A second-half blitz has seen Melbourne Victory defeat a stubborn Bentleigh Greens 2-0 to move into the FFA Cup semi-finals.
Victory scored twice in five second half minutes on Tuesday, with Marco Rojas and James Troisi getting on the scoresheet, as the 2015 FFA Cup winners maintained their bid for back-to-back titles.
The visitors dominated possession throughout the match at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex but it wasn't until after half-time that they started to regularly break through the Greens' defence.
Victory's best chance of the first half came in the 12th minute when Oliver Bozanic forced a top save from Greens goalkeeper Ryan Scott.
In fact, Bentleigh arguably had the better of the openings in the latter stages of the first period but Tyson Holmes and Josh Brindell-South's final passes failed to find team-mates.
Victory's intensity went up a gear after half-time and they eventually took the lead in the 64th minute.
A misplaced pass from former Victory player Kieran Dover saw Bozanic gain possession and his cross was swept home by a sliding Rojas.
Four minutes later and Troisi's shot deflected off Troy Ruthven and in off the underside of the crossbar to double Victory's lead.
While Bentleigh kept fighting, Victory goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas barely had to make a save, and the visitors twice went close to a third goal late on with Scott denying Rojas from close range and Besart Berisha hitting the post.
Bentleigh Greens 0
Melbourne Victory 2
Rojas (64') Troisi (68')
