All week Melbourne Victory has been shaken, and finally they stirred to give new coach Ange Postecoglou his first win in charge of the A-League club to night.

The Victory came from behind to beat arch-rivals Adelaide United 2-1 at Etihad Stadium, ending the Reds' unbeaten start to the season.

Trailing to a Dario Vidosic penalty after 49 minutes, the Victory equalised through a strong Mark Milligan header three minutes later.

Then New Zealand international Marco Rojas scored the winner in  the 67th minute after punishing some comical Adelaide defending.

The win comes after a tumultuous six days in which the Victory  were embarrassed 5-0 by Postecoglou's old club Brisbane Roar,  striker Danny Allsopp retired on Thursday, and the new coach  wielded the axe with five changes to his starting side.

He put his faith in returning internationals Archie Thompson,  Milligan and Rojas and dumped goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas and import  midfielder Jonathan Bru.His decision to pair Milligan and Billy Celeski in central  midfield immediately gave the Victory more purpose and shape in a  first half in which both sides had their chances.

The best fell to Adelaide attacker Jeronimo, but he shot wide on  43 minutes when one-on-one with goalkeeper Tando Velaphi.

But the Reds were in front four minutes after halftime when Celeski needlessly handled the ball in the box, gifting Vidosic a spot-kick he coolly slotted home.

The Victory levelled things up when Milligan, who only returned from Socceroos duty on Thursday morning, powered home a header from a Gui Finkler corner.

Then Adelaide defender Nigel Boogaard was caught in limbo, pushing an Archie Thompson centre against the crossbar.

Rojas pounced on the loose ball but hit the bar, before finally finishing the rebound.

- AAP