Four games without a win. It’s not a phrase that’s heard too often around Melbourne Victory. Of course, last season, the A-League powerhouse overcame a horror start to their campaign to finish it in blistering style, claiming the club’s fourth championship. But a 2-0 loss to Newcastle has the champions all but out of the race for the Premiers’ Plate and needing to find a spark. A lack of composure around goal — along with a star performance from Jets goalkeeper Glen Moss — combined with some defensive lapses saw Victory held goalless while copping two. Star forward Kosta Barbarouses lamented his side’s lack of clinical finishing post-match. “Just not ruthless enough at the end,” Barbarouses told Fox Sports post-match. “We’re probably all guilty, the front four or five, of not taking the chances and that’s the sort of stuff that got us punished at the beginning of the season and we sort of moved past that, but we slipped into that today. “Can’t fault the guys’ effort ... I thought we played really well most of the game. Conceded a silly goal and don’t take our chances.” The Jets opened the scoring through an unmarked Johnny Koutroumbis goal, with Victory initially scrambling before the young Newcastle defender powered home. Former Socceroos goalkeeper Bosnich said Melbourne Victory’s defence hadn’t been desperate enough in that instance. “This is all about this man Jair, wonderful run, puts the cross in a real danger area,” Bosnich said on Matchday Saturday. “And once again, Melbourne Victory in terms of their mentality of defending, for me, a little bit too haphazard. “Defending’s as much a mentality as anything, they’re not desperate enough when it comes to those little scrambles in the box.” Bosnich said Victory could take a leaf out of Newcastle’s book in regards to defensive desperation. “They weren’t that bad,” Bosnich said post-match. “They need to tighten up defensively and we spoke about this before the game. “Defensively is as much mentality than anything — maybe take a leaf out of Newcastle’s book in that second half, because desperation is so important when you’re a defender and they had that look about them as a team, it was like one of them were saying ‘they shalt not pass’. “And they (Newcastle) were throwing themselves at everything and people were covering for each other. “And they (Victory) need to have a little bit of that because it’s not just about attacking, it’s about the other side. And that’s going to be so important come the Asian Champions League.” Post-match, coach Kevin Muscat said Victory needed to focus on not conceding first. “Something’s got to shift as well because if we continue playing the way we’re playing and concede first, well you make it really difficult for yourself,” he told Fox Sports post-match. The A-League champions have had a rough run with injuries this season, with the likes of Keisuke Honda, Carl Valeri, Ola Toivonen and Georg Niedermeier all having stints on the sidelines — and there's no doubt that’s affected Victory’s consistency. Toivonen, Valeri, Niedermeier (suspension) and Elvis Kamsoba all missed the Jets clash — but Barbarouses said that wasn’t an excuse. “We’ve dealt with our injuries really well and we don’t use excuse here but we need to win games, put pressure on Perth and Sydney now,” he said. “We’ve fallen a bit further behind now which is not good enough for us. “We’ve just got to try and build some momentum up, it’s easy to say now after we’ve just lost but we need to build some momentum into the last few rounds of the season.” Victory have little time to digest the result before kicking off their Asian Champions League campaign on Tuesday night. James Donachie of the Victory (left) is sent off. (AAP Image/Julian Smith) Source: AAP Bosnich said the key to Victory unlocking some success was a matter of tweaking their work at either end to maximise their efforts between the boxes. “Listen, when you’re at the biggest clubs, and Melbourne Victory’s arguably the biggest club in the country, when you lose one game it’s a concern, let alone when you haven’t won in four,” he said. “Of course it’s always going to be a concern but I wouldn’t be concerned as much with my play between both boxes. Between both boxes, I think they’ve been excellent. “They’ve created enough chances tonight really to score at least one goal, minimum of one goal. “What they need to concentrate on is tightening up that defence and basically in both boxes where games are decided. A little bit more desperation, a little bit more concentration and anticipation in defence and the quality when it comes to the finishing.”<doc-sep>Newcastle remain in A-League finals contention with an impressive 2-0 win over Melbourne Victory in oppressive heat at GMHBA Stadium in Geelong. Johnny Koutroumbis was the hero in the first half of Saturday night's grand final re-match, his 34th-minute goal putting Victory on the back foot. Dimitri Petratos sealed the deal in stunning fashion in the sixth minute of injury time when he unleashed a superb strike from outside the box into the top left corner. Jets players celebrate after John Koutroumbis (third from left) scores a goal . Credit:AAP The win extends the Jets' unbeaten run to five matches and moves them to within two points of sixth-placed Wellington.<doc-sep>''Ola has been a little ill over the last couple of days, he has been to the doctor, we will monitor that and make a decision,'' coach Kevin Muscat said on Friday. Toivonen - who has made a huge impact despite missing a number of games through injury - has an illness, while Kamsoba was sent for scans after injuring himself at training on Friday. Melbourne Victory could be without star striker Ola Toivonen and lively winger Elvis Kamsoba for their clash with Newcastle Jets at Geelong's GMHBA Stadium on Saturday night. ''It wasn't a knock, it was on his own, he felt a little bit of pain in his knee. He will be receiving scans, it will be in the hands of the physios at the moment,'' Muscat said. On the plus side Japanese superstar Keisuke Honda, who returned from a lengthy absence in the draw with Wellington earlier in February, and James Donachie, who rejoined Victory a few weeks ago after playing the last season in South Korea, are both getting fitter. ''Keisuke got another 60-70 minutes under his belt (in the 1-1 draw last weekend with Melbourne City) while Donachie came on and played 80-odd minutes (after Muscat had to rejig his team and bring on another defender after centre-back Georg Niedermeier was sent off early in the game. ). ''The campaign has not been settled ... but to be in the position we are in, and not wavering on how we perform and how we want to play, the boys have done really well considering. "It was a real group and team effort for that second half (against City). We restricted the opposition to no shots on target at Lawrence's (goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas) goal. The penalty (City's goal by Jamie Maclaren came from the spot) was the only shot they had on target.<doc-sep>
Newcastle remain in A-League finals contention with an impressive 2-0 win over Melbourne Victory in oppressive heat at GMHBA Stadium in Geelong. Johnny Koutroumbis was the hero in the first half of Saturday night’s grand- final re-match, his 34th-minute goal putting Victory on the back foot. Dimitri Petratos sealed the deal in stunning fashion in the sixth minute of injury time when he unleashed a superb strike from outside the box into the top left corner. The win extends the Jets’ unbeaten run to five matches and moves them to within two points of sixth-placed Wellington. The result continues a lean run for Victory, whose chances of reeling in Perth at the top of the table are all but over, having failed to claim maximum points in their past four games. It was a frustrating night for the Melbourne outfit who had the better of the opening exchanges in an entertaining contest, with Kosta Barbarouses and Keisuke Honda in the thick of the action. Honda, wearing the captain’s armband in place of the hamstrung Carl Valeri, twice forced excellent saves from Jets stopper Glen Moss and Barbarouses rattled the woodwork with his searing shot. But the Jets worked into the game and Kevin Muscat’s men fell behind for the fifth time in five games. After a blazing run down the left by Brazilian midfielder Jair, a fierce shot from Steven Urgarkovic ricocheted off Storm Roux into the path of Koutroumbis, who lashed home the opportunity from close range. Victory’s Kenny Athiu found the net after the restart, combining brilliantly with Corey Brown only for the latter to be ruled offside. Lawrence Thomas kept his side in it with two superb saves as the Jets pressed, while Moss denied Victory’s desperate attempts to find an equaliser, with Honda and substitute Jai Ingham coming close. To rub salt into the wounds, defender James Donachie was sent off in the 92nd minute when he was given a second yellow card. MATCH CENTRE: MVC v NEW Keep up to date with all the action in our live blog. If you can’t see the live blog, CLICK HERE.