CITY INSIDER: City v Wellington - Monday 10 April

EASTER MONDAY MAGIC

Off the back of a short turnaround, Melbourne City is gearing up to face Wellington Phoenix at AAMI Park on Easter Monday.

With the replayed Melbourne Derby taking place during the week, City will play its second game in just five days – and third in eight.

Action has quickly ramped up since the international break, and we will be hoping to continue our winning ways and further extend the buffer at the top of the table.

Squad management may be in mind for Head Coach Rado Vidosic, with players’ workloads set to be a big consideration as we head into the backend of the season and eyes turn to Finals.

While Wednesday’s 2-1 win over Melbourne Victory may have counted as a Round 8 result, City will be eager to record consecutive wins for the first time since February.

The last time the ladder leaders were able to string together backto-back wins together came after a crushing 6-1 win over Macarthur at home, followed by a 4-2 victory against Perth on the road. Since that, we’ve seen a mixed bag of results as we aim to get back to the consistency that we showed in the early parts of the season.

Sitting in 5th, Wellington is coming off a loss to the same side City

defeated earlier this week, falling 2-1 to Melbourne Victory just over a week ago.

After Oskar Zawada gave the Phoenix a first-half lead in the 25th minute, Wellington would concede twice in the second half and suffer defeat for the second consecutive fixture.

The last time these two sides met saw City bring in the new year with an emphatic 3-1 win on the road.

We recovered from an early David Ball goal in the 16th minute when Mathew Leckie hit back just moments later, before Jamie Maclaren secured the result with a second-half brace.

City’s depth has been tested over the last couple of months with injuries to key players, but the entire squad will be working hard on the training pitch and looking to put their names forward as we head into the final few games of the season.

Up against a side down on confidence following two straight losses, City will have a great chance to register all three points at home and strengthen its push towards the Premiers Plate.

A-LEAGUE MEN PREVIEW

DANGER PLAYER

LAST RESULT 2 1

LAST TIME WE MET 1 3

There’s no doubt City will need to be wary of a number of key players in the Phoenix line-up, and none more so than striker Oskar Zawada. The Polish striker may’ve taken a while to settle into life in the A-Leagues, but he’s really hit his straps in recent times, carrying much of the attacking burden for Wellington. In a similar streak to what we saw our own Jamie Maclaren go on earlier this season, Zawada has now scored or assisted in each of his last 11 appearances. He’s now found the back of the net 13 times this season and will ensure that the likes of Curtis Good and Thomas Lam will have to be at their best tonight.

OSKAR ZAWADA

Tom Glover

Matthew Sutton

Scott Galloway

Nuno Reis

Thomas Lam

Jordon Hall

Curtis Good

Callum Talbot

Kerin Stokes

Jordan Bos

Sebastian Esposito

Florin Berenguer

Aiden O’Neill

Valon Berisha

Luke Oresti

Emile Peios

Jamie Maclaren

Andrew Nabbout

Marco Tilio

Raphel Borges Rodrigues

Max Caputo

Rado Vidosic

Kosta

Steven Ugarkovic

Nicholas Pennington

Barbarouses

Oskar Van Hattum

CITY TAKE THE POINTS IN UNIQUE DERBY

In one of the stranger nights of football you’re likely to see, your City boys secured a much-needed three points in Wednesday night’s Round 8 Melbourne Derby replay.

Aiden O’Neill added his second of the game in the 57th minute after opening the scoring back in December, before a late Victory goal ensured we’d all be on the edge of our seats right until the final whistle.

We headed into the resumption leading 1-0 thanks to O’Neill’s brilliant goal back in December last year, and the clash got back underway with a drop-ball to Tom Glover with the clock on 21:00.

Rado Vidosic’s side held the ball for a long period following the re-start, understandably looking to play their way into the game after such an unusual beginning.

Despite this, it would be Victory who’d have the first decent sight at goal for the night, a deflected Bruno Fornaroli strike forcing Glover into a sharp reflex save at his near post in the 29th minute.

Valon Berisha shot from range a few minutes later forcing Izzo to make a save, but other than that, it was a far from eventful (shortened) first half, although City did have the better share of the possession.

O’Neill continued to go from strength to strength, tracking back as hard as ever to win the ball back and save his team on a number of occasions, while again showing the new string to his bow in getting forward.

Both of those facets of his game were on full show in the 57th minute as City doubled its advantage – a whole 110 days later.

A casual back-pass from Victory defender Roderick Miranda opened the door for the always-alert O’Neill to win the ball back, before playing

a neat 1-2 with Berisha then smashing home what was technically his second of the game.

The two sides traded the momentum for much of the remainder of the contest, although neither would really create any clear goalscoring chances.

That was until the 88th minute when Nishan Velupillay finished a Bruce Kamau cutback to pull it back to 2-1.

While pretty well everyone at AAMI Park and watching at home would’ve spent stoppage time on the edge of their seats, it was a professional end to the contest from your City boys to see out the all-important three points.

THE MIDFIELD THREE OF BERISHA, O’NEILL AND BERENGUER WAS PIVOTAL TO THIS, NOT JUST IN THE EARLY STAGES OF THE NIGHT, BUT THROUGHOUT THE SECOND HALF.

THE SEASON SO FAR: CITY WOMEN GEAR UP FOR FINALS

As our City Women prepare for a blockbuster Preliminary Final against cross-town rivals Melbourne Victory, let’s take a look back at the key moments from our 2022/23 season.

In a season where City has had to overcome a coach change, scheduling pressures, injuries and multiple disruptions to the squad, City fans can be proud of their team’s efforts finishing in 3rd on the table.

How could we ever forget City’s hot start to the 2022/23 season, scoring a whopping 12 goals in the opening 3 games to quickly assert itself as one of the most dangerous outfits in the competition.

We spoiled Wellington’s party in the New Zealand-based outfit’s first game in the ALW competition, recording an emphatic 4-1 win across the ditch.

City would then record its first clean sheet of the season back in Melbourne with a 3-0 win over Brisbane Roar in Round 2 before scoring its most goals in a single game for the season the following week, recording a 5-1 win over the Newcastle Jets.

A brace from Rhianna Pollicina led the way in that opening match of the season while Bryleeh Henry and Maria Jose Rojas started the season in some serious goalscoring form, notching 3 goals in their opening 3 games.

City would go on to win 5 of its first six matches of the 2022/23 season, a feat that put them in good stead for the remainder of the season.

ne of City’s key assets is its strike power in the final third, boasting names like Hannah Wilkinson, Rhianna Pollicina, Holly McNamara and Maria Jose Rojas.

Add in the likes of Daniela Galic, Bryleeh Henry and also Emina Ekic in the earlier stages of the season, and City has been a formidable unit moving forward throughout the campaign.

We’ve shown this season that when Dario Vidosic has all the troops at his disposal, it can work like a well-oiled machine and with all the big names back and firing right before finals, City will be coming in with plenty of confidence in front of goal.

We also of course have to recognise a stalwart of the City side, Melissa Barbieri, who has played an instrumental role for City both on and off the pitch for many years now.

Bubs was able to celebrate her 100th appearance milestone in City’s match against Perth Glory just two weeks ago before then getting to celebrate the occasion once again, this time back at home, in City’s fixture against Canberra United.

Tickets are on sale for Saturday’s Preliminary Final via Ticketbooth, and all City Members go for free!