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.
Swanny
Guest
I fully expect nordstrand to get poached by a bigger club . In general a good finisher with very quick feet and passing ability
Lionheart
Guest
yes, my mistake Ian - I meant Broich, only Broich is/was marquee apologies
Nemesis
Guest
1st Aleague match I've managed to attend this year and it was worth the wait. Terrific atmosphere. Good football. Bit of feeling. City looked very dangerous when they were around, or inside, the box. Victory looked very dangerous moving the ball through midfield into the box. Victory should've had the game wrapped up at half time. City dominated the 2nd half without causing too much trouble for Thomas. Last week a writer on The Roar suggested Muscat had a week to get his defence sorted. The Victory defence was no better, no worse than it was against WSW. Victory still won.
Mark
Guest
I was sitting in the Victory end and, from what I could see, the Victory end was full, the East and West stands had the odd empty seat here and there (with L1s having slightly more), while the City end had a few empty seats both in and around the active area. These would have been seats set aside for City members who didn't end up taking them, or reserved them and didn't show up. The process of a bunch of tickets being released before match days is nothing new. Seats are set aside for home members and corporates, but if they don't lock those seats in by a certain time before the match, they are often released for public sale. You'll probably find City members had until the Tuesday to lock in seats, then on the Wednesday seats that hadn't been locked in were released.
mad maco
Guest
Apologies Nemesis I stand corrected with regards to north and south. Perhaps with Yarraside mimicking so many of the MVFC chants I was getting confused. With regards to Level 3 Western ( my stand of choice), there were no seats on sale for weeks, then on the Wednesday before matchday you were able to buy as many as you wanted once they were released to the public. Cheers
Nemesis
Guest
You have your compass bearings wrong. Victory fans are based at the North End; City fans were based at the South End. It's been this way ever since the 1st Melbourne Derby. The North Stand was full. The East Stand (Lvl 1 & 3) were full. The West Stand Lvl 1 was full. From my seat I couldn't see Lvl 3 West Stand. The majority of empty seats were at the City Home end. I don't know about City, but I've been told Victory have around 4,000 corporate tickets for every match. Victory has a thriving Business/Corporate fanbase with over 1,000 people attending Victory IN Business Lunches which are held 3-4 times each season.
Bob Brown
Roar Guru
Why would I be from NRL Central Pippinu? You football detractors should try and be a little bit more positive in your outlook otherwise I have to keep putting you back in line. I think its a far more pathetic comment to say Wanderers fans aren't going to turn up to a Sydney Derby, but then again you would say that wouldn't you Pip.
Ian
Guest
Broich and Berisha have the same number of trophies (excluding FFA Cup) - 2 premierships and 3 championships. Broich though, came 2nd in the Johnny Warren medal in the 2010-11 season, and won it in 2011-12 and 2013-14. Fairly convincing medal winner there on his influence and ability to control a match.
Ian
Guest
I love them both in different ways. But Broich is class. Different personality. They were the killer Bs. Yes Kosmina said that specifically last night. FYI -On your first line - Berisha only became a marquee at Victory, he got offered that apparent 750K a year. From memory Broich put into our marquee spot during the 2011-12 season. He has always been the foreign marquee since then.
Bruce
Guest
Bob, Do you have another theme or are you from NRL Central? Your posts get more pathetic but still strangely similar every week yet on a soccer forum.
Ian
Guest
Well I have 3 memberships for my family (of 4, inc. a 3 yr old) But I have no problems, well I want higher memberships, but no problem with our average crowd that is going along very nicely. Perhaps a different demographic buying all the game day tickets, or the marketing for season memberships after the off season fiascos didn't work. But the average crowd doesn't lie.
Bob Brown
Roar Guru
Must be Giants and Swans fans, who are fed up with MeIbourne RuIes buying them, because they are in short supply 4 weeks out from the game.
mad maco
Guest
It has nothing to do with no show ups and corporate freebies. Each year MCFC do not release Xmas Derby tickets for the whole of the Level 3 Western Stand to the general public until 3 days before the game. They know they will sell out the Southern End with Victory GA suporters and the Northern End will be fairly full with City GA supporters.I guess they want to sell all of the Eastern Stand Level 3 tickets first as those seats face the sun, and many people try to avoid them. For those who want to purchase a Category A or B seat out of the sun prior to a few days before the game are left with a few single seats scattered amongst the MCFC members. From my spot on Level 1 Western Stand I could not see above me into Level 3, but I would say that is where a large proportion of empty seats would have been. If that is the way they want to do busines then so be it, but this game will never be anywhere near a sell - out with this approach.
Fadida
Guest
Victory's defence is a serious question mark. Geria, Baro, Donachie, with Broxham at left back is on paper at least a much weaker selection. Sydney and Brisbane are much stronger in that department. Valeri is key
Caltex & SBS support Australian Football
Guest
Noorstrand, is more than capable of showing Hoole, how to finish properly, and with style.
Lionheart
Guest
Both imports, but only Berisha is/was a marquee at Roar (with McKay). Even last night I heard the Fox commentators agree that Broich was a more influential player in the A League than Berisha, over the eight years (or whatever, knowing Broich came first). As much as I like Berisha, I'm pleased Roar chose Broich as import marquee over him, a wise choice.
Onside
Guest
Mike, a subject for an article ? : a team selected from Marquee players and imports that would be competitive against the Soccerroos.
David
Guest
Wanderers fans don't even show up for their own home games at the moment.
Mark
Guest
It was 29,843. Once you consider tarping off of some areas, it was essentially a full house.
Paul
Guest
Yes. The big question is are the top 4 set or will someone challenge them? On form I'd say we have our top 4 who can now fight over what order they finish in