Jamie Maclaren has been denied a dramatic late winner as Melbourne City had to settle for a 0-0 draw in a sellout A-League Men Christmas derby with fierce rivals Melbourne Victory.
Two days after being snubbed for the Socceroos’ Asian Cup squad, Maclaren thought he had given City the lead in the 89th minute when he toepoked home.
But the goal was disallowed as the City captain was ruled to have pulled back Victory veteran Leigh Broxham.
Then, Victory goalkeeper Paul Izzo made a big diving save to tip away a goal-bound shot from City winger Leo Natel.
The result leaves the Victory in second while City sit seventh.
Both clubs have made a point of moving on from last year’s disastrous pitch invasion and the first Christmas derby since the abandoned affair was played in front of a good-spirited crowd of 25,884.
Former Victory boss Kevin Muscat was on hand, as were former City coaches John van’t Schip and Patrick Kisnorbo.
City physically targeted recalled Socceroo Bruno Fornaroli, who went goalless for the first time in four games, failing to add to his tally of 12.
Aziz Behich had promised not to hold back against his Asian Cup teammate – and pushed over Fornaroli in the third minute to spark early fireworks.
A minute later, City star Tolgay Arslan fired wide.
Zinedine Machach and Behich both received yellow cards when they clashed after the Victory attacker brought down the City defender.
The pair clashed and Machach rubbed Behich’s head, with the Socceroo grabbing at his face.
City goalkeeper Young made an extraordinary reflex save in the 48th minute, diving to bat away a fierce strike from Ryan Teague.
Roderick Miranda headed just wide from the subsequent corner.
In the 54th, Young brilliantly blocked Fornaroli and Daniel Arzani skewed a follow-up well off target.
City unsuccessfully appealed for a handball in the 63rd minute and former skipper and current assistant coach Scott Jamieson received a yellow card in the aftermath.
Traore was replaced by Franco Lino in the 72nd after he was hit in the head by a fierce cross from Marin Jakolis.
A minute later, Jason Geria scrambled brilliantly to thwart Leo Natel’s run into the box.
City’s Steven Ugarkovic fizzed a long-range strike over the bar in the 83rd minute, then Young pawed away Connor Chapman’s looping header before the game descended into late drama.
chris1
Roar Rookie
Agree in that I don't think he is an enforcer. Are there any full backs in the world considered enforcers? They're more likely to be in central roles. Bring back Gentile and Gattuso I say : )
Waz
Roar Rookie
Not sure on Trani. Great coach but never seemed to want to be a Head Coach
Grem
Roar Rookie
Unfortunately, is correct. I assume it’s as Muscat’s understudy on very good money in China. He is a loss. Will Trani be a good fill in until someone else is appointed?
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Behich an enforcer? I have never seen him as enforcer, the opposite he is more of a winger than defender in my book. He has no red cards in his entire playing history just two double yellows.
Waz
Roar Rookie
You will obviously have seen elsewhere my Ross prediction was spot on (unfortunately).
Jordan Sports Fan
Roar Rookie
I like it. I actually feel kind of free not having any AL to watch today (although will fill it with NFL and PL). Ideally Wellington and Auckland alternate home matches on the Saturday arv slot although that won’t be possible once Super Rugby starts. It is also sensible that Melb Derby. Syd derby, Big Blue and Original Rivalry remain stand alone fixtures (no concurrent), but outside of those, I’ve no problem with concurrent Saturday night matches.
Waz
Roar Rookie
I think scheduling is a key thing to work on. With 7 men’s and 6 women’s games each weekend from next season they need to put some effort in. I’d like to see some rhythm introduced whereby home fans know what to expect from week to week. It can’t happen every home game but figure out what works best for each club and try and maximise those games. Eg Roar, CCM, Jets at home Fridays; Sydney/WSW, Vuck, Adelaide at home on Saturdays either 5 or 7PM ko; Nix, Auckland and Glory at home Saturdays appearing before/after the 5/7PM games; all the rest on Sundays; and is it worth trying regular Mondays with someone (MacArthur or WU?) I’d like to see games overlapping eg the second half of one game overlaps the first half of the following game. And I’d like to see Men’s/Womens games scheduled one after the other - I’d happily sit down and watch two Roar games back to back :stoked: We need to lose this thought that everyone will watch every game each weekend - they won’t and don’t so let’s not inconvenience fans to create a broadcast schedule no one can watch even if they tried (20+ hours of live football in one weekend??). The APL at least need a plan
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Good on Rudes. Respect. I would have been there for that alone :laughing:
Jordan Sports Fan
Roar Rookie
I guess the template that could work over this period is respecting weekend matchdays and not playing through next week, pre-xmas Melb derby and then giving each team one “holiday” home match over these two weeks…Which they have mostly done, barring robbing Mac and WU home matches next weekend hahaha I hope scheduling Melb derby in this way remains. But they need to be a bit smarter than having the 2nd FTA a game in Perth that is on at 10:30pm for Syd/Melb viewers.
Grem
Roar Rookie
And we all need to start sending feedback to KeepUp (APL) and Paramount Plus about the quality of streaming/viewing. There are too many issues and complaints need to be made. Sent mine in this morning.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Maybe, or are they the new Adelaide? Doesn’t the VAR help whoever you decide on whichever weekend? But they never help Wellington.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Definitely achievable if the APL start the/a process and I hope your Ross predictions are wrong, but the money in China has to be a temptation.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Reads like an owner that will own a group of clubs. A bit like Melbourne City.
Brendan
Roar Pro
Aziz Behich is a (calculated) risk to have the field. An enforcer? Yes, but his emotions get the better of him.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
City were unlucky in that Faghani rarely calls those sort of fouls . I dont get what Popovic is doing putting Broxham on in a competitive match, he got done over by Lopane like a pork chop. The women ref in the Wellington Wanderers match was top of the class didnt get sucked in by a stupid VAR review, didnt need VAR for the hand ball goal. Apparently Rudan went into a bar and shouted the yellow fever the drinks and ended up with a 1000 dollar bar bill because they came a running from everywhere.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Jets takeover rumoured to have completed yesterday. Announcement within a week apparently (I’m sure Jets fans won’t be holding their breaths though). If true, that only leaves two underfunded clubs - Roar & Glory.
Waz
Roar Rookie
I wonder what the odds of that happening were though lol.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Yeah, three decent crowds this weekend. This season will be a struggle with crowds for a variety of reasons but if they can stop making dumb decisions, start making some smart decisions, the comp can get back to 10k averages soon - and with WU and MacArthur in the competition that’ll be a real achievement.
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
Great to see Sydney win and sadly went to bed at half time after Perth trailed 2-0, only for it to win 3-2 in the end.
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
I enjoyed tussle, and great to see such a big crowd (26,000) in Melbourne.