Melbourne Victory have reclaimed cross-town bragging rights and re-ignited their season with an emphatic 3-1 win over Melbourne Heart at AAMI Park.
Robbie Kruse scored a first-half double either side of a brilliant Gerald Sibon free kick to give the Victory a 2-1 half-time lead and then Adrian Leijer knocked in his first goal since last year's grand final nine minutes into the second half to secure Victory's first win in six games.
While the scoreline itself would have been pleasing for coach Ernie Merrick, as well as the fact his team were able to turn around the result from the inaugural Melbourne derby in October, the manner in which the win was achieved was the highlight.
With both first-choice full backs available for the first time this season, Victory looked strong in both attack and defence, while the partnership between Kruse and Archie Thompson up front is developing into one of the most dangerous in the league.
After his second double is as many matches, Kruse now has 10 goals in 13 starts this season and while Archie Thompson didn’t get on the scoresheet, he laid on two of the goals and starting to look his best after five weeks back from knee surgery.
The result pushes them up into fifth on the table and unbeaten in four matches after a run of three consecutive draws prior to the derby. Those above them on the table will be eying their progress nervously over the next month despite the fact it is just their fifth win of the season.
Victory's next clash is at AAMI Park against Perth Glory next Saturday as they look for consecutive wins for the first time this season.
Heart were made to pay for two bad defensive mistakes in the first half, especially the second goal when Matt Thompson coughed-up the ball for Kruse to score.
Sibon's magnificent free kick may have broken Heart's scoring drought, which had stretched to 546 minutes, but the fact remains they have picked up just one point from their past seven matches.
They slump to eighth on the table despite having played more games than any other team in the competition. They play Adelaide United at Hindmarsh Stadium next Friday, looking to break the Reds' seven-match home winning streak.
Melbourne Heart 1 (Sibon 18)
Melbourne Victory 3 (Kruse 12, 28, Leijer 54)
Crowd: 23,059 at AAMI Park