Against Brisbane Roar last Sunday, Melbourne Victory finally benefited from a little bit of luck.

Luck is an elusive but essential element in sport and it had evaded Victory up until this point. A couple of howlers by young Roar defender Luke DeVere gave Victory the opportunity to fire home a couple of much-needed goals, which decided the game.

The Brisbane defender's errors helped Victory, but he hardly gift wrapped the goals. Tommy Pondeljak still had a lot to do when DeVere's errant pass went straight to him, and his precise, angled shot gave Melbourne the lead. Moments later, a skilful and persistent run by new striker Ricardinho led to his opportunistic goal.

In weeks gone by these chances may have been wasted, but it is no coincidence that more seasoned players took their chances. Another seasoned pro, Grant Brebner sealed the contest with a cracking side-footed shot into the bottom right corner.

The Age's chief soccer writer Michael Lynch last week remarked that Brebner has been Victory's most successful import, even more so than Carlos Hernandez. When I first read Lynch's comment, I thought, "huh?". But after watching Sunday's game I could see what he was on about.

The Scot is far from flashy, but is a very reliable and fiercely competitive midfielder who has been committed to the Victory cause since day one. While not the quickest midfielder in the league, Brebner runs himself into the ground each week, receiving and giving passes and shutting down opposing attacks with forceful but fair challenges.

Brebner is no longer simply known as the guy who was on Manchester United's list, but a regular performer who has forged himself a career at Victory. Unfortunately he had a poor game against Wellington on Wednesday, but he has been very consistent over the last few seasons.

The other interesting thing to come out of Sunday's game was the injury to Kevin Muscat. I think this will be a good opportunity for the team's defence to prepare for the future and test some new structures.

Victory's back four against Wellington looked more versatile and nimble, and Adrian Leijer was particularly good in a sweeping role. Youngster Diogo Ferreira got another chance on the left, coming in for Muscat, and he looked lively and marked dangerous Phoenix striker Paul Ifill out of the game. Thai international Surat Sukha was again good on the right, even if he wasn't given the chance to get forward enough.

Muscat has been a tremendous leader, but he is not getting any younger or quicker. Just as Brad Johnson has stayed on too long at the Western Bulldogs in the AFL, Victory no longer need Muscat at the heart of their defence. So his absence may do more good than harm.

One area Ernie Merrick does need to work on is the midfield. Against Wellington, Victory seemed like they were playing four central midfielders and there was no width or space.

Brebner, Pondeljak, Broxham and Celeski all wanted to move through the centre of the park and consequently there was no room for the likes of Hernandez to create chances.

Merrick needs to loosen his cramped midfield formation to give Hernandez, Ricardinho and Mate Dugandzic some space to work in. On Wednesday, the latter two strikers looked dangerous with the ball at their feet, but it did not come to them often enough, hence the stalemate.