Melbourne Victory's first A-League Men game since their fans' violent pitch invasion has ended in a whimper and a 1-0 defeat to a 10-man Western United, whose championship defence appears back on track.
Victory marquee Nani was a surprise absence with hip and hamstring tightness and Josh Risdon's header in the first minute of first-half injury time proved enough to make the difference at AAMI Park.
The defeat capped off a horror 10 days for Victory after their fans violently invaded the pitch on December 17, forcing the abandonment of their derby against Melbourne City.
Only United fans and members were technically permitted to attend Monday's game under interim sanctions placed on Victory.
There were some fans with Victory shirts in the stands but their active area was blacked out with tarpaulins while the first five rows at each end of AAMI Park were also blocked off.
"It felt like some of those games you played with the COVID-19 (crowd) restrictions. It is what it is at the moment," Victory coach Tony Popovic told reporters.
"We can't use that as an excuse for what happened out there today. We had 45 minutes to come back in the second half but we didn't."
United struck when James Troisi swung in a corner and Victory full-back Kadete went up for a header but the ball instead sailed over him to an unmarked Risdon at the back post, who headed home the easiest of goals.
But Victory coach Tony Popovic was incensed by an apparent clear offside run by Risdon was missed by officials in the lead-up to the corner.
"I'm not really sure what we have to do now. Do we, when the player runs with the ball into the box do we just get out of the way and say 'let's take a chance? If he shoots and scores the VAR will intervene?'" Popovic said.
"He's running towards goal. That's a goalscoring opportunity. The VAR must intervene.
"Three metres offside, running towards goal, they get a corner, and they score from a corner. So it's the decision prior. That's the key.
"They'll tell us differently, and I'm sure the APL will come out and put another video out and try to tell me how I'm wrong again, with this decision. But that's a clear offside and a poor decision, very poor."
Popovic expected Nani to face Central Coast on New Year's Eve but Roderick Miranda looks less likely.
United's second win on the bounce was gutsy, given Nikolai Topor-Stanley's 32nd minute send-off, when he recklessly leapt into a challenge with ball with Chris Ikonomidis, catching the Victory winger in the stomach with his studs.
United are now just one point off the top six and three points off fourth-placed Central Coast.
"Top performance. We showed our resilience again, we showed our character," coach John Aloisi told reporters.
"They had a couple of chances in the second half that came from set pieces and other than that with a man extra they struggled to create any clear-cut chances.
"That shows what we're capable of doing and we know that, we proved it last season, we're proving again now and going forward, we're scoring goals and we're creating chances."
