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How good was the Melbourne derby? After months of playing second fiddle to their city rivals, Melbourne Victory breathed new life into the premiership race.
Forget the beautiful game – Saturday night’s showdown between increasingly bitter foes Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory was exactly the sort of blood-and-guts derby football fans tune in to watch.
It started with Besart Berisha butchering an early chance, saw Tim Cahill silence the jeer squad with another headed goal, allowed Kiwi superstar Marco Rojas to slip in for his seventh goal of the season and ended up with Berisha netting a record-equalling 90th A-League goal for the winner.
In between, Cahill seemingly injured himself charging through the Victory substitutes – although he put his hand to his face immediately after scoring, saw Cahill again spark a melee after clattering into Oli Bozanic, continued with Jason Geria shoving serial pest Fernando Brandan to the ground and finally, mired in controversy with what appeared to be an offside goal to finish.
Did Berisha score his winner from an offside position? It’s incredibly frustrating when the benefit of the doubt rarely seems to go to the attacking side, yet it looked like Berisha was offside.
City have every right to feel aggrieved, yet the reality is they wasted enough chances to finish on the right side of the scoresheet.
Berisha won’t have cared – he told Fox Sports he “smashed everything” in anger during the half-time break – and he’s now just one goal away from breaking Archie Thompson’s record as the A-League’s all-time top scorer.
The feisty Albanian continues to prove a match winner for a side that had to dig deep to see off a City outfit that came racing out of the blocks.
About the only downside to the derby was the sight of empty seats along the sideline, with a thousand fewer fans filing through the gates than for the corresponding Round 19 fixture last season.
We can pretend the issue doesn’t exist, but it’s clear some A-League ticket prices are too high – particularly for a competition that sees the same 10 teams play each other at least three times a season.
The derby notwithstanding, attendances were poor across the board, and Perth Glory fans won’t have enjoyed watching their side blown out of the water by Sydney FC over in the west.
The Sky Blues look capable of romping home with the Premiers’ Plate, not least because they’ve got clinical strike power on offer across the park.
When your goal scorers read Brosque, Holosko, Bobo and Ibini, it’s pretty clear your attack is sorted.
And with Sydney not only boasting depth in every position but also the best goalkeeper in the league in Danny Vukovic, it’s hard to see who will stop them at this point in time, even if two-thirds of the season still remain.
Brisbane Roar will be relieved to have kept pace with the top four following a battling 2-1 win over Central Coast Mariners in Gosford yesterday.
They scored a couple of outstanding goals – Dimi Petratos’ free-kick was an absolute peach – but John Aloisi will know a tougher test awaits in the form of Western Sydney Wanderers next Friday night.
What’s going on with the Wanderers? They should have beaten Wellington Phoenix over in Auckland, only for Dimas to miss a penalty that ultimately cost the visitors dearly.
With the top four starting to slip away from the rest of the pack, the Wanderers had better find some form – and fast – if they’re to be anything more than a footnote this season.
The final word from an entertaining round must go to the Newcastle Jets.
They’ve helped set up a fabulous few weeks of festive football with back-to-back wins and reignited their finals push in the process.
The derby stole all the headlines, but some competition for the top six is good for the game too.