View from the Victory, Volume 10: Hard Times at AAMI Park Against Gold Coast

Mehmet Durakovic was under the microscope on Sunday as his Melbourne Victory took on Gold Coast United at AAMI Park in Melbourne. Lingering near the bottom, the Victory were in need of a victory to remain in playoff contention.

The fans were getting restless and were losing their patience with Durakovic for the lack of results.

"Promoting a young coach from the youth team is one strategy, and can be an excellent one," said Craig Foster in a article for the Sydney Morning Herald. "It brings a coach with an understanding of the culture and overall playing idea through the system, although usually there would be a period as first team assistant before the head role.

"But a young coach should always be backed by an experienced assistant, football director or chief executive. Otherwise, the potential for chaos under pressure is too great."

In addition, the club faced another distraction in the form of the Abel Balbo deal going up in smoke, according to reports from the Herald Sun. Balbo would have been the technical director for the Victory, but in a report by the Australia, Durakovic raised an iron fist.

"I am the boss of this football club," Durakovic said after training this past week. "The buck stops with me. Kevin Muscat is my assistant coach and so is Steve Mautone. We have known each other since day one. But at the end of the day, I call the shots here."

Team captain Adrian Leijer did all he could to put on a brave face in spite of the dire circumstances that surrounded his team.

"It's round eight, there's still a long way to go and we are confident we can turn this around," Leijer told Michael Lynch of the Sydney Morning Herald. "This year the spotlight has been on us a lot more, whether that's part of the reason for the performance who knows. But we are all professional and have to deal with it.

"This is a tough time and that's how you get together. If anything this has probably pulled us together."

As with last week's match against Perth Glory, the Victory would storm to an early lead, only to lose it later on. But this time, before a crowd of 16,522, they would get it back and win 3-2.

In the fourth minute of play, Harry Kewell earned his first-ever goal for the Victory, on a penalty conversion. Carlos Hernandez doubled the advantage in the 23rd minute off a Jonas Salley handball.

However, Melbourne have been a team incapable of hanging on to advantages, and it wouldn't be long before they showed why.

Rodrigo Vargas was sent off in the 33rd minute for a rough challenge on Gol-Gol Mebrahtu. Mebrahtu won a penalty in the third minute of first-half stoppage time after being challenged by Diogo Ferreira. Gold Coast's Dylan MacAlister coverted the spot kick to make it 2-1 at the break.

In the second half, Gold Coast equalized thanks to Peter Jungschlager in the 47th minute of play. Hernandez took back the lead in the 79th minute thanks to an Archie Thompson cross.

Up next for Melbourne is a match with the Newcastle Jets at Ausgrid Stadium in Newcastle, NSW. Kickoff is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 3 at 7:45 p.m. AEST.