Thompson header takes Victory to win

Archie Thompson's diving header continued Melbourne's amazing A-League road record and also their Suncorp dominance over Brisbane Roar on Saturday night.

Thompson found the net in the eighth minute after teammate Robbie Kruse was the victim of an aggressive tackle.

Brisbane had several chances to equalise and had good reason to feel upset when replacement Josh McCloughan's header off a bullseye corner from Ivan Franjic appeared to level the scores in the 74th minute.

However their celebrations and those of most of the 9,904 fans were short-lived with referee Ben Williams waving the goal away.

Williams ruled Roar defender Craig Moore had impeded Victory goalkeeper Mitchell Langerak's efforts to get out to the ball in the mad scramble in front of goals.

Melbourne went on full scale defence in the second half.

At times Thompson was their only player up forward as they threw a wall at Brisbane.

Roar coach Ange Postecoglou made a double substitution at half time in a bid to find more pace out wide, injecting youngster Tommy Oar on the left for veteran Danny Tiatto and Henrique, who livened things up on the right, replacing Mitch Nichols who struggled out of position in the first half.

Henrique, who had a great chance to square the ledger on a solo burst in the 79th minute, was given a red card by Williams for a deliberate handball in the 88th minute.

It was Melbourne's sixth win on the road from seven games and just the response coach Ernie Merrick would have wanted after they were humbled 4-0 at home by Central Coast.

With Melbourne content to shut up shop in the second half, Brisbane finished with 11 shots at goal to four by the visitors and also dominated possession.

- AAP