Matildas midfielder Alex Chidiac and gun goalkeeper Casey Dumont steered a depleted Melbourne Victory to their fourth Liberty A-League win on the bounce, a 1-0 defeat of Canberra United on New Year’s Eve.
Chidiac’s deft finish in the 44th minute proved enough to see off Canberra, who let a handful of chances go begging and were kept at bay by a stand-out performance from Dumont on Saturday.
The win puts defending champions Victory into the top four, while it was an opportunity missed for eighth-placed Canberra, who led 17-14 in shots at CB Smith Reserve.
Victory were without striker Melina Ayres (hamstring), Claudia Bunge (ankle), Gema Simon (calf) and Elise Kellond-Knight (illness).
They were almost caught out in the opening five minutes when Dumont and central defender Jessika Nash had a mix-up but Michelle Heyman shot wide.
Nine minutes later, young Victory midfielder Alana Murphy just drifted a long-range effort wide.
Victory skipper Kayla Morrison had a nervous moment in the 32nd minute when she was dispossessed by Heyman but was let off when the striker dragged her shot wide.
Four minutes later, Grace Jale burst away on transition and got in behind Victory’s defence but Dumont brilliantly denied her attempted chip.
Shortly after, Heyman got away on the break but had her attempted squaring pass cut out by Victory’s defence, then shot wide moments later.
Canberra’s missed opportunities came back to bite them just before half-time.
Beattie Goad found Paige Zois and the young midfielder slipped a wonderful throughball into the path of a surging Chidiac.
The Matildas midfielder let the ball sit then hit an excellent first-time left-footed finish inside the near post.
Canberra continued to threaten and were denied by Dumont several more times.
Nicki Flannery hit the crossbar in the 81st minute and forced a big diving save from Dumont in the 83rd.
Victory’s Danish forward Rikke Madsen should have made it 2-0 in the 82nd minute but hit her shot straight at goalkeeper Chloe Lincoln.
Heyman toe-poked just wide in the 89th and Victory held on from there.
