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.