Melbourne City held off a fast-finishing Melbourne Victory to record a 2-1 Melbourne Derby win at AAMI Park on Wednesday night.
It was the restart to a fixture that initially kicked off in December, but was suspended after 20 minutes due to a pitch invasion. City led 1-0 in the first meeting thanks to an Aiden O’Neill strike, and the game resumed on Wednesday night with City retaining their one-goal advantage, as referee Alex King got the action back underway with a drop ball in City’s defence.
O’Neill would go on to double the home side’s advantage in the second half with a rasping finish. It gave City a two-goal buffer which proved crucial; Victory halved the deficit in the 89th minute, with Bruce Kamau assisting Nishan Velupillay to set up a grandstand finish.
City withstood a late barrage to claim a 2-1 win and extend their gap at the top of the table to five points, leaving Victory in 11th spot and four points off the top six.
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‘We are the better team’: City shrugging off Adelaide’s premiership push
Across an 11-game unbeaten stretch, Adelaide United have shown they are more than up for a tilt at the premiership. But don’t try to tell league-leaders Melbourne City it’s a title fight.
City midfielder Valon Berisha was at his combative best in the aftermath of his side’s 2-1 derby win over Melbourne Victory on Wednesday night.
It was a result City sorely needed to get back to winning ways, to forge a five-point gap between themselves and Adelaide at the top of the table and move one step closer towards a premiership three-peat – the first of its kind in the A-League Men.
The Reds have closed the gap in recent weeks, dismantling City 4-2 in Round 19 as part of a stretch of 11 games without defeat. City won one of three games following that result (two draws) with the Reds closing the gap to just two points before the Melbourne Derby resumed.
City took their 1-0 lead from the suspended fixture in December into Wednesday night’s restart, and despite both sides scoring one goal apiece on the night, the league-leaders took all three points home from AAMI Park.
When questioned post-match by Network 10 pitch-side reporter Tim Morgan about Adelaide’s charge into premiership contention, Berisha responded with defiance.
“We don’t worry about that. We don’t worry about Adelaide, we just look at ourselves,” Berisha said. “They can do their thing, we do our thing.
“We know who is the best team on the pitch. When we do what we have to do, and we stick to the plan, we are the better team every game.
“We just need to be more ruthless in front of the goal, and defend a little bit better (like) in the last 10-15 minutes today. We show over long periods of time who is the best team on the pitch.”
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But Berisha knows there’s work to be done in the coming weeks to ensure his confidence is reflected in the end-of-season standings.
Although delighted with Wednesday night’s win, Berisha was frustrated with his side’s late lapse which allowed Victory back into the contest.
“We were the better team, from the start to the finish,” he said. “But after we scored the goal, we are getting into that zone, we are playing too comfortably, losing some easy balls. That’s what I don’t like, then we’re letting them come into the game.
“That’s something we need to fix, and we need to focus until the end and don’t think the game is over… but for me, it was an important game because I think we have been dominating the last five weeks every game, but we didn’t get the results we wanted. Today it was very important to get the win.”
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