of a late goal, Melbourne Victory will play for silverware and a place in Asia after defeating Adelaide United in the Australia Cup semifinals.

At some stage, Melbourne Victory fans are really going to want new coach Patrick Kisnorbo to make a break with this habit of dramatic, decisive goals in the final five minutes of their games. For now, though, especially given the way last season’s grand final ended, they’ll gladly take an 88th-minute screamer from Jordi Valadon to propel them to a 1-0 win over Adelaide United and, with it, the right to compete in the Australia Cup final in coming weeks. 

Reno Piscopo reacting quickly under pressure to backheel the ball into his path, Valadon deftly placed first-time long range beyond James Delianov to secure a first-goal in a Victory shirt and send his new side through to the final, where either Macarthur of South Melbourne will await in the weeks ahead. Yes, there are disclaimers to be had about it still being preseason, of there still being a lot of the campaign to go but, with memories of Ryan Edmondson’s 91st-minute leveller or the stress of Oskar Zawada’s 99th-minute strike still very much in the not-so-distant past, it’s far better than the alternative. 

And now, from an external perspective at least, exists the opportunity to secure silverware (as well as a place in the 2025-26 Asian Champions League 2 competition) — what should be an ideal opportunity for Kisnorbo to endear himself to a new fanbase still guarded, still suspicious, of a figure that has previously been so intertwined with Melbourne City and the City Football Group. Or failing that, at least placate them, in the

A semifinal win over a hated rival in Adelaide – a strong north terrace the highlight of the 5131 crowd at AAMI Park – should ostensibly go some ways towards this as well. But the new Victory boss has never been one to entrain narratives and, in the aftermath of his side’s win, showed no indications that this has changed in his new surrounds. 

“I think it's bigger than that. It is an opportunity but I'm more worried about performances at the moment,” he said. “Today, you know, I don't think we were at our best. Obviously, we played [NPL] opposition [in Victory’s first three Cup matches] that you're sort of meant to [beat] and then our first A-League opponent comes up and I thought they did well. We're happy to be in a final but we also know that we have to do better.”

But while he may be lacking something in a sense of occasion, Kisnorbo’s also not about there being scope for growth. At the early exchanges on Saturday, it was almost looked as if both sides were aware of the magnificent preliminary final unfolding just across the road, and had come to some form of gentleman’s agreement to not take the focus off the instant classic taking place. They hadn’t, of course, but it’s something of an obvious jape given that almost the exact moment the final siren at the MCG crept across Olympic Boulevard, Adama Traoré was bringing down a deflected cross from Zinédine Machach at the edge of the area and lacing a left-footed effort on the goal of Delianov, forcing the Adelaide custodian to leap across the face of his goal with a clawing palm that deflected away the game’s first proper chance. 

To that point, the two Original Rivarly belligerents had engaged in a rather tepid half an hour of football, a reminder that while the pair were clashing for the right to play for silverware, they were also a duo still in the midst of their A-League Men preseasons. Playing their first Cup fixture against professional opposition, the hosts had spent much of the opening ten minutes largely hemmed into their own half but with the visitors not the sharpest either, been largely able to escape much in the way of danger beyond a ninth-minute Austin Ayoubi effort dragged across the face of goal. 

There had been other half chances, the concepts of chances, in the 20 minutes that followed, but it had taken until Traoré’s effort for something to be produced that would have quickened the pulse of those watching on. 

“The [early] intensity, we weren't up to it,” said Kisnorbo. “We started slow, giving the ball away in silly areas and taking too many touches. Just the basics. That maybe comes with not playing an A-League opponent. But to the boys credit, we didn't play that well today but in the end, we have the chance to go to a Cup final.

“I used the phrase, 'cleaning the pipes.' It was one of those ones. We haven't really played A-League opposition due to our fixture -- that's the way it is. But I'll give credit where credit's due. We hung in there. We've dug deep. We had some good chances. And in the end, we finished with a great shot from Jordi at the edge of the box.

“As a collective, as a whole, we defended. There were times there where we didn't defend great as a unit -- as the full team -- but the back for did a great job, plus the goalkeeper. It was a good test for us, one that I think that we needed.”

Traoré’s effort, at least, wouldn’t stand in isolation for long. It would do so for just seconds, in fact, before Daniel Arzani floated in a free kick that Jason Geria caught flush with his forehead, forcing Delianov into a split-second reaction save on his goalline. From the resulting corner, the defender would once again threaten to break the game open by heading the ball onto the crossbar, with another defender in Roderick Miranda unable to contort himself into a position that would see his subsequent attempt to drag the rebound back on goal hit the target. 

Perhaps stirred to life, Adelaide would respond with an effort to send hearts aflutter of their own when Ethan Alagich teed Stefan Mauk to fire a first-time effort in on the Victory goal in the 33rd minute, only for Jack Duncan to produce a fine reaction save of his own to deny the veteran midfielder. Seven minutes later, newly-signed Red Dyan Pierias, one of the Reds’ better players for the second-straight Cup game, drove inside and laced an effort from the corner of the penalty area, only to once again be denied by Duncan. 

“It was a good hitout, very happy with 95% of it,” said Adelaide boss Carl Veart. “It was just the finishing touches that we just didn't have tonight. We created some really good opportunities for ourselves and we just didn't take them. To play away at Victory and play the football that we did. I'm very happy with that. But it's that final product that we need to improve on.

“We pressed them very well and we caused some good moments for ourselves in transition. But we just didn't pick the right pass or take the shot when we had the opportunity to shoot. It's a good learning [experience] for us. We're on a different path this season, the way that we're playing our football. So it was another positive step for us.”

But then, after that brief dalliance with something approaching excitement, that preseason vibe returned as the second stanza commenced; that lack of sharpness, a half a second of hesitation, or that step behind where the play was going that the week-in-and-week-out grind of a season removes. Chances would come and go – Yaya Dukuly would drive an effort off the near post soon after being introduced – but both sides were clearly in a state wherein they were still bringing themselves up to full bore. 

In Adelaide’s case, they were also playing without a recognised striker or their preferred centreback combination, with Veart indicating post-game that he envisions most of his injured contingent to have returened from their various affiliations by the time they open their season at home to Central Coast on October 26. 

And with the variances in availability in mind, perhaps it’s therefore not surprising that Victory was able to eventually find the goal they needed, despite their lack of sharpness against opposition of this calibre. It was delivered by a player who, like Kisnorbo, has made the switch from City to Victory in recent years and who is shaping as one of the major beneficiaries of his coach’s repeated declarations that youth would be given a go at AAMI Park this year.