On February 4, Melbourne City annihilated Macarthur FC 6-1 at AAMI Park. Fast forward just over a month and the reverse Isuzu UTE A-League fixture could not have been more contrasting as the two sides battled out a 1-1 draw in Campbelltown on Sunday.
It was a far cry from Richard van der Venne’s hat-trick performance in Melbourne. This time, the league leaders had to come from behind to earn a point against the finals-chasing Bulls prior to the international break.
American striker Jason Romero opened the scoring in the 26th minute before a Jonathan Aspropotamitis own goal gifted City the leveller. City also had two penalties overturned by VAR in a controversial encounter.
The result, which officially clinched a finals berth, highlighted City’s stuttering form amid the surge of rampant rivals Adelaide United, who are in the midst of a 10-game unbeaten streak to be within four points of the reigning premiers, who have a game in hand.
It also showed how much has changed for City since that 6-1 demolition. In the six games before that fixture, Rado Vidosic’s men had split three wins and three draws in an undefeated streak. However, after that landslide win, they have lost two and drawn one of the next six.
Now, City are relishing the break.
“We dominated most of the game and in the end, I should’ve scored and assisted Macca (Jamie Maclaren),” Marco Tilio, who will head into Socceroos camp for a pair of international friendlies against Ecuador in Sydney and Melbourne, told Paramount+.
“It’s not good enough on my behalf but we’ll keep looking forward to the next game.
“We have this break coming up and I think it’s a much-needed break for us.”
Tilio talks about that much-needed break and it comes as City battle without injured Socceroos star Mathew Leckie and Dutchman Van der Venne (calf).
Thomas Lam was also suspended for the trip to Macarthur, while talisman and Golden Boot leader Jamie Maclaren is nursing a foot injury.
“I think a break will help us,” Tilio added. “We have a lot of players out at the moment. It will help to recover a lot of the boys.
“We have been strong up until now, so I think this break will only help us.”
In his post-match news conference, head coach Vidosic was asked about City’s form and whether he was concerned heading into the finals.
“Everyone has patchy form and we are right in that maybe at the moment,” he told reporters.
“We are missing four good players. Once everyone comes back, we are going to be a bit better.
“We have 11 players we are using and are stretched to the limit.”
City dominated possession with 78%, while they outpassed Macarthur 770-223. Yet, they were unable to find the winning goal in warm conditions.
“It was a tough game. They played very defensive-minded game and it was hard to break them from the first moment,” Vidosic said.
“… But I’m so proud of my boys. They tried so hard and played the way we want to play.
“Maybe any other game it could’ve been two or three goals for us.”
‘Pleasing sings’ for Macarthur
The Bulls did not claim maximum points but the result was enough to suggest they are moving in the right direction, according to star full-back Matthew Millar.
Macarthur were crushed 4-1 by Central Coast Mariners 4-1 in Round 20, having opened the scoring while they were swept aside by City in a 6-1 humbling in the reverse contest.
But the Bulls showed significant improvement in their pursuit of finals, frustrating City on home soil.
Macarthur are ninth but just two points adrift of Sydney FC, who occupy the sixth and final spot in the finals race.
“We knew it was going to be tough against the league leaders but there is so much belief in our team and you saw we left everything on the field,” Millar told Paramount+.
“Disappointing not to get all three points but really pleasing signs.”
After the international break, Macarthur visit Perth Glory before closing out the regular season against Western Sydney Wanderers, Newcastle Jets, Melbourne Victory and Wellington Phoenix.
“Every game from here until the end of the season is a Grand Final for us,” Millar added.
“We are really looking to bring that intensity… if we can continue that and get some momentum, we can really push for finals.”
Macarthur’s head coach Mile Sterjovski was pleased with his squad’s display against the league’s pacesetters.
“Very proud of them. Defensively we were much harder to beat which is what we wanted to be,” said the Socceroos great.
“We should’ve been better with the ball. I thought we gave the ball away way too much.”
Report – AAP
Melbourne City’s procession towards another Premiership hit a road bump as Macarthur snatched a point in a backs-to-the-wall 1-1 draw against the competition leaders.
The Bulls were happy to frustrate City at Campbelltown Stadium on Sunday and dared to believe they could seal an unlikely upset when Jason Romero’s first-half strike put them ahead.
But a second-half own goal from Jonathan Aspropotamitis gave City a share of the spoils in a game in which Rado Vidosic’s side had 78% possession.
City remain top of the table but Adelaide United are now just four points behind them with five rounds of the competition remaining.
Macarthur, meanwhile, sit in ninth and are one of three clubs in contention to snatch a finals berth.
After being hammered 6-1 in their last meeting, the Bulls were happy to sit deep and ride their luck against City’s red-hot attack.
Tomi Uskok cleared a Jamie Maclaren effort off the line, Scott Jamieson hit the bar and Andrew Nabbout had a goal chalked off for offside in a chaotic opening half an hour.
Macarthur goalkeeper Filip Kurto impressively snuffed out wave after wave of balls into his box.
When the Bulls did have the ball they looked to counter quickly, and it was through an incisive Al Hassan Toure break that they went ahead.
Toure charged upfield and squared to Romero, who finished past Tom Glover in the 26th minute for his first A-League Men goal.
Macarthur held firm for the remainder of the first half and nearly doubled their lead when Aspropotamitis glanced a Danny De Silva free-kick wide of Glover’s post.
Aspropotamitis survived a scare when referee Chris Beath awarded a penalty to City for his clumsy challenge on Maclaren.
Thankfully for Macarthur, Maclaren was offside in the build-up but there was no such fortune when Aspropotamitis turned a Jordan Bos cross into his own net in the 65th minute.
The frustrations of both sides were beginning to boil over after a reckless Nuno Reis challenge on Kearyn Baccus sparked an all-in melee with 10 minutes left.
City made one last charge forward and when Ivan Vujica brought down Aiden O’Neill, they thought they had a penalty to win it.
Beath, however, opted to consult VAR and could see O’Neill had gone down of his own volition and overturned his own decision.
