D'Agostino brace as Victory trample Bulls

His side may have made a flying start to their Mad March with a comfortable 3-1 win over Macarthur FC, but Tony Popovic is hoping his side will hone an even more lethal edge in coming weeks.

Going ahead in the 20th minute after Nicholas D'Agostino forced a turnover and streaked forward to shoot on the break, Victory never looked challenged at AAMI Park on Friday night.

Capping off a physical first half, D'Agostino grabbed his second just before halftime when a free-kick into the Bull penalty area ricocheted into his path for a shot through a sea of bodies.

Marco Rojas then sealed the result when Josh Brilliante sliced a cross into his path to poke home from close-range in the 58th minute.

"We weren't even close tonight," Macarthur coach Ante Milicic said.

"We were second best."

Kicking off a spell in which they will play seven games in 23 days - one of them in Japan - a seemingly near-perfect result for Popovic's side was looming until a series of late misses and an error from Ivan Kelava led to Apostolos Giannou's 90th-minute consolation.

"Overall, we deserved to win and that doesn't always come to fruition," said Popovic.

"But it was nice to see that a dominant performance led to three points today.

"You always want it to be better and I wanted a clean sheet in the end.

"I wanted more goals because at 3-0 you don't always get those opportunities to really put someone away.

"We missed some chances to get another two or three goals so that's something we've got to improve."

The three-point haul, their first-ever against Macarthur, puts Victory level on points with fourth-placed Adelaide United and just one back of the third-placed Bulls.

They will now prepare to face Central Coast Mariners in Gosford on Wednesday, while