But despite the disruption he will not make a formal complaint. An Asian Football Confederation match commissioner should have been at the ground, Victory officials said, and his assistance in removing the unwanted observers could have been sought. ''We were supposed to do set pieces, and we couldn't do them,'' Durakovic said. ''I had to talk [the players] through it about what they will do and how we will counter it. It was a bit unfortunate, I have never seen anything like that but what can you do? ''They really disrupted our training session but we will work on it tonight on the board at a team meeting although we wanted to do it on the pitch.'' The other injury concern was goalkeeper Tando Velaphi, who rolled his ankle in the draw with Gamba. But he trained yesterday and looked fit enough to do himself justice.

With Tianjin Teda having already assured itself of qualification, Victory, Jeju United and Gamba Osaka are battling to ensure they too make the knockout stages. Victory has to win and hope that Tianjin wins in Osaka to have any chance of going through. Jeju also needs a win and for Gamba not to win at home against Tianjin. So tactically it is a difficult test for Durakovic and his team. They need goals, but they cannot afford to throw caution to the wind. Melbourne will go with a 4-2-3-1 formation in a bid to contain Jeju defensively but also give itself sufficient firepower through attacking midfielders like Archie Thompson, Robbie Kruse and Carlos Hernandez. Brebner's experience and know-how would have been invaluable, but Durakovic trusts the youngsters in his squad, like Ferreira and Matthew Foschini, two who he has given a chance in his tenure at the helm of a team. ''I would love to start Brebs, but he's only been able to do jogs and walk laps here today and his calf is the problem,'' Durakovic said. ''Diogo has got his chance. He came in last week and did really well and I have faith in the youngsters.

''We have tried to give Brebs as much time as we can to get him right, given him a lot of treatment, brought him here but he hasn't come up. It is a big job for Diogo, an important game, away from home, but I have got no other options.'' If Durakovic can take the team to the knockout phase [something his predecessor Ernie Merrick didn't manage] it would be hard not to appoint him full-time. But Durakovic is not looking beyond this evening. ''I can't really do anything about it,'' he said. ''I can only give it all my best. I know these players for a while now and I know what they can and can't do and they have been fantastic for me and the system I want them to play. ''The job is out of my hands. Hopefully the board will see there's been a lot of improvement in the players. ''Last week [the draw against Gamba] I think was one of the best games tactically and mentally that I have ever seen Victory play.''

POSSIBLE VICTORY LINE-UP: 4-2-3-1: Velaphi; Foschini, Muscat, Leijer, Vargas; Broxham, Ferreira; Thompson, Hernandez, Kruse; Allsopp.