A-League playoff semifinal: Melbourne Victory snatch late win over Western United to claim narrow first-leg lead

Updated: May 17, 2023, 04:56 am

Melbourne Victory will take a 1-0 lead into the second leg of their A-League semifinal playoff against Western United after Jake Brimmer's spectacular lob gave Tony Popovic's side a narrow win in Melbourne on Tuesday.

Brimmer's deft strike from the edge of the area floated over goalkeeper Jamie Young just 16 minutes from time following the United defence's failure to fully clear Jason Davidson's corner.

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The teams will meet again on Saturday with the winners facing off against either defending champions Melbourne City or Adelaide United in the Grand Final on May 28.

Melbourne City and Adelaide meet in the first leg of their semifinal on Wednesday.

Western United's Aleksandar Prijovic had gone closest to opening the scoring in the eighth minute when Ivan Kelava pushed away the Serbian striker's header and neither side was able to find a way through in a tense opening 45 minutes.

The game looked destined to end in stalemate until Brimmer intervened with his looping right-foot shot to give Victory hopes of progressing to the grand final for the first time since 2018.