Melbourne Victory 4 Perth Glory 1: Berisha keeps hosts in title race

Melbourne Victory kept Sydney FC’s A-League celebrations on hold as they ended their dismal run against Perth Glory with a 4-1 win on Saturday.

Sydney’s win over Central Coast Mariners on Friday put them on verge of being crowned premiers, the Sky Blues needing Perth to deny Victory maximum points at AAMI Park.

The hosts had not tasted success against Glory in their past eight league meetings and things started badly as they conceded after just five minutes, Diego Castro handing the away side an early lead.

But Besart Berisha restored parity midway through the first half with a strong header after Marco Rojas’ pinpoint free-kick – the striker’s 99th A-League goal.

Fahid Ben Khalfallah then ensured the hosts moved in front heading into the break with a fine finish after some brilliant ball juggling from Berisha on the right.

There was more to come from Victory after the restart and Rojas added his name to the scoresheet in the 48th minute, before James Troisi well and truly put the match to bed in the after a sublime individual action 17 minutes from time.

Game over at @AAMIPark. A brilliant performance leads to a deserved win for our boys in blue! #MVCvPER 4-1 #ALeague pic.twitter.com/iOmPCXpIln

— Melbourne Victory (@gomvfc) March 11, 2017

Melbourne will need to win all four of their remaining matches to have a chance of pipping Sydney to the Premiers’ Plate, but Graham Arnold’s side will have it in their hands should they beat Perth next Sunday.