Two goals in two minutes from Melbourne City was not enough as a late Besart Berisha tap-in saw the first edition of the Melbourne Derby for season 2015-16 finish 3-2 to the Victory.
A scrappy opening stanza was played predominantly in Melbourne Victory’s attacking half, with the reigning champions opening the scoring in the 23rd minute with Fahid Ben Khalfallah’s shot taking a deflection and finding its way into the back of the net.
Kosta Barbarouses was able to double the Victory’s advantage in the 57th minute after Khalfallah’s cross found him at the back post.
City played their way into the match and a stunning three-minute period in the second half where Bruno Fornaroli and Stefan Mauk both found the back of the net with great strikes.
Besart Berisha was able to steal all three points right at the death with a tap home right on the stroke of full-time.
Victory exploited the wings
Victory’s front three have been touted as one of the best league and the combination play between Besart Berisha, Kosta Barbarouses and Fahid Ben Khalfallah – with Gui Finkler sitting in behind – has given the Victory plenty of goals over the past season.
Victory have continually found joy on the flanks and this derby clash was no exception. The combination between Daniel Georgievski and Barbarouses saw them flood the right-hand side throughout the first half. While Khalfallah was consistently given plenty of time and space on the left in the second half, which lead to Barbarouses’ goal. As the match progressed, Dylan Murnane was able to get forward on more and more occasions as well.
Mooy vs Valeri
Labelled as one of the key battles of this fixture, both Mooy and Valeri were able to make their mark on this clash. The first half saw Valeri able to nullify Mooy’s influence to the point where large portions of the match were played exclusively in the Victory attacking half; City were simply unable to transition through the middle of the park.
However, the momentum changed in the second half, with the game opening up and Mooy being able to pull the strings in the midfield as the second half progressed, finding plenty of space between the Victory’s midfield and back four.
The importance of both these players to their respective sides cannot be overstated with Victory looking much more fluid in the midfield during the first half thanks to Valeri and Mooy turning on the class for the majority of the second half.
Deserved result
While Melbourne City played their way into the match, bringing the game to life with a fantastic burst in the second half, it took the sky blue side of Melbourne much too long to get into the match. Although games can be won in small spaces of time, City did not deserve to take all three points from this contest.
Victory’s dominant first half was impressive in terms of possession, but they failed to utilise this as well as the yards of space afforded to them by City’s defenders. Overall, the Victory looked the more threatening and ultimately showed their class in the final moments of the game with Berisha scoring a true poacher’s goal.
Outside90 Player of the Year votes:
3 – Aaron Mooy
2 – Besart Berisha
1 – Fahid Ben Khalfallah
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