Nabbout delivers Victory A-League win over Reds

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:16 am

Andrew Nabbout was the hero for Melbourne Victory as the club revitalised their faint A-League finals hopes with a 2-1 comeback win over Adelaide United at Marvel Stadium.

The Reds snatched an early lead on Saturday night through Norwegian striker Kristian Opseth, Marco Rojas equalised in the 57th minute but Nabbout scored a dramatic injury-time winner.

Veteran Leigh Broxham returned to Victory's starting line-up in midfield, while James Troisi started for Adelaide against his former club.

It took just seven minutes for Adelaide to hit the scoreboard.

Talented young midfielder Riley McGree slipped a clever ball through to Opseth, who completed the move with a powerful finish.

In the 22nd minute, Victory's Tim Hoogland picked out Nabbout with a venomous cross, but the striker's volley was batted away by Paul Izzo, with no one in position to slot the rebound.

Victory should have drawn level in the 43rd minute. A quick-thinking Nabbout delivered a throw-in to Elvis Kamsoba, whose shot was deflected away to Adama Traore.

The left-back headed the ball on to Ola Toivonen, who turned a point-blank header wide.

Adelaide's Nikola Mileusnic ripped a shot wide of the Victory goal just after the re-start.

George Blackwood clattered a shot off the bar in the 56th minute, with Kamsoba blazing his own chance over seconds later.

Then, Rojas struck.

Tim Hoogland played a 1-2 with Nabbout and drove a square cross into the 18-yard box, where Rojas evaded Mirko Boland's sliding challenge, took a touch past Izzo and rifled home the equaliser.

Blackwood hit the crossbar for a second time in the 69th minute, while Lawrence Thomas batted away Troisi's 74th-minute free kick, then a late chance from Reds teen sensation Mohamed Toure.

As the clock wound down, Nabbout - with his left eye almost swollen shut from an earlier head clash - burst down the left flank, cut around Boland and thrashed home the winner in the 91st minute.

The win closes Victory's gap on sixth-placed Brisbane to six points, and fifth-placed Adelaide to seven, while the Reds remain three points short of the top four.