Intro:

Melbourne Victory beat Brisbane Roar 1-0 on Saturday (18th April) to close in on first place in the final Australian A-League standings.

Script:

Brisbane Roar hosted title chasing Melbourne Victory on Saturday.

A win for the visitors would all but seal the Australian A-League plate.

With an AFC Champions League match in China on Tuesday the Roar fielded a reserve line-up.

Despite that the home side almost opened the scoring on the 27th minute when Jean Carlos Solorzano's deflected cross looped over Lawrence Thomas' head and nearly went in.

The post saving the Victory and Thomas' blushes.

Melbourne took a controversial lead in first half stoppage time when Carl Valeri went down in front of goal.

Referee Ben Williams awarded the penalty, but replays show Valeri clipped the standing leg of a defender.

Mark Milligan converted the spot kick to give Melbourne a 1-0 lead at the break.

In the 71st minute Besart Berisha thought he had doubled their advantage, but the former Roar star's effort was disallowed for offside.

It didn't matter in the end as Melbourne held on for the 1-0 win.

They now lead second place Sydney FC by three points going into the final round.