Melbourne Victory have moved to within one point of A-League leaders Perth Glory with a 3-0 triumph over Melbourne City.
After Besart Berisha netted the opener, Kosta Barbarouses and Fahid Ben Khalfallah scored second-half strikes to complete a routine success.
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Victory, who boast the best home record in the A-League, started brightly, and after wasting an early opening, Berisha redeemed himself by being well placed to tap home from close range after a mistake in the City defence.
Jacob Melling had City's first shot when blasting over from distance, but they were unable to build on that effort and Victory almost doubled their lead when Berisha squandered a chance inside the penalty area.
City returned for the second half on the front foot with Jason Hoffman and Safuwan Baharudin trying their luck, but seven minutes after the restart, Victory made it two when Barbarouses got on the end of a free kick.
Just after the hour mark, Victory effectively sealed the three points when Berisha burst forward before setting up Ben Khalfallah to coolly slot past goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne.
City attempted to find a consolation, with Joshua Kennedy forcing a good stop out of Nathan Coe, but Victory held on to keep the clean sheet and keep the pressure on Perth.
Darren Plant
