Melbourne Victory have fallen to Melbourne City in Wednesday night’s recommencement of the postponed Round 8 fixture at AAMI Park.
SUMMARY
109 days after it first kicked off, the Melbourne Derby resumed on Wednesday night, beginning with a drop ball and City leading 1-0 in the 21st minute.
With a lack of time in the first half, both sides struggled to find their rhythm and created a limited number of strong chances.
Victory’s best looks at goal came through Bruno Fornaroli, who forced Tom Glover to keep the navy blue at bay.
At the other end, Paul Izzo continued his fine form, standing up on multiple occasions to stop City from adding more to their tally with some impressive goalkeeping.
Unsurprisingly, half-time came quickly, with the game still locked at its original score of City leading 1-0.
City recorded the first chance of the second half, with Andrew Nabbout rocketing a shot into the incoming Roderick Miranda, who blocked the threat.
Fernando Romero returned to Victory’s XI after serving a one game suspension. He started his second half positively, floating a beautifully weighted ball to the back post to find Ben Folami, but his header was unable to beat Glover.
Victory showed signs they are back to their sweeping best with a number of attacking chances which demonstrated their improved link up play.
Melbourne City extended their lead through Aiden O’Neill 57 minutes in. The scorer of the fixture’s original goal struck again, as City pounced on a loose pass from Roderick Miranda, taking it to 2-0.
On his 50th appearance for the Club, Nishan Velupillay brought the Victory back into the game just inside 89 minutes. Second half substitute Bruce Kamau put the ball on a platter for the oncoming Velupillay – who made no mistake from close range.
Victory’s youth brigade continued the push for an equaliser late on, with a chance falling at the feet of Lleyton Brooks in 91 minutes in.
The Leagues’ most memorable and unique fixture came to a close, with Victory unable to find the elusive equaliser, setting Sunday’s home clash with the Perth Glory as a must-win.
KEY MOMENT
On his 50th A-League appearance, Nishan Velupillay halved the deficit to bring Victory back into the clash.
RESULT
Isuzu UTE A-League 2022/23 Round 8
Melbourne City 2 (O’Neill 11′, 57′)
Melbourne Victory 1 (Velupillay 89′
NEXT
Victory remain in Melbourne to play their third game in eight days when they host the Perth Glory at AAMI Park on Sunday April 9, with kick-off scheduled for 3:00pm AEDT.
